VOO max drawdown: 50.8%
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF. From its 2007-10-31 peak, VOO fell 50.8% to the 2009-02-28 trough and needed 16 months to make a new high (2012-08-31). Computed from 678 months of history starting 1970-01-31, including extended pre-ETF data where available.
Vanguard's S&P 500 fund. Same index risk profile as SPY with extended index history.
VOO drawdown statistics
2007-10-31 peak to 2009-02-28 trough.
New high reached 2012-08-31.
Share of all months spent below a prior high.
Rolling year ending 2009-02-28.
For context, SPY (the S&P 500 baseline) had a maximum drawdown of 50.8% over the same kind of monthly-close analysis.
The biggest VOO drawdowns on record
| Depth | Peak | Trough | Recovered | Peak to trough | Total underwater |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -50.8% | 2007-10-31 | 2009-02-28 | 2012-08-31 | 16 mo | 4.8 years |
| -44.7% | 2000-08-31 | 2002-09-30 | 2006-11-30 | 25 mo | 6.3 years |
| -42.7% | 1972-12-31 | 1974-09-30 | 1976-06-30 | 21 mo | 3.5 years |
| -29.8% | 1987-08-31 | 1987-11-30 | 1989-05-31 | 3 mo | 21 months |
| -23.9% | 2021-12-31 | 2022-09-30 | 2023-12-31 | 9 mo | 2.0 years |
Methodology: monthly closing prices, peak-to-trough on total return where available. History extends before the ETF's launch via documented proxy chains (index funds, indices, and academic series), the same data that powers BestFolio's strategy backtests. Educational information, not investment advice.
Drawdowns are the reason tactical strategies exist
Buy-and-hold VOO means living through every number on this page. BestFolio tracks 46+ published TAA strategies whose whole job is cutting these drawdowns, with out-of-sample track records.