SPY vs VWO: how much do they really overlap?
SPY (SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, tracking the S&P 500) and VWO (Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF, tracking the FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap) overlap by roughly 0% by weight. 0 of SPY's top 10 holdings also appear in VWO. A 50/50 blend of the two behaves like about 96 equally-weighted bets (diversification grade A). In short, the two funds hold almost none of the same securities — they are complementary, not redundant.
The same companies, in both funds
These 0 holdings appear in both SPY and VWO. The weight columns show how much of each fund each name represents.
| Holding | in SPY | in VWO |
|---|
Only in SPY
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust — US large-cap. Its biggest holdings that VWO doesn’t have:
| NVDA NVIDIA Corporation | 7.38% |
| AAPL Apple Inc. | 6.47% |
| MSFT Microsoft Corporation | 4.28% |
| AMZN Amazon.com, Inc. | 3.68% |
| GOOGL Alphabet Inc. | 3.24% |
| AVGO Broadcom Inc. | 2.76% |
| GOOG Alphabet Inc. | 2.60% |
| MU Micron Technology, Inc. | 2.02% |
Only in VWO
Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF — emerging markets. Its biggest holdings that SPY doesn’t have:
| 2330 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. | 14.64% |
| 700 Tencent Holdings Ltd. | 2.74% |
| 9988 Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. | 2.26% |
| 2454 MediaTek Inc. | 1.62% |
| 2308 Delta Electronics Inc. | 1.20% |
| 2317 Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd. | 0.90% |
| RELIANCE Reliance Industries Ltd. | 0.77% |
| 939 China Construction Bank Corp. Class H | 0.77% |
So — essentially different. Should you hold both?
SPY and VWO hold almost none of the same securities — they are complementary, not redundant. Held together they genuinely broaden your exposure — a 50/50 blend reaches ~96 effective positions (grade A), because they hold largely different securities.
Holdings as of — SPY: Jun 29, 2026 (State Street Global Advisors); VWO: May 31, 2026 (Vanguard). Refreshed monthly. Overlap is measured across each fund’s largest holdings (top 50); the diffuse long tail barely moves the math.
See this for YOUR whole portfolio, free →SPY vs VWO — FAQ
- How much do SPY and VWO overlap?
- SPY and VWO overlap by approximately 0% measured by portfolio weight — that is the share of the smaller fund's holdings (by weight) that also sit inside the other. 0 of SPY's 10 largest holdings are also held by VWO. They share 0 of their listed top holdings in total.
- Is it redundant to hold both SPY and VWO?
- Because they hold almost none of the same securities — they are complementary, not redundant, holding both is not redundant — each fund covers largely different holdings, so together they broaden your exposure. A 50/50 blend has an effective 96 positions and a A diversification grade.
- What does VWO hold that SPY doesn't?
- VWO's largest holdings that SPY doesn't hold include 2330, 700, 9988, 2454, 2308. Its category is emerging markets, versus SPY's US large-cap.
- Which is more concentrated, SPY or VWO?
- SPY's top 10 holdings are 71% of its listed weight; VWO's are 66%. The more concentrated fund leans harder on its largest names.