Data as of Nov 4, 2026.
CSM vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Nov 4, 2026, CSM returned +14.4% to SPY's +14.8%, and SPY charges 0.09% to CSM's 0.45%.
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Net assets: $521m on Nov 4, 2026 for ProShares Large Cap Core Plus, and $804.8bn on Nov 3, 2026 for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.
Pair scorecard
SPY costs 0.36 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.4 points; SPY is far larger, $804.8bn against $512m.
| Measure | CSM | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +14.4% | +14.8% |
| Total return, 52 weeks | +13.7% | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | not published | S&P 500 Index |
| Treasury bills, 52 weeks | +3.7% | |
| Against cash | 10.1 points ahead | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.45% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, as of Nov 3, 2026 | $512m | $804.8bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 100% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 37.3% | |
| Risk | ||
| Correlation with the S&P 500’s weekly returns | +0.98 | |
| Beta to the S&P 500 | +0.94: about 0.94% for each 1% | |
| Its average week when the S&P 500 fell | fell 0.97% | |
| Down-week capture | 90.7% | |
| Weeks the S&P 500 fell | 26 of 52, by 1.07% on average | |
Side by side
CSM and SPY on the fields both publish, as of Nov 4, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
CSM
CSM is a long-short equity fund. ETFIQ measures what every alternatives fund is sold on: whether it moves differently from the stock market. Over the year to Nov 4, 2026, its weekly returns had a correlation of +0.98 with the S&P 500’s and a beta of +0.94, so for each 1% the index moved it moved about 0.94% the same way. The S&P 500 fell in 26 of those 52 weeks, by 1.07% on average. In the same weeks CSM fell 0.97% on average, a down-week capture of 90.7%. Over the same 52 weeks CSM returned +13.7% and a Treasury bill fund +3.7%, so it finished 10.1 percentage points ahead of cash.
SPY
SPY tracks the S&P 500. Over the year to Nov 4, 2026 it returned +14.8% with distributions reinvested, against +14.8% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Nov 3, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 504 positions, with the top ten at 37.3%.
Questions people ask
- Are CSM and SPY in the same category?
- CSM is an alternatives ETF and SPY is a stock ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
- Which returned more over the last year, CSM or SPY?
- In the year to Nov 4, 2026, with distributions reinvested, CSM returned +14.4% and SPY +14.8%.
- Which is cheaper, CSM or SPY?
- SPY is cheaper, by 0.36 percentage points a year. That is about $36 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.
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ETFIQ, CSM against SPY, data as of Nov 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/csm-vs-spy
ETFIQ. (Nov 4, 2026). CSM against SPY. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/csm-vs-spy
[CSM against SPY (ETFIQ, Nov 4, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/csm-vs-spy)
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