XLE max drawdown: 63.9%
Energy Select Sector SPDR. From its 2014-06-30 peak, XLE fell 63.9% to the 2020-03-31 trough and needed 5.8 years to make a new high (2022-03-31). Computed from 678 months of history starting 1970-01-31, including extended pre-ETF data where available.
Energy sector, a decade underwater after 2014 and the 2020 collapse.
XLE drawdown statistics
2014-06-30 peak to 2020-03-31 trough.
New high reached 2022-03-31.
Share of all months spent below a prior high.
Rolling year ending 2020-03-31.
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 XLE drawdowns on record
| Depth | Peak | Trough | Recovered | Peak to trough | Total underwater |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -63.9% | 2014-06-30 | 2020-03-31 | 2022-03-31 | 69 mo | 7.8 years |
| -53.1% | 2008-06-30 | 2009-02-28 | 2013-07-31 | 8 mo | 5.1 years |
| -43.4% | 1980-11-30 | 1982-07-31 | 1987-03-31 | 20 mo | 6.3 years |
| -36.3% | 1973-12-31 | 1974-09-30 | 1975-06-30 | 9 mo | 18 months |
| -35.7% | 2001-04-30 | 2002-09-30 | 2004-07-31 | 17 mo | 3.3 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 XLE 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.