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IWM vs. SPY

iShares Russell 2000 ETF

IWM
$--
vs

SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust

SPY
$--

Correlation

0.96
IWMiShares Russell 2000 ETF
SPYSPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust

What is IWM?

The iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance before fees and expenses of the small capitalization sector of the U.S. equity market as represented by the Russell 2000 Index. The index represents the approximately 2000 smallest companies in the Russell 3000 Index.

Snapshot
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IWM iShares Russell 2000 ETF
SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust
Inception date
May 22 2000
Jan 22 1993
Expense ratio
0.19%
0.09%
IWM has a higher expense ratio than SPY by 0.1%. This can indicate that it’s more expensive to invest in IWM than SPY.
Type
US Equities
US Equities
IWM targets investing in US Equities, while SPY targets investing in US Equities.
Fund owner
Blackrock (iShares)
State Street (SPDR)
IWM is managed by Blackrock (iShares), while SPY is managed by State Street (SPDR).
Volume (1m avg. daily)
$4,463,198,665
$33,257,618,740
Both IWM and SPY are considered high-volume assets. They’re less likely to be affected by issues like slippage and failed orders on Composer than low-volume assets.
AUM
$50,549,436,527
$400,404,126,565
IWM has more assets under management than SPY by $349,854,690,038. Higher AUM can be associated with better liquidity and lower slippage in trading.
Associated index
Russell 2000 Index
S&P 500 Index
IWM is based off of the Russell 2000 Index, while SPY is based off of the S&P 500 Index
Inverse/Leveraged
No
No
IWM and SPY use the same leverage ratio. Inverse and leveraged ETFs can be used to either take an opposite position or amplify returns of a given index.
Passive/Active
Passive
Passive
IWM and SPY both use a Passive investing strategy. In an actively managed fund, the fund manager makes decisions about how funds are invested. A passively managed fund typically tries to track or follow a market index.
Dividend
No
No
IWM and SPY may offer dividends. The frequency and yield of the dividend may not be the same.
Prospectus
SPY may issue a K1, while IWM does not. You can find non-K1 alternatives for SPY in its “Related ETFs” section.
IWM and SPY’s Correlation
When ETFs are correlated, there are 3 main topics to analyze that will help you build your automated trading strategy: liquidity, expense, and risk.
  • Liquidity: In an active trading strategy (trading multiple time per week), it’s important to consider the liquidity of the ETF you’re using. Lower liquidity can mean more money lost in slippage. AUM and average daily volume are both indicators of liquidity.
  • Expense: Some ETFs are more expensive to use than others. For strategies that are focused on longer holding periods, it’s important to factor in how expensive it is to hold this ETF. Expense ratio is the main indicator of how expensive an ETF is.
  • Risk: Some ETFs will be highly correlated, but have varying degrees of returns, due to leverage. It’s important to consider if an ETF is using leverage or not. The main indicators of a riskier ETF will be the use of leverage and higher standard deviation or max drawdown in a backtest.

Automated Strategies
Related toIWM

#BTD

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Category

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Risk Rating

Aggressive

Automated Strategies
Related toSPY

#DSS

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Category

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Risk Rating

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Disclaimers

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We show information directly obtained from our data provider, Xignite. Data shown here is provided by Xignite, an unaffiliated third party. Composer believes the information shown here is reliable, but has not been verified and there is no guarantee that the information is accurate.

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We show information based on calculations performed by Composer using data from our provider. Information provided here is based on calculations performed by Composer using data sourced from Xignite, an unaffiliated third party. Composer believes this information is reliable, but has not verified the data and there is no guarantee that the calculations are accurate.