3. One company and its price

A fund's official documents (ETF)

ETF lists a US fund's filings with the SEC (prospectus, holdings reports, shareholder reports) and opens any of them.

  • 4 min
  • 3 questions
  • Lesson 3 of 4

Why you would care

What does this fund promise, what does it charge, and what does it actually hold? Two ETFs both say "S&P 500" on the label. One charges 0.03% a year, the other 0.50%. One holds the 500 stocks, the other uses swaps. The marketing page is a summary. The filings are what the fund is legally bound to.

The idea from scratch

An ETF (exchange-traded fund) is a fund whose shares trade on an exchange like a stock (chapter 01, Funds, ETFs and indices). Behind every US fund sits a legal entity that must file documents with the SEC, the US securities regulator.

The fund's key document is the prospectus: the rulebook. It states the fund's objective (for example "track the S&P 500"), how it invests, its risks, and its fees. The yearly fee, as a percentage of your money, is the expense ratio.

The forms you will see

485BPOS
An update to the fund's registration, usually the yearly refreshed prospectus
497
A prospectus supplement: a change or correction to the prospectus
NPORT-P
A portfolio holdings report: every position the fund held at a month's end. The public ones come out quarterly, about two months later
N-30D
A report to shareholders (results, holdings, costs)
N-CEN
A yearly census of the fund: who runs it, who holds its assets, who audits it
24F-2NT
A yearly notice of how many fund shares were sold, used to pay SEC fees
Diagram: Prospectus 485BPOS + 497: the promise leads to The fund; The fund leads to NPORT-P: what it held; The fund leads to N-30D: how it did; The fund leads to N-CEN: who runs and checks it.
Wide diagram: scroll sideways to see all of it.

See it in Gloom

Gloom screenshot: ETF SPY: the filings of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, newest first, with the form type and title of each
ETF SPY: the filings of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, newest first, with the form type and title of each. Captured 2026-10-06.

open ittype ETF SPY.

  1. Issuer SPDR S&P 500 ETF TRUST CIK 0000884394: the legal fund behind the ticker, and its CIK, the SEC's ID number for every filer.
  2. TIME: the filing date, newest first.
  3. FORM and FILING: the type and its title. NPORT-P Monthly Portfolio Holdings Report on 8/28/26 is the latest public holdings snapshot.
  4. The rhythm: NPORT-P in late February, May, August and November; the prospectus updates (485BPOS, 497) every January; N-CEN every March.
  5. Enter opens a filing inside Gloom; o opens the original on the SEC website.

Practice and recap

Try it3 tasks
  1. In the screenshot, when was the most recent prospectus update (485BPOS)? (1/26/26.)
  2. What form would you open to see SPY's holdings at a quarter's end? (NPORT-P.)
  3. Find two forms filed every year in the same month. (N-CEN in March; 24F-2NT in December.)
Common mistakes4 mistakes
  • Trusting the fund's name instead of its objective. Read the prospectus.
  • Thinking the latest holdings report is today's portfolio. It is weeks or months old.
  • Ignoring fees. A small yearly percentage compounds over decades.
  • Using ETF on a single stock. It is for funds; companies have SEC (chapter 05).
Check yourself3 questions
  1. What is a prospectus?
  2. What does an expense ratio of 0.20% cost on 5,000 dollars per year?
  3. What is a CIK?
Answers
  1. The fund's legal rulebook: objective, strategy, risks and fees.
  2. About 10 dollars.
  3. The SEC's ID number for a filer.
Words in this lesson6 words
filing
A document a company or fund sends to the regulator, made public.
prospectus
A fund's legal rulebook: objective, strategy, risks, fees.
objective
What the fund tries to do, like tracking an index.
expense ratio
The fund's yearly fee as a % of your money.
holdings report (NPORT-P)
A list of every position the fund held at a date.
CIK
The SEC's ID number for a company or fund.

Educational material about reading market data, not investment advice.