Designed to provide broad exposure to the Technology ETFs category of the market, the SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF (XSW) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 09/28/2011.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
Products that are based on market cap weighted indexes, which are strategies designed to reflect a specific market segment or the market as a whole, have traditionally dominated the ETF industry.
Market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, and are a good option for investors who believe in market efficiency.
If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.
This kind of index follows this same mindset, as it attempts to pick stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance; non-cap weighted strategies base selection on certain fundamental characteristics, or a mix of such characteristics.
This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is managed by State Street Investment Management. XSW has been able to amass assets over $479.48 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Technology ETFs. XSW, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the S&P Software & Services Select Industry Index.
The S&P Software & Services Select Industry Index represents the software sub-industry portion of the S&P Total Stock Market Index. The S&P TMI tracks all the U.S. common stocks listed on the NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ National Market and NASDAQ Global Select Market. The Software Index is a modified equal weight index.
Cost & Other Expenses
Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.
Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.35% for XSW, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.
XSW's 12-month trailing dividend yield is 0.06%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
Representing 96% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector.
When you look at individual holdings, Cipher Mining Inc (CIFR) accounts for about 1.9% of the fund's total assets, followed by Terawulf Inc (WULF) and Unity Software Inc (U).
Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 12.78% of XSW's total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF has added about 6.38% so far, and was up about 20.51% over the last 12 months (as of 10/22/2025). XSW has traded between $141.65 $205.24 in this past 52-week period.
XSW has a beta of 1.19 and standard deviation of 25.79% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a high risk choice in the space. With about 139 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Technology ETFs segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.
Invesco AI and Next Gen Software ETF (IGPT) tracks STOXX WORLD AC NEXGEN SOFTWARE DEV ID and the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) tracks S&P North American Technology-Software Index. Invesco AI and Next Gen Software ETF has $621.29 million in assets, iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF has $9.86 billion. IGPT has an expense ratio of 0.58% and IGV changes 0.39%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Technology ETFs
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
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SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF (XSW): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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