You can't buy the S&P 500 itself. It is an index that measures 500 large US companies. You buy a fund built to copy it. In Europe, this usually means an exchange-traded fund, or ETF, that meets the EU UCITS fund standard and is bought through an investment platform. Here are the six steps, the real costs, and the risks.
One recent example shows why the index keeps changing. On 30 October 2026, S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that Okta was set to replace Kenvue in the S&P 500 before trading opened on 4 November 2026. You don't have to do anything when that happens. The fund handles it for you.
Key takeaways
- You buy a fund that tracks the index, never the index itself.
- Ongoing charges run from 0.03% to 0.07% a year on mainstream European S&P 500 funds.
- It holds 500 large US companies and can fall sharply.
What the S&P 500 actually is
It's a list, not a product. S&P Dow Jones Indices describes it as measuring large US company performance. On 2 November 2026, it held 500 companies weighted by their tradable market value. In plain words, the bigger the company's tradable shares, the more it moves the index.
That weighting matters more than most beginners expect. In the official holdings snapshot dated 29 October 2026, the ten largest S&P 500 holdings had a combined weight of about 37.4%, counting Alphabet's two share classes separately.
Companies do not get in automatically. They must meet rules on size, financial health, available shares and ease of trading. S&P DJI's US Index Committee makes the final decision.
The index level itself is just a number. On 30 October 2026 the S&P 500 fell 140.32 points, or 1.82%, to close at 7,580.07. That's a level, not a price you pay.
ETF or index fund: what the difference really is
In Europe, these are closely related fund types. ESMA, the EU markets regulator, defines a UCITS ETF as a UCITS fund with shares traded through the day on an exchange. The main difference is how you trade it.
| What it is | How you buy it | Who it tends to suit |
|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 UCITS ETF | On an exchange at market prices during the trading day | People who want to see the price when they buy |
| Conventional open-ended index fund | Bought or redeemed once daily at that day's fund value | People buying a set amount monthly |
| The 500 shares yourself | 500 separate orders, rebalanced by you | Almost nobody |
For picking individual companies instead, see our step-by-step guide to buying Nvidia stock in Europe.
A US ticker you read about online is often not something you can buy here. VOO and SPY are generally not available to EEA retail clients through brokers that block US-listed ETFs without a PRIIPs Key Information Document. This is a short EU disclosure sheet. FXAIX is a Fidelity US mutual fund, not an ETF, and availability depends on your broker. SPLG isn't even the right ticker any more: State Street changed it to SPYM effective 31 October 2025.
How to buy an S&P 500 fund from Europe, step by step
1. Open an account with a regulated investment platform. Identity check, bank link, money in. Account types and any tax-advantaged wrappers differ by country.
2. Find the UCITS version. UCITS is the EU fund standard. It uses an independent depositary to safeguard assets and normally limits a fund to 5% of assets in one company. Search by fund name and ISIN. An ISIN is the fund's unique identification code. One fund can list on several exchanges under different tickers.
| Fund (examples, not recommendations) | ISIN | Ongoing charge |
|---|---|---|
| iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF (Acc) | IE00B5BMR087 | 0.07% |
| Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF (USD) Acc | IE00BFMXXD54 | 0.07% |
| Invesco S&P 500 UCITS ETF Acc | IE00B3YCGJ38 | 0.05% |
| Amundi Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF Acc | IE000UBAW7M3 | 0.03% management and operating costs |
Size varies a lot. On 30 October 2026, the iShares fund held USD 156.93 billion in fund net assets. On 15 October 2026, the Amundi fund had USD 25.94 million in assets under management. On 21 October 2026, Ossiam listed an S&P 500 UCITS ETF on Deutsche Börse with a stated 0.05% fee.
3. Know what the KID contains. The Key Information Document sets out the objective, intended investor, key risks, possible maximum loss, performance scenarios, and costs in money and percentage terms.
4. Pick accumulating or distributing. Accumulating share classes keep the income inside the fund, so it shows up in the price per share. Distributing classes pay it out to you. Tax treatment depends on your country and circumstances.
5. Choose your amount and order type. A market order buys straight away at the going price. A limit order sets your maximum but may not fill.
6. Decide whether to repeat it monthly. Scalable Capital offers recurring ETF savings plans from €1 and may buy fractions of a share when needed. Trade Republic allows fractional purchases from €1, with a €1 external settlement charge per fractional buy or sell. Trading 212 supports recurring investing and fractional trading, with a published typical minimum order of one unit of the account currency. From 1 September 2026, Scalable Capital charged €1.99 per Xetra or gettex order, while Trade Republic offered €1 Best Price and €2 Direct Price orders from 2 July 2026.
What it really costs
Six things can take a bite. The fund's ongoing charge comes out inside the fund, and for mainstream unhedged S&P 500 UCITS ETFs it currently runs from 0.03% to 0.07% a year. Invesco notes its ongoing charge covers management, custody and administration but excludes the fund's own transaction costs.
Then the platform. DEGIRO's Irish schedule lists €2 commission plus €1 handling per worldwide ETF trade, a connectivity fee capped at €2.50 a year per applicable exchange, and a 0.25% currency conversion charge. Currency charges elsewhere sit in a similar band: Trading 212 lists 0.15%, and Nordnet Norway lists 0.15% with a currency account or 0.5% for automatic conversion.
The bid-offer spread is the fifth cost, and DEGIRO identifies it as an implicit cost you pay without seeing a line item. Sixth, local taxes. Ireland's CCPC says its 1% stamp duty generally applies to Irish-company shares but not ETFs, and France's tax authority excludes ETF units from its financial-transaction tax.
Diversified, but not the whole world
An S&P 500 fund spreads your money across many companies, but it focuses on large US companies rather than companies across the world. Several of those are the big US technology groups covered in our ranking of the biggest AI companies in 2026.
A global equity fund can include companies from other regions and smaller firms. Neither choice is automatically right. The question is whether you want large US companies specifically, or the broader market.
Risks
- The index can fall hard and stay down. It dropped 1.82% in a single session on 30 October 2026.
- Concentration: 500 companies, one country, one size band, with about 37.4% in ten holdings.
- Currency: buying in euros or krona does not remove US dollar exposure. A hedged share class is a different product with its own cost.
- Selling during a fall turns a paper loss into a real one.
- Money you may need within a few years should not be in equities at all.
This article is for information only and is not investment advice.
Frequently asked questions
Why can't I just buy VOO or SPY?
PRIIPs, the EU retail disclosure rule, requires a manufacturer to publish a Key Information Document before a product is made available to retail investors, and a seller to hand it over before you're bound. US-listed ETFs without one are generally blocked for EEA retail clients. The European Commission has said access to US-domiciled funds is possible where national rules permit retail marketing and the fund meets the KID requirement.
How much money do I need to start?
It depends on the platform. Scalable Capital runs ETF savings plans from €1, Trade Republic's stated fractional minimum is €1, and Trading 212's published typical minimum order is one unit of your account currency.
What does the depositary actually protect?
Under UCITS rules an independent depositary safeguards the fund's assets and oversees compliance, with asset segregation and depositary liability for assets lost in custody. That's protection against the fund operator failing, not against the market falling.
Does the fund change when a company leaves the index?
Yes, and the fund does it for you. When S&P Dow Jones Indices announced Okta would replace Kenvue before trading opened on 4 November 2026, following Kimberly-Clark's expected acquisition of Kenvue, tracker funds adjust their holdings accordingly.
Is an ETF or an index fund better for a beginner?
Neither is automatically better. ETFs trade on an exchange during the day at market prices, while conventional funds are bought or redeemed once daily at net asset value.
Sources
- S&P Dow Jones Indices: Okta Set to Join S&P 500; Kenvue Set to Be Removed (30 October 2026)
- S&P Dow Jones Indices: S&P U.S. Indices Methodology
- ESMA: Guidelines on ETFs and other UCITS issues
- iShares: iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF
- Scalable Capital: ETF Savings Plan
- Scalable Capital: Newsroom: Scalable Derivatives
- Trade Republic: New trading technology and pricing
- DEGIRO: Fees
Cover photo by Aditya Vyas on Unsplash.
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