SPY celebrates birthday, marking 30 years of ETFs
Exchange-traded funds are a key component of many portfolios, so it may come as a surprise that they’re just 30 years old. This month marks the 30th birthday of the first ETF, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF, which goes by the ticker SPY.
Over that lifespan, ETFs have accumulated roughly $6 trillion in assets. They’re still dwarfed by mutual funds, which have $20 trillion in assets, but the momentum is clearly with exchange-traded funds. One factor is mutual fund-to-ETF conversions, which have gained steam since first being permitted by regulators in 2021.
Click through to see some of the key events in the history of ETF, courtesy of ETF.com.