Simply put, one of these two is a fund that can be invested directly, and the other is an indicator used for investment reference.

 

What is SPY?

SPY (SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust) is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) whose investment goal is to track the performance of the S&P 500 Index.

Launched in 1993, SPY is one of the oldest and largest ETFs in the world, with more than $375 billion in assets under management as of May 1, 2023. SPY is traded on the NYSE Arca Exchange and can be bought and sold in brokerage accounts like stocks.

Investing in SPY provides investors with a diversified portfolio of large U.S. stocks, making it a popular choice for those who want to invest in the U.S. stock market. SPY tracks the S&P 500 Index and is often used as a benchmark for the overall performance of the U.S. stock market. Investors can get the return on their investment in the S&P 500 Index by purchasing SPY shares, while also enjoying the trading flexibility of ETFs.

Technical traders can also track SPY stock charts to observe technical patterns of past performance that provide clues about the stock's future performance.

 

What is SPX?

SPX (S&P 500 Index) refers to the S&P 500 Index itself. The S&P 500 Index is a stock market index compiled and maintained by S&P Global Ratings, covering the 500 largest listed companies in the United States by market value. It is regarded as one of the important indicators of the US stock market and an important tool used by many investors and analysts to evaluate the overall performance of the US stock market.

The S&P 500 Index is calculated by taking a weighted average of the stock prices of the 500 companies in the index, with the weights determined by the market value of each company. Therefore, the S&P 500 Index is also often used as a benchmark for measuring the performance of large-cap stocks in the United States.

 

How to invest in the S&P 500 Index?

From the above description, we can understand that SPY is the stock code of the exchange-traded fund that tracks the performance of the S&P 500 Index. It can be traded directly like a stock. SPX is just a numerical value representing the level of the S&P 500 Index and cannot be traded directly.

Therefore, it is not possible to invest directly in the S&P 500, but investors can invest in funds that track the performance of the index, such as ETFs and index funds. The largest S&P 500 ETF by assets under management is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, or SPY, and the largest S&P 500 mutual fund is the Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares, or VFIAX.

 

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