In short: The S&P 500 index tracks 500 large publicly traded large-cap companies in the United States, representing a major share of total US stock market valuation. European retail investors access this benchmark through physical UCITS ETFs issued by Vanguard (VUAA, VUSA) and iShares (CSPX, IUSA), with ongoing charges of 0.07% annually.
In short
The S&P 500 is a widely followed index of large US companies. In Europe, private investors often track this index using specific ETFs, such as VUAA, VUSA, CSPX or IUSA. These investment funds are domiciled in Ireland and are governed by the European UCITS framework. This page explains how the underlying index is constructed, what the differences are between the four share classes, and why well-known American alternatives are generally not available here.
How the index is built
The index is maintained by the provider S&P Dow Jones Indices. It contains approximately 500 large US companies. Because some companies issue multiple share classes, the index practically consists of slightly more than 500 share lines. Together, these companies account for roughly 80% of the total value of the US stock market.
Not every large American company is simply added to the S&P 500. An Index Committee selects the constituents based on published eligibility rules. For example, a company must have a US domicile. Furthermore, the committee assesses the overall size and the trading liquidity of the shares. There must also be sufficient free float, meaning a large enough portion of the shares is freely tradable on the stock exchange. Additionally, a company is required to show positive earnings to be considered. Therefore, being the largest company does not automatically guarantee a place in the index.
Once a company meets the rules and is selected, its weight in the index depends on its free-float market value. This ensures that the largest companies naturally make up a large share of the complete index.
According to Vanguard’s factsheet the index held 503 stocks on 31 August 2026. The ten largest companies together made up about 39.3% of the Vanguard fund’s assets.
What is in it and what is not
When you follow this index, you invest exclusively in the United States and only in large companies. Because it focuses entirely on a single country, the spread is smaller than that of a global index such as the MSCI World. This geographic concentration means the value of your investment can fall and rise significantly. What a strongly concentrated market went through in the years 2000 to 2002 is covered in the article on the dot-com bubble. That is history, not a forecast.
Another factor is the currency. The underlying shares of these companies are priced in US dollars. If you invest using euros, the EUR/USD exchange rate will affect the final value of your portfolio. You can read more about how this works under currency costs in the glossary.
The funds
Four share classes of two funds track this index. They all follow the exact same index and have the same ongoing costs of 0.07% in the calculator. This list is a factual overview, not a recommendation to buy any of them. Both underlying funds operate under the UCITS framework, the European rules for investment funds sold to the public. Moreover, they all share Ireland as their domicile.
The funds are issued by two different providers: Vanguard and iShares. Both issuers offer an accumulating share class and a distributing share class. In the accumulating variants (VUAA and CSPX), dividends are automatically reinvested. In the distributing variants (VUSA and IUSA), dividends are paid out four times a year. If you want to know where to find these products, check the FAQ on funds and brokers. If any dividend tax is involved, the exact treatment depends on your individual situation.
All four funds buy the shares themselves (physical replication). The Vanguard fund tracks the index in full or substantially in full and uses a sample where that is not practical. Launch dates: VUSA on 22 May 2012, VUAA on 14 May 2019, CSPX on 19 May 2010 and IUSA on 15 March 2002. The iShares fund held 505 positions on 1 October 2026, the Vanguard fund 504 on 31 August 2026.
This is general information, not tax or investment advice. For your own situation, consult a qualified tax adviser, a financial adviser licensed by the AFM (the Dutch financial markets authority) or the Belastingdienst.
| Fund | Class | Ticker (EUR) | ISIN | Ongoing costs | Dividend | Check date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF | accumulating | VUAA | IE00BFMXXD54 | 0.07% | reinvested | Nov 2026 |
| Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF | distributing | VUSA | IE00B3XXRP09 | 0.07% | 4 times a year | Oct 2026 |
| iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF | accumulating | CSPX | IE00B5BMR087 | 0.07% | reinvested | Nov 2026 |
| iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF | distributing | IUSA | IE0031442068 | 0.07% | 4 times a year | Oct 2026 |
The official documents are on the issuer’s site:
- VUAA: KID, published on Vanguard’s website
- VUSA: KID, published on Vanguard’s website
- CSPX: KID and factsheet, published on the iShares website
- IUSA: KID and factsheet, published on the iShares website
VUAA’s KID in plain words
Every fund sold to private investors in the EU must publish a Key Information Document (KID): three pages with the costs, the risk and example scenarios, in a fixed format. Below are the figures from VUAA’s KID, each with what it means. We read the document every month and note when something changes on our changes page.
| Figure | What the KID says | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Ongoing costs | 0.07% a year | Management and running costs, taken from the fund’s value. This is the figure most sites call the TER. |
| Transaction costs | 0.00% a year | The fund’s own costs of buying and selling shares, on top of the 0.07%. Together 0.07% a year. |
| Risk class | 4 out of 7, “a medium risk class” | A scale from 1 to 7 based on past price swings. It describes the past; it is not a promise. |
| Recommended holding period | 5 years | The period the KID calculates its scenarios for. You can sell earlier, but the result can then differ more. |
| Warning | “not simple and may be difficult to understand” | The KID says this about the fund itself. It is a reason to read the figures slowly, not a sign that something is wrong. |
| Depositary | “no compensation or guarantee scheme” if the depositary fails | The depositary is the bank that keeps the fund’s assets. The protection of your broker account is a separate matter. |
How the “moderate scenario” moved
The scenarios in a KID are recalculated every month from the past ten years of the fund and its benchmark, so they move with the market even when the fund itself does not change. Between 31 December 2023 and 30 September 2026 the moderate one-year figure for VUAA went from 12.50% to 16.10% a year.
| KID scenarios as at | Moderate, 1 year | Stress, 1 year |
|---|---|---|
| 31 December 2023 | 12.50% | −90.40% |
| 30 June 2024 | 13.00% | −90.30% |
| 31 December 2024 | 14.80% | −90.30% |
| 30 June 2025 | 15.20% | −69.20% |
| 31 December 2025 | 16.00% | −69.20% |
| 30 June 2026 | 16.00% | −69.20% |
| 30 September 2026 | 16.10% | −69.20% |
Read a scenario as “what the recent past would have given”, not as what you will get. The stress figure shows the other side: in the same document, a bad year could mean a large loss.
Why not VOO or SPY?
Many investors read online about American ETFs like VOO or SPY. However, brokers in the European Union usually do not offer these funds to retail investors. The reason lies in the European PRIIPs regulations. These rules dictate that providers must supply a standardised information document: the KID (Key Information Document).
Most US-domiciled funds do not publish a KID that meets the European requirements. Under EU PRIIPs rules, a KID must be provided to retail investors before investing; without it, EU brokers generally do not make those ETFs available to retail clients. The Irish UCITS funds in this overview do have that document.
Sources and check date
Information about the index and the selection criteria comes from the methodology and factsheet provided by S&P Dow Jones Indices. The rules concerning the mandatory information document are set out in Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 (PRIIPs). The data for the four funds is based on the KIDs and factsheets from iShares and Vanguard. For more details on these documents, read the article on how to read a factsheet. The figures in the table are correct as of the check date in each row (September and October 2026). Further links can be found under the sources on our ETFs overview page. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. The fund data come from Vanguard’s factsheet (31 August 2026), Vanguard’s KID (29 September 2026) and the iShares product page (1 and 2 October 2026).
Facts checked on 3 October 2026.
Source of the fund data: the issuers' factsheets and KIDs. Where the data comes from