Label	Element	Value
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Registrant Name	dei_EntityRegistrantName	SPDR SERIES TRUST
Prospectus Date	rr_ProspectusDate	Oct. 31, 2016
SPDR(R) Bloomberg Barclays Short Term Treasury ETF
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Risk/Return [Heading]	rr_RiskReturnHeading	SPDR® Bloomberg Barclays Short Term Treasury ETF (formerly, SPDR® Barclays Short Term Treasury ETF)
Objective [Heading]	rr_ObjectiveHeading	INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE
Objective, Primary [Text Block]	rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock	The SPDR Bloomberg Barclays Short Term Treasury ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to provide investment results that, before fees and expenses, correspond generally to the price and yield performance of an index that tracks the short term sector of the United States Treasury market.
Expense [Heading]	rr_ExpenseHeading	FEES AND EXPENSES OF THE FUND
Expense Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock	The table below describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund (“Fund Shares”). This table and the Example below reflect the expenses of the Fund and do not reflect brokerage commissions you may pay on purchases and sales of Fund Shares.
Operating Expenses Caption [Text]	rr_OperatingExpensesCaption	ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment):
Portfolio Turnover [Heading]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading	PORTFOLIO TURNOVER:
Portfolio Turnover [Text Block]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock	The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance.  During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 40% of the average value of its portfolio.
Portfolio Turnover, Rate	rr_PortfolioTurnoverRate	40.00%
Expense Exchange Traded Fund Commissions [Text]	rr_ExpenseExchangeTradedFundCommissions	This table and the Example below reflect the expenses of the Fund and do not reflect brokerage commissions you may pay on purchases and sales of Fund Shares.
Expense Example [Heading]	rr_ExpenseExampleHeading	EXAMPLE:
Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock	This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated, and then sell all of your Fund Shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Strategy [Heading]	rr_StrategyHeading	THE FUND'S PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGY
Strategy Narrative [Text Block]	rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock	In seeking to track the performance of the Bloomberg Barclays 1-5 Year U.S. Treasury Index (the “Index”), the Fund employs a sampling strategy, which means that the Fund is not required to purchase all of the securities represented in the Index. Instead, the Fund may purchase a subset of the securities in the Index in an effort to hold a portfolio of securities with generally the same risk and return characteristics of the Index. The quantity of holdings in the Fund will be based on a number of factors, including asset size of the Fund. Based on its analysis of these factors, SSGA Funds Management, Inc. (“SSGA FM” or the “Adviser”), the investment adviser to the Fund, may invest the Fund's assets in a subset of securities in the Index or may invest the Fund's assets in substantially all of the securities represented in the Index in approximately the same proportions as the Index. Under normal market conditions, the Fund generally invests substantially all, but at least 80%, of its total assets in the securities comprising the Index or in securities that the Adviser determines have economic characteristics that are substantially identical to the economic characteristics of the securities that comprise the Index. In addition, the Fund may invest in debt securities that are not included in the Index, cash and cash equivalents or money market instruments, such as repurchase agreements and money market funds (including money market funds advised by the Adviser). The Index is designed to measure the performance of public obligations of the U.S. Treasury that have a remaining maturity of greater than or equal to 1 year and less than 5 years. The Index includes all publicly issued U.S. Treasury securities that are rated investment grade and have $250 million or more of outstanding face value. In addition, the securities must be denominated in U.S. dollars, and must be fixed rate and non-convertible. Excluded from the Index are certain special issues, such as flower bonds, targeted investor notes, state and local government series bonds, inflation protected public obligations of the U.S. Treasury, commonly known as “TIPS,” and coupon issues that have been stripped from bonds included in the Index. Also excluded from the Index are structured notes with embedded swaps or other special features, private placements, floating rate securities and Eurobonds. The Index is market capitalization weighted and the securities in the Index are updated on the last business day of each month. As of August 31, 2016, there were approximately 153 securities in the Index and the modified adjusted duration of securities in the Index was approximately 2.82 years. The Index is sponsored by Bloomberg Index Services Limited (the “Index Provider”), which is not affiliated with the Fund or the Adviser. The Index Provider determines the composition of the Index, relative weightings of the securities in the Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Index.
Risk [Heading]	rr_RiskHeading	PRINCIPAL RISKS OF INVESTING IN THE FUND
Risk Narrative [Text Block]	rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock	As with all investments, there are certain risks of investing in the Fund. Fund Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. Debt Securities Risk: The values of debt securities may increase or decrease as a result of the following: market fluctuations, increases in interest rates, actual or perceived inability or unwillingness of issuers, guarantors or liquidity providers to make scheduled principal or interest payments or illiquidity in debt securities markets; the risk of low rates of return due to reinvestment of securities during periods of falling interest rates or repayment by issuers with higher coupon or interest rates; and/or the risk of low income due to falling interest rates. To the extent that interest rates rise, certain underlying obligations may be paid off substantially slower than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply.  The U.S. is experiencing historically low interest rate levels. However, economic recovery and the tapering of the Federal Reserve Board's quantitative easing program increase the likelihood that interest rates will rise in the future. A rising interest rate environment may cause the value of the Fund's fixed income securities to decrease, an adverse impact on the liquidity of the Fund's fixed income securities, and increased volatility of the fixed income markets. If the principal on a debt obligation is prepaid before expected, the prepayments of principal may have to be reinvested in obligations paying interest at lower rates. During periods of falling interest rates, the income received by the Fund may decline. Changes in interest rates will likely have a greater effect on the values of debt securities of longer durations. Returns on investments in debt securities could trail the returns on other investment options, including investments in equity securities. Income Risk: The Fund's income may decline due to falling interest rates or other factors. Issuers of securities held by the Fund may call or redeem the securities during periods of falling interest rates, and the Fund would likely be required to reinvest in securities paying lower interest rates. If an obligation held by the Fund is prepaid, the Fund may have to reinvest the prepayment in other obligations paying income at lower rates. Index Tracking Risk: While the Adviser seeks to track the performance of the Index (i.e., achieve a high degree of correlation with the Index), the Fund's return may not match the return of the Index. The Fund incurs a number of operating expenses not applicable to the Index, and incurs costs in buying and selling securities. In addition, the Fund may not be fully invested at times, generally as a result of cash flows into or out of the Fund or reserves of cash held by the Fund to meet redemptions. The Adviser may attempt to replicate the Index return by investing in fewer than all of the securities in the Index, or in some securities not included in the Index, potentially increasing the risk of divergence between the Fund's return and that of the Index. Liquidity Risk: Lack of a ready market or restrictions on resale may limit the ability of the Fund to sell a security at an advantageous time or price or at all. Illiquid securities may trade at a discount from comparable, more liquid investments and may be subject to wide fluctuations in market value. Illiquidity of the Fund's holdings may limit the ability of the Fund to obtain cash to meet redemptions on a timely basis.  In addition, the Fund, due to limitations on investments in any illiquid securities and/or the difficulty in purchasing and selling such investments, may be unable to achieve its desired level of exposure to a certain market or sector. Market Risk: The Fund's investments are subject to changes in general economic conditions, and general market fluctuations and the risks inherent in investment in securities markets. Investment markets can be volatile and prices of investments can change substantially due to various factors including, but not limited to, economic growth or recession, changes in interest rates, changes in the actual or perceived creditworthiness of issuers, and general market liquidity. The Fund is subject to the risk that geopolitical events will disrupt securities markets and adversely affect global economies and markets. Non-Diversification Risk: As a “non-diversified” fund, the Fund may hold a smaller number of portfolio securities than many other funds. To the extent the Fund invests in a relatively small number of issuers, a decline in the market value of a particular security held by the Fund may affect its value more than if it invested in a larger number of issuers. The value of Fund Shares may be more volatile than the values of shares of more diversified funds. Passive Strategy/Index Risk: The Fund is managed with a passive investment strategy, attempting to track the performance of an unmanaged index of securities, regardless of the current or projected performance of the Index or of the actual securities comprising the Index. This differs from an actively-managed fund, which typically seeks to outperform a benchmark index. As a result, the Fund's performance may be less favorable than that of a portfolio managed using an active investment strategy. The structure and composition of the Index will affect the performance, volatility, and risk of the Index and, consequently, the performance, volatility, and risk of the Fund. U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk: U.S. Treasury obligations may differ from other fixed income securities in their interest rates, maturities, times of issuance and other characteristics. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of the U.S. government may cause the value of the Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline. Valuation Risk: Some portfolio holdings, potentially a large portion of the Fund's investment portfolio, may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur more often in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. There are multiple methods that can be used to value a portfolio holding when market quotations are not readily available. The value established for any portfolio holding at a point in time might differ from what would be produced using a different methodology or if it had been priced using market quotations. Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund would incur a loss because a portfolio position is sold or closed out at a discount to the valuation established by the Fund at that time. Investors who purchase or redeem Fund Shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued investments may receive fewer or more shares or lower or higher redemption proceeds than they would have received if the Fund had not fair-valued the holding(s) or had used a different valuation methodology.
Risk Lose Money [Text]	rr_RiskLoseMoney	As with all investments, there are certain risks of investing in the Fund. Fund Shares will change in value, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund.
Risk Nondiversified Status [Text]	rr_RiskNondiversifiedStatus	Non-Diversification Risk: As a “non-diversified” fund, the Fund may hold a smaller number of portfolio securities than many other funds. To the extent the Fund invests in a relatively small number of issuers, a decline in the market value of a particular security held by the Fund may affect its value more than if it invested in a larger number of issuers. The value of Fund Shares may be more volatile than the values of shares of more diversified funds.
Risk Not Insured Depository Institution [Text]	rr_RiskNotInsuredDepositoryInstitution	An investment in the Fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.
Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading]	rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading	FUND PERFORMANCE
Performance Narrative [Text Block]	rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock	The following bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund's performance from year to year and by showing how the Fund's average annual returns for certain time periods compare with the average annual returns of the Index. The Fund's past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available by calling 1-866-787-2257 or visiting our website at https://www.spdrs.com.
Performance Information Illustrates Variability of Returns [Text]	rr_PerformanceInformationIllustratesVariabilityOfReturns	The following bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund's performance from year to year and by showing how the Fund's average annual returns for certain time periods compare with the average annual returns of the Index.
Performance Availability Phone [Text]	rr_PerformanceAvailabilityPhone	1-866-787-2257
Performance Availability Website Address [Text]	rr_PerformanceAvailabilityWebSiteAddress	https://www.spdrs.com
Performance Past Does Not Indicate Future [Text]	rr_PerformancePastDoesNotIndicateFuture	The Fund's past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.
Bar Chart [Heading]	rr_BarChartHeading	ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS (years ended 12/31)
Bar Chart Closing [Text Block]	rr_BarChartClosingTextBlock	Highest Quarterly Return: 0.85% (Q1, 2015) Lowest Quarterly Return: -0.69% (Q4, 2015)
Performance Table Heading	rr_PerformanceTableHeading	AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS (for periods ended 12/31/15)
Performance Table Uses Highest Federal Rate	rr_PerformanceTableUsesHighestFederalRate	The after-tax returns presented in the table below are calculated using highest historical individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes.
Performance Table Not Relevant to Tax Deferred	rr_PerformanceTableNotRelevantToTaxDeferred	Your actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from those shown below. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund Shares through tax-advantaged arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.
Performance Table Explanation after Tax Higher	rr_PerformanceTableExplanationAfterTaxHigher	The returns after taxes can exceed the returns before taxes due to an assumed tax benefit for a shareholder from realizing a capital loss on a sale of Fund Shares.
Performance Table Narrative	rr_PerformanceTableNarrativeTextBlock	The after-tax returns presented in the table below are calculated using highest historical individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Your actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from those shown below. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund Shares through tax-advantaged arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. The returns after taxes can exceed the returns before taxes due to an assumed tax benefit for a shareholder from realizing a capital loss on a sale of Fund Shares.
SPDR(R) Bloomberg Barclays Short Term Treasury ETF | SPDR(R) Bloomberg Barclays Short Term Treasury ETF
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Management fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.10%
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	none
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	none
Total annual Fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.10%
Year 1	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	$ 10
Year 3	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	32
Year 5	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	56
Year 10	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	$ 128
2012	rr_AnnualReturn2012	0.79%	[1]
2013	rr_AnnualReturn2013	(0.26%)	[1]
2014	rr_AnnualReturn2014	1.10%	[1]
2015	rr_AnnualReturn2015	0.82%	[1]
Year to Date Return, Label	rr_YearToDateReturnLabel	Year-To-Date return
Bar Chart, Year to Date Return, Date	rr_BarChartYearToDateReturnDate	Sep. 30, 2016
Bar Chart, Year to Date Return	rr_BarChartYearToDateReturn	2.14%
Highest Quarterly Return, Label	rr_HighestQuarterlyReturnLabel	Highest Quarterly Return:
Highest Quarterly Return, Date	rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturnDate	Mar. 31, 2015
Highest Quarterly Return	rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturn	0.85%
Lowest Quarterly Return, Label	rr_LowestQuarterlyReturnLabel	Lowest Quarterly Return:
Lowest Quarterly Return, Date	rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturnDate	Dec. 31, 2015
Lowest Quarterly Return	rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturn	(0.69%)
One Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	0.82%
Since Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnSinceInception	0.63%
Inception Date	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Nov. 30, 2011
SPDR(R) Bloomberg Barclays Short Term Treasury ETF | Return After Taxes on Distributions | SPDR(R) Bloomberg Barclays Short Term Treasury ETF
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
One Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	0.46%
Since Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnSinceInception	0.39%
Inception Date	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Nov. 30, 2011
SPDR(R) Bloomberg Barclays Short Term Treasury ETF | Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares | SPDR(R) Bloomberg Barclays Short Term Treasury ETF
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
One Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	0.46%
Since Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnSinceInception	0.38%
Inception Date	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Nov. 30, 2011
SPDR(R) Bloomberg Barclays Short Term Treasury ETF | Bloomberg Barclays 1-5 Year U.S. Treasury Index (Index returns reflect no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
One Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	0.92%
Since Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnSinceInception	0.74%
Inception Date	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Nov. 30, 2011

[1] As of September 30, 2016, the Fund's Calendar Year-To-Date return was 2.14%.