What Are RSP and EQWL? 2026 Equal-Weight ETF Guide: 0.2% Per S&P 500 Stock, and How It Differs from VOO

People who buy VOO often say they are “diversified across 500 US companies.” Technically true, but open the holdings list and things look less simple: as of November 2026, VOO’s top 10 holdings add up to 39.1%, and NVIDIA alone is 8.4%.

In other words, for every 100 dollars you put into VOO, nearly 40 land on 10 companies, while the other 490 share the remaining 60.

That isn’t VOO’s fault. It’s the nature of “market-cap weighting”: the bigger the company, the bigger the weight. When things go up it feels great, because the giants carry you; but if the tech giants pull back together one day, there’s no escape.

That’s why one type of ETF has become increasingly popular in recent years: the equal-weight ETF. The two most representative ones are today’s topic: RSP and EQWL.

Data in this article is as of the 2026-11-11 close (sources at the end). ETF size, returns and holdings change daily, so please refer to the latest official disclosures.

1. What Is Equal Weighting? In One Sentence: No Matter How Big You Are, Everyone Gets the Same Share

Let’s start with a simple analogy.

Market-cap weighting is like handing out lunch boxes by body weight: the big eaters (NVIDIA, Apple, Microsoft) get the largest portions, while small companies get a few bites.

Equal weighting ignores body weight and gives everyone the same lunch box. NVIDIA gets 0.2%, and a water-treatment company you’ve never heard of also gets 0.2%.

This design has three direct consequences:

1. Much lower concentration: no single company dominates your returns.
2. Smaller companies matter more: companies that barely register in a cap-weighted index stand shoulder to shoulder with the giants.
3. Regular rebalancing is required: winners naturally grow their weight, so every quarter they get “trimmed” back and the money moves into the laggards. That’s a built-in sell high, buy low discipline.

2. RSP: S&P 500 Equal Weight, About 0.2% Per Stock

RSP (Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF) is the big brother of equal-weight ETFs. Launched in April 2003, it was the world’s first S&P 500 equal-weight ETF and is still the largest. In September 2026, its assets officially passed US$100 billion.

The logic is simple:

• Index tracked: S&P 500 Equal Weight Index
• Constituents: exactly the same S&P 500 constituents as VOO (including multiple share classes for some companies, about 509 holdings)
• Weight: about 0.2% per company (1 ÷ 500)
• Rebalancing: once per quarter (March, June, September, December), pulling every company back to equal weight

The number to watch is a top-10 total of only 2.78%. Compare that with VOO’s 39.1% and you can see these are completely different creatures: RSP’s top 10 includes companies like Moderna, PTC and Accenture, each at only 0.25%–0.38%, simply because their prices rose a bit more since the last rebalance.

3. EQWL: Only the Top 100 US Companies, About 1% Each

EQWL (Invesco S&P 100 Equal Weight ETF) takes a different approach: instead of all 500 companies, it holds only the S&P 100, roughly the 100 largest and most representative US blue chips, and weights them equally.

• Index tracked: S&P 100 Equal Weight Index
• Constituents: S&P 100 constituents (104 holdings, including different share classes of the same company)
• Weight: about 1% each
• Rebalancing: once per quarter

Think of EQWL as a “big-company club, one member one vote.” The holdings are household names like Walmart, Costco, P&G, Eli Lilly and AbbVie, with no small companies; but NVIDIA and Apple don’t get a cent more than Costco.

One caveat: EQWL launched in 2006, but according to TradingView it only switched to tracking the S&P 100 Equal Weight Index in June 2019; before that it tracked a different large-cap equal-weight index. So when you look at its history beyond 10 years, know that the early years were run on “a different index.”

4. RSP vs EQWL vs VOO: All Three Side by Side

Put the three together and the differences become clear:

Return Comparison (total return, dividends included)

This table is interesting because it tells two stories at once:

Story one: in the short term, equal weight wins. The market’s mood shifted in 2026, with money flowing from the tech giants into other sectors, and RSP is ahead of VOO by more than 5 percentage points this year. That’s also why its assets broke US$100 billion this year.

Story two: over the long term, market-cap weighting still wins. The past 10 years were the golden decade of the tech giants: the bigger the company, the more it rose, so VOO’s 15.2% annualized beat RSP’s 12.2%. In dollar terms: US$10,000 invested in each 10 years ago would today be about US$41,000 in VOO, US$39,000 in EQWL and US$32,000 in RSP.

EQWL sits right in the middle. It holds only large companies, so it captures the “long-term edge of large caps”; and because it’s equal-weighted, it isn’t held hostage by a few names. Its 5- and 10-year annualized returns are close to VOO’s.

5. Pros and Costs of Equal Weighting

Pros

• Real diversification: no single giant’s crash can drag down the whole portfolio. If you worry about an AI bubble, this is one of the most direct hedges.
• Built-in sell high, buy low: quarterly rebalancing automatically trims winners and adds to laggards, no willpower required.
• Better in rotations: when money moves out of big tech into other sectors (like in 2026), equal weight usually comes out ahead.

Costs

• Higher expense ratio: RSP 0.20%, EQWL 0.25%, which is 7–8 times VOO’s 0.03%. On NT$1 million, that’s an extra NT$1,700–2,200 a year, every year.
• Higher turnover: quarterly rebalancing means more trading and higher transaction costs than cap-weighted funds.
• Lags when giants surge: the past 10 years are the best example. Equal weighting deliberately “underbuys” the strongest companies, which hurts in a winners-keep-winning era.
• EQWL is small and thinly traded: average daily volume is only tens of thousands of shares, so the bid-ask spread can be wider than RSP or VOO. Use limit orders.

6. How Can Taiwanese Investors Buy? Three Things to Watch

RSP and EQWL are both listed on NYSE Arca in the US. Taiwanese investors can buy them through sub-brokerage (複委託) or an overseas broker. Keep in mind:

1. Dividends are subject to 30% US withholding tax: both pay quarterly, and 30% is withheld before the money reaches you. A 1.4%–1.5% yield drops to roughly 1% after tax. See EP72 on US dividend tax for details.
2. Minimum commission: sub-brokerage usually has a minimum fee, so do the math on your real cost ratio for small regular investments.
3. Use limit orders for EQWL: with low volume, avoid market orders that fill at a poor price.

7. Lazy Da’s Take: Equal Weight Is a Side Dish, Not the Main Course

Let me be upfront about my own allocation: I don’t own RSP or EQWL. My core holdings are 0050, the S&P 500 and QQQ, and I buy the US portion through regular sub-brokerage investments.

So why write about these two? Because I’ve noticed many people buy VOO without knowing how much they’re betting on the tech giants. The biggest value of equal-weight ETFs is that they force you to see what “diversification” really means.

Here’s how I see it:

• If you’re a beginner: skip them for now. Use low-cost cap-weighted ETFs like VT or VOO for your core; the higher fees of equal weight are no small thing over decades of compounding.
• If you already own VOO/QQQ and worry about tech concentration: consider putting a small slice (say 10%–20%) into RSP as a “balancer.” When the giants rise, VOO carries you; when they fall, RSP cushions you.
• If you only want big companies but don’t want a few names calling the shots: EQWL is the purer choice, as long as you accept its small size and thin liquidity.

In the end, neither equal weighting nor cap weighting is smarter. They simply bet on different futures: cap weighting bets on “the strong stay strong,” equal weighting bets on “mean reversion.” You don’t need to guess which will win; you just need to know what you’re betting on.

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• RSP: S&P 500 equal weight, about 0.2% per stock, rebalanced quarterly, top 10 only 2.78%, expense ratio 0.20%, assets over US$100 billion: the flagship of equal weighting.
• EQWL: S&P 100 equal weight, about 1% per stock, holds only the top 100 US blue chips, expense ratio 0.25%, small and less liquid.
• Versus VOO: equal weight is well ahead in 2026, but cap weighting won over the past 10 years. Equal weight bets on “mean reversion”; cap weighting bets on “the strong stay strong.”

Lazy Da’s note: Equal-weight ETFs aren’t meant to replace VOO. They’re a mirror that shows how diversified your “diversification” really is. Keep your core low-cost, and if tech concentration genuinely worries you, use a small slice of equal weight to balance it.

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Disclaimer

This article is for education and information only and does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell. Past performance does not guarantee future returns, and ETF investing carries the risk of loss. Before making any investment decision, please assess your own financial situation and risk tolerance. For personalized advice, please consult a licensed financial advisor or planner.

Data Updates and Sources (as of 2026-11-11)

• RSP price, assets (about US$104.95 billion), expense ratio 0.20%, 509 holdings, top 10 combined 2.78%, yield 1.43%, beta 0.92, total returns (YTD 17.62%, 1-year 19.92%, 5-year annualized 8.56%, 10-year annualized 12.18%): Stock Analysis (as of the 2026-11-11 close) https://stockanalysis.com/etf/rsp/
• RSP passing US$100 billion in assets: Invesco press release (2026-09-01, PR Newswire)
• EQWL assets (about US$2.74 billion), expense ratio 0.25%, 104 holdings, top 10 combined 12.23%, yield 1.54%, beta 0.90, total returns (YTD 14.75%, 1-year 17.43%, 5-year annualized 11.48%, 10-year annualized 14.48%): Stock Analysis (as of the 2026-11-11 close) https://stockanalysis.com/etf/eqwl/
• EQWL switching to the S&P 100 Equal Weight Index on 2019-06-24: TradingView fund data (single source; refer to the Invesco prospectus) https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/EQWL/
• VOO assets, expense ratio 0.03%, top 10 combined 39.11% (NVIDIA 8.39%), yield 1.06%, total returns (YTD 12.32%, 1-year 12.76%, 5-year annualized 11.94%, 10-year annualized 15.24%): Stock Analysis (as of the 2026-11-11 close) https://stockanalysis.com/etf/voo/
• US$10,000 invested 10 years ago: compounded from the 10-year annualized returns above, excluding taxes and transaction costs
• Invesco official fund pages: https://www.invesco.com/us/financial-products/etfs/product-detail?audienceType=Investor&ticker=RSP, https://www.invesco.com/us/financial-products/etfs/product-detail?audienceType=Investor&ticker=EQWL

If the data is updated, a note will be added at the bottom of this article. If you spot an error, feel free to contact Lazy Da.

About Lazy Da I’m Mars, CEO of Hippo Insurance (河馬保險), with over 15 years in finance and tech. Every week I share money concepts through “Lazy to Be Rich,” aiming to help beginners in Taiwan avoid costly mistakes. All data in this article includes source links and as-of dates.

⚠️ This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute personal investment advice. Investing involves risk; please evaluate carefully.