# How Bank of New York Mellon (BNY) compares with the whole market and its popular alternatives

> Source: EasyCompare research, https://easycompare.io/research/bny
> Data as of October 20, 2026. Total returns include reinvested dividends. Past performance does not predict future results; nothing here is investment advice.

Built by QuantCommons' quantitative engine, this page is about relative opportunity, not data on BNY alone. It places BNY (Bank of New York Mellon Corp) against 9 popular alternatives, its neighboring categories and the entire market of over 10,000 U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs, and surfaces what has done better on consistent outperformance, return for the risk taken, behavior in real market crashes and diversification. The result is a clearer view of where BNY stands in the market, and of the alternatives worth a closer look.

Period covered: BNY's full trading record, from October 1986 through September 2026. All returns include reinvested dividends. Data as of October 20, 2026.

## Key findings

- **Right now:** Over the past 3 months, BNY fell 7.7% while the S&P 500 rose 3.9%.
- **Stock or market?:** The weakness is BNY's own: it fell 7.7% over the past 3 months while the banks ETF XLF (State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF) fell 0.2%. The S&P 500 rose 3.9%.
- **Past 1 to 3 years:** BNY has run far ahead of the market, rising 35.3% over the past year against 15.8% for the S&P 500 and 17.9% for the Nasdaq 100. The same gap shows up over 3 years (272% against 89.3%). BNY lagged its bank peers in 2023, then moved up the pack in 2025.
- **Long term:** BNY turned $10,000 into $44,100 over the past decade, against $42,100 in the S&P 500. BNY's 10-year return of 341% puts it ahead of 77% of the stocks worth at least $300 million with that much history. The S&P 500 returned 321%.
- **In a crash:** BNY fell harder than the S&P 500 in six of seven sell-offs. The late-2018 sell-off was the exception: BNY fell 16.2%, less than the S&P 500's 19.3%.
- **Diversification:** BNY is more of the same, not a cushion: a correlation of 0.68 with the S&P 500 over 5 years and 0.69 with the total US market, more closely than 97% of stocks worth at least $300 million.
- **Better options**
  - **Nearby categories and themes:** HSBC (banks) earned more than BNY over the past 5 years with similar volatility: 33.1% a year at 25.9% volatility, against 22.7% a year at 24.4%.
  - **Whole market:** Few investments have done better on both counts: only two of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than BNY with less volatility over the past 5 years, among them COR (Cencora) and DXJ (WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund).

## How much would $10,000 in BNY have grown?

This chart tracks a hypothetical $10,000 investment in BNY over the past 29 years, with dividends reinvested, alongside the same amount in the S&P 500, investments that ended ahead of BNY over the same span and BNY's popular alternatives, among those that traded for the entire period.

- $10,000 invested in BNY at the end of September 1997 would have grown to $121,131 by September 2026, less than the $132,907 it would have become in SPY, an S&P 500 fund.
- Five of the eight other investments on the chart ended ahead of BNY, and LLY finished highest, at $396,376.

## BNY at a glance

This section summarizes the key facts about the stock, its returns over periods from one to ten years and the risk it has carried, with dividends reinvested throughout.

- BNY's deepest decline since it began trading in 1986 was 72.3%, from August 1989 to October 1990. It took 24 months from the low to climb back to its old high.
- Over 29 full calendar years, BNY's best was 1997, when it returned 75.3%, and its worst was 2008, when it lost 40.4%. It lost money in eight of those years.
- BNY is 12.5% below its all-time high.

- Type: Stock, Financials (Investment - Banking & Investment Services)
- Trading since: October 17, 1986
- Market value: $98B
- Volatility (5 years): 24.4%; Sharpe ratio: 0.97
- Worst decline ever: −72.3%, from August 3, 1989 to October 30, 1990; back at its high by October 15, 1992

| Period | BNY total return |
| --- | --- |
| 1 month | −6.3% |
| 3 months | −7.7% |
| 6 months | +7.4% |
| year to date | +24.8% |
| 1 year | +35.3% |
| 3 years | +272% |
| 5 years | +179% |
| 10 years | +341% |

## BNY against the whole market

Where BNY ranks among every stock and fund, and what across the market has done better.

### How does BNY rank among all stocks?

This section ranks BNY on return, volatility, risk-adjusted return and worst decline against every stock worth at least $300 million with enough history.

- On return for the risk taken (the Sharpe ratio), BNY ranks in the top 4% of the 2,893 stocks worth at least $300 million.

| Measure | BNY | Rank |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1-year return | +35.3% | 845 of 3,287 (top 26%) |
| 3-year return | +272% | 261 of 3,017 (top 9%) |
| 5-year return | +179% | 368 of 2,893 (top 13%) |
| 10-year return | +341% | 500 of 2,202 (top 23%) |
| Volatility, 5 years | 24.4% | 285 of 2,893 (top 10%) |
| Sharpe ratio, 5 years | 0.97 | 118 of 2,893 (top 5%) |
| Worst decline, past 10 years | −50.5% | 475 of 2,187 (top 22%) |

### What has beaten BNY on both return and risk?

Each dot is an investment, placed by how much it earned a year over the past 5 years (higher is better) and how much its price swung, its volatility (further left is calmer).

- One stock and one ETF worth at least $500 million sit in the green region: each earned more than BNY over the past 5 years with smaller price swings. That is fewer than 1% of the 3,633 screened. Few investments beat it on both counts.
- Among those with at least half BNY's swings, DXJ has the best return for its risk: 26.6% a year at 19.1% volatility, 22% less than BNY's 24.4%, and a Sharpe ratio (return above cash per unit of volatility) of 1.34 against 0.97 for BNY.

### Is there a better investment than BNY?

The table below lists investments that beat BNY over the past 5 years on at least one of these measures: a higher annual return with lower volatility, a higher annual return at similar volatility, a similar return with lower volatility, a higher Sharpe ratio with a smaller worst decline, a higher total return in most periods from 3 months to 10 years, or smaller losses in recent market crashes.

- Looking beyond its popular alternatives, HSBC (banks) earned more than BNY over the past 5 years with similar volatility: 33.1% a year at 25.9% volatility, against 22.7% a year at 24.4%.
- Few investments have done better on both counts: only two of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than BNY with less volatility over the past 5 years, among them COR and DXJ.

The 2 strongest of 2 investments that beat BNY over the past 5 years, out of 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million.

| Investment | Group | Annual return (5 years) | Volatility | Sharpe | Worst decline (10 years) | 10Y return | Correlation with BNY | Better on |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| BNY: Bank of New York Mellon Corp (this page) |  | +22.7% | 24.4% | 0.97 | −50.5% | +341% |  |  |
| DXJ: WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund | International Equity | +26.6% | 19.1% | 1.34 | −39.1% | +428% | 0.30 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Higher return in most periods |
| [COR](https://easycompare.io/research/cor): Cencora, Inc. | Health Care Distribution | +24.2% | 22.8% | 1.07 | −32.4% | +406% | 0.35 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline |

## BNY against its popular alternatives

The investments people most often weigh against BNY, compared period by period and year by year.

### How do BNY's risk and return compare with its alternatives?

This map plots each investment's annual return over the past 5 years against its volatility, the size of its typical price swings.

- None of the nine popular alternatives earned more than BNY over the past 5 years with smaller price swings, so every higher return on the map came with a bumpier ride.
- Seven of the nine popular alternatives earned less than BNY over the past 5 years while swinging more, the weaker corner of the map.
- Over the past 5 years, BNY returned 22.7% a year, more than the S&P 500's 12.7%, with higher volatility (24.4% against 17.1%).

### Has BNY consistently beaten its popular alternatives?

This section compares BNY with the investments people most often weigh against it, checking each one over eight periods from one month to ten years.

- None of the nine popular alternatives outperformed BNY in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes. The closest was JPM.

| Investment | 1Y return | 3Y return | 5Y return | 10Y return | Periods ahead of BNY | Verdict | Sharpe |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| BNY: Bank of New York Mellon Corp (this page) | +35.3% | +272% | +179% | +341% |  |  | 0.97 |
| [JPM](https://easycompare.io/research/jpm): JPMorgan Chase & Co. | +13.0% | +150% | +122% | +537% | 2/5 short-term, 1/3 long-term |  | 0.78 |
| [BLK](https://easycompare.io/research/blk): BlackRock, Inc. | −0.6% | +96.3% | +41.1% | +313% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.39 |
| [STT](https://easycompare.io/research/stt): State Street Corporation | +47.9% | +181% | +96.2% | +212% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.60 |
| SSNC: SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. | +8.3% | +81.0% | +26.0% | +200% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.31 |
| [ICE](https://easycompare.io/research/ice): Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. | +3.5% | +52.4% | +30.0% | +240% | 2/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.35 |
| [C](https://easycompare.io/research/c): Citigroup Inc. | +26.0% | +238% | +102% | +234% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.63 |
| FIS: Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. | −44.3% | −21.6% | −66.6% | −41.3% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | -0.47 |
| [SCHW](https://easycompare.io/research/schw): The Charles Schwab Corporation | −3.1% | +86.2% | +19.1% | +221% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.27 |
| NTRS: Northern Trust Corporation | +31.1% | +180% | +52.9% | +205% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.44 |

### How did BNY do year by year?

This table shows each investment's total return in every full calendar year since 1997, along with where BNY ranked among its popular alternatives each year.

- BNY finished ahead of the S&P 500 in 14 of its 29 full calendar years, and ahead of it in each of the last two.
- Among its popular alternatives, JPM came out ahead of BNY most often, in 18 of the 29 years both traded.
- Ranked against its popular alternatives each year, BNY finished in the top quarter in seven of 29 years and in the bottom quarter in seven. In 2025, it ranked 2 of 10.

| Year | BNY | SPY |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2025 | +54.4% | +17.7% |
| 2024 | +51.9% | +24.9% |
| 2023 | +18.5% | +26.2% |
| 2022 | −19.1% | −18.2% |
| 2021 | +40.6% | +28.7% |
| 2020 | −12.9% | +18.3% |
| 2019 | +9.6% | +31.2% |
| 2018 | −10.8% | −4.6% |
| 2017 | +15.7% | +21.7% |
| 2016 | +17.1% | +12.0% |

## Risk and diversification

How BNY has fallen, how it held up in crashes beside the S&P 500 and its popular alternatives, and what moves independently of it.

### What were BNY's worst declines?

A drawdown is the decline from a peak to the lowest point before a new high.

- In all three of BNY's worst declines, the S&P 500 held up better over the same dates.
- The slowest recovery came after BNY fell 62.4% from December 2007 to March 2009; it did not regain that peak until May 2015, six years later.

| Decline | Peak | Low | Back at the high | SPY over the same dates | Market event |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| −72.3% | August 3, 1989 | October 30, 1990 | October 15, 1992 | — |  |
| −63.2% | November 7, 2000 | March 12, 2003 | October 31, 2007 | −41.8% | dot-com bust |
| −62.4% | December 24, 2007 | March 9, 2009 | May 4, 2015 | −53.3% | 2008 financial crisis |
| −50.5% | January 12, 2018 | March 23, 2020 | August 6, 2021 | −16.2% | late-2018 sell-off |
| −43.9% | August 13, 1987 | December 4, 1987 | February 16, 1989 | — |  |

### How did BNY do in stock market crashes?

This section measures how far BNY, the S&P 500 and each alternative fell from peak to trough during every major market crash since 2000.

- BNY fell further than the S&P 500 in seven of the ten crashes it has traded through. The clearest case was the 2022 bear market, when BNY fell 40.5% and the S&P 500 fell 24.5%.
- Among its popular alternatives, FIS held up best, falling less than BNY in seven of the nine crashes they both traded through.

| Crash | Dates | BNY fall | SPY fall |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Dot-com bust | March 10, 2000 to October 9, 2002 | −62.6% | −47.5% |
| Global financial crisis | October 9, 2007 to March 9, 2009 | −62.4% | −55.2% |
| Flash crash | May 6, 2010 to May 7, 2010 | −0.5% | −1.5% |
| Euro debt crisis | July 22, 2011 to October 3, 2011 | −30.9% | −17.9% |
| China devaluation & oil rout | August 10, 2015 to February 11, 2016 | −27.0% | −12.8% |
| Volmageddon | February 2, 2018 to February 9, 2018 | −5.4% | −6.5% |
| Q4 2018 selloff | September 21, 2018 to December 24, 2018 | −16.2% | −19.3% |
| COVID crash | February 19, 2020 to March 23, 2020 | −40.1% | −33.7% |
| 2022 bear market | January 4, 2022 to October 12, 2022 | −40.5% | −24.5% |
| SVB / regional bank stress | March 8, 2023 to March 13, 2023 | −11.4% | −3.4% |

### How closely does BNY move with the S&P 500?

Upside capture measures how much of the S&P 500's gains an investment kept in the months the market rose, and downside capture how much of its losses it took in the months the market fell.

- Only JPM and SCHW had a higher capture ratio (upside capture divided by downside capture) than BNY's 0.96, out of nine popular alternatives with the same record.
- JPM took just 103% of the S&P 500's losses, against 120% for BNY, while still keeping 117% of its gains.
- Over the past 10 years, BNY captured 115% of the S&P 500's gains in rising months and 120% of its losses in falling months, with a beta of 1.08. It amplified the market's moves in both directions.

Measured over the past 10 years of monthly returns against SPY.

| Investment | Upside capture | Downside capture | Beta |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| BNY: Bank of New York Mellon Corp (this page) | 115% | 120% | 1.08 |
| [JPM](https://easycompare.io/research/jpm): JPMorgan Chase & Co. | 117% | 103% | 1.09 |
| [BLK](https://easycompare.io/research/blk): BlackRock, Inc. | 127% | 157% | 1.30 |
| [STT](https://easycompare.io/research/stt): State Street Corporation | 128% | 166% | 1.48 |
| SSNC: SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. | 113% | 153% | 1.32 |
| [ICE](https://easycompare.io/research/ice): Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. | 88.0% | 94.0% | 0.84 |
| [C](https://easycompare.io/research/c): Citigroup Inc. | 131% | 165% | 1.49 |
| FIS: Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. | 54.0% | 150% | 0.82 |
| [SCHW](https://easycompare.io/research/schw): The Charles Schwab Corporation | 89.0% | 90.0% | 0.91 |
| NTRS: Northern Trust Corporation | 111% | 136% | 1.18 |

### What diversifies BNY?

Correlation measures how closely two investments move together, on a scale from 1 (in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to -1 (in opposite directions).

- Moving a fifth of the money in BNY into GLD would have cut the portfolio's volatility by 18% over the past 5 years for a small cut in its annual return (+26.2% for BNY alone, +25.3% for the mix).
- Among large ETFs, DXJ, SMH and GLD have moved largely independently of BNY over the past 5 years, with correlations of 0.40 or lower, and each still earned a positive 5-year return.
- MCK made money in five of the eight calendar years in which BNY lost money.

| Investment | Correlation with BNY | 5Y return | Volatility | Sharpe | Rose in BNY's 8 down years |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DXJ: WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund | 0.30 | +225% | 19.1% | 1.34 | 2 of 8 |
| [SMH](https://easycompare.io/research/smh): VanEck Semiconductor ETF | 0.40 | +323% | 36.9% | 0.97 | 3 of 8 |
| [GLD](https://easycompare.io/research/gld): SPDR Gold Shares | 0.09 | +126% | 18.9% | 0.96 | 4 of 8 |
| [XLE](https://easycompare.io/research/xle): State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF | 0.38 | +177% | 25.5% | 0.93 | 3 of 8 |
| EWT: iShares MSCI Taiwan ETF | 0.42 | +153% | 24.2% | 0.89 | 3 of 8 |
| EDIV: State Street SPDR S&P Emerging Markets Dividend ETF | 0.41 | +69.9% | 13.8% | 0.84 | 0 of 8 |
| DBMF: iMGP DBi Managed Futures Strategy ETF | -0.32 | +59.7% | 12.4% | 0.82 | 2 of 8 |
| DBA: Invesco DB Agriculture Fund | 0.16 | +66.4% | 13.8% | 0.81 | 1 of 8 |

## Common questions

### What was BNY's worst drawdown?

BNY's deepest decline since it began trading in 1986 was 72.3%, from August 1989 to October 1990. It took 24 months from the low to climb back to its old high.

### What were BNY's best and worst years?

Over 29 full calendar years, BNY's best year was 1997, when it returned 75.3%. Its worst was 2008, with a return of -40.4%.

### Is there a better investment than BNY?

Looking beyond its popular alternatives, HSBC (banks) earned more than BNY over the past 5 years with similar volatility: 33.1% a year at 25.9% volatility, against 22.7% a year at 24.4%. Few investments have done better on both counts: only two of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than BNY with less volatility over the past 5 years, among them COR and DXJ.

### Is BNY more volatile than the S&P 500?

Yes. BNY's volatility over the past 5 years was 24.4%, 1.4 times the S&P 500's 17.1%. Volatility measures how widely returns swing around their average: in roughly two years out of three, BNY's return lands within 24.4% of its average, either way. The higher it is, the rougher the ride and the harder it is to hold through a slump.

### What is BNY's Sharpe ratio?

BNY's Sharpe ratio over the past 5 years was 0.97, against 0.79 for the S&P 500, so BNY earned more for each unit of risk than an index fund did. The Sharpe ratio is the return earned above cash for each unit of volatility: two investments with the same return are not equal if one got there with far bigger swings.

### How correlated is BNY with the S&P 500?

Over the past 5 years, BNY's monthly returns had a correlation of 0.68 with the S&P 500. Correlation runs from 1 (moving in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to −1 (moving in opposite directions). They often move together: some diversification next to an index fund, but not a cushion. In the table, the correlation column measures each option against BNY instead: the lower it is, the more that option would diversify a BNY holding.

### What are the best alternatives to BNY?

None of the nine popular alternatives we compared outperformed BNY in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes, which says more about BNY's strength than about its alternatives.

### Did BNY outperform the S&P 500?

BNY finished ahead of the S&P 500 (SPY) in 14 of 29 full calendar years. In 2025, it returned +54.4%, against +17.7% for the index.

### How did BNY do in stock market crashes?

BNY fell less than the S&P 500 (SPY) in three of the ten major crashes it has traded through, and further in seven. The clearest case was the 2022 bear market, when BNY fell 40.5% and the S&P 500 fell 24.5%.

### What diversifies BNY?

These had a low correlation with BNY over the past 5 years and still earned a positive 5-year return: among large ETFs, DXJ (correlation 0.30), SMH (correlation 0.40) and GLD (correlation 0.09); among large stocks, CAH (correlation 0.15), CLS (correlation 0.40) and FIX (correlation 0.42). A correlation near zero means the two have moved largely independently.

## More research

- [JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/jpm)
- [BlackRock (BLK) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/blk)
- [State Street (STT) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/stt)
- [Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/ice)
- [Citigroup (C) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/c)
- [Charles Schwab (SCHW) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/schw)
- [Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/schd)
- [NVIDIA (NVDA) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/nvda)
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- [Alphabet (GOOG) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/goog)
- [Microsoft (MSFT) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/msft)
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## Explore further

- Full page with charts: https://easycompare.io/research/bny
- All research pages: https://easycompare.io/llms.txt
- Compare the entire market against BNY live: https://betterthanspy.com/?b=BNY&utm_source=easycompare&utm_medium=research