QQQ has beaten the S&P 500 in 8 of the last 11 calendar years. In 2023 alone, it returned over 55% while VOO managed 26%. In the decade ending 2025, $10K in QQQ turned into roughly $61,000 — versus $42,000 in VOO. This QQQ ETF review covers 26 years of real performance data — including the 83% crash most people skip over.
But the other side of that story doesn’t make it into the headlines: QQQ dropped 83% during the dot-com crash. From peak to bottom, 2000 to 2002. If you invested $100,000 at the March 2000 high, you were staring at $17,000 by October 2002. It took QQQ fifteen years to recover that high. Not months. Not a few years. Fifteen.
QQQ — the Invesco QQQ Trust tracking the Nasdaq-100 — is the best-performing major U.S. equity ETF over most recent time periods. It’s also the one most likely to destroy your confidence during a downturn. With roughly $400 billion in assets, it’s the third-largest ETF in America and the go-to for anyone betting on tech-driven growth.
The obvious follow-up — “should I just go all-in on QQQ instead of VOO?” — deserves a real answer with real data. Not a tweet. Not a backtest cherry-picked from 2010. This is the full picture, including the parts that hurt.
What Is QQQ?
The 100 largest non-financial Nasdaq stocks — a concentrated tech-growth bet in a single ETF.
~$400B AUM · 0.18% ER · ~0.55% Yield · Quarterly
Deciding between QQQ and the S&P 500? Our QQQ vs VOO deep dive covers that exact comparison. Also weighing the lower-fee QQQM alternative? We’ve done that math too in our QQQ vs QQQM analysis.
The $10K Test — What Actually Happened
| Time Horizon | QQQ ($10K) | VOO ($10K) | QQQ CAGR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Years (2021–2025) | ~$20,900 | ~$19,300 | ~15.9% |
| 10 Years (2016–2025) | ~$61,300 | ~$42,000 | ~19.8% |
| Since Inception (Mar 1999–2025) | ~$130,000 | N/A (2010 launch) | ~10.2% |
$10,000 → 10 Years Later
QQQ led by $19,300 over VOO · $23,401 over VTI
The since-inception number tells a story that the 10-year number doesn’t. $10K becoming $130K over 26 years is a 10.2% CAGR — strong, but not dramatically better than VOO’s 14.5% since its 2010 launch. Why? Because QQQ carries the scar of the dot-com crash. That 83% drawdown and 15-year recovery period dragged the lifetime CAGR down. It’s a detail that separates a real QQQ ETF review from a hype piece.
Zoom into the last decade, though, and the gap is massive: QQQ’s $61,300 versus VOO’s $42,000. That’s a $19,300 advantage — 46% more money — for taking on the extra volatility. But that decade started right after QQQ had fully recovered from the dot-com crash and launched into an unprecedented tech bull run.
The real uncertainty: will the next decade look more like the last 10 years (tech dominance) or the 2000-2010 period (tech disaster)? Nobody knows. The right framing isn’t “QQQ always wins.” It’s “QQQ wins bigger when it wins, and loses harder when it loses.”
For the full year-by-year breakdown of how QQQ stacks up against VOO, see our dedicated comparison.
Risk Profile — Higher Returns, Higher Everything
| Risk Metric | QQQ | VOO (for comparison) |
|---|---|---|
| Max Drawdown (Since Inception) | -83.0% | -34.0% |
| Max Drawdown (Since 2015) | -33.0% | -34.0% |
| Sharpe Ratio (Since 2015) | 0.82 | 0.78 |
| Annualized Volatility | 21.2% | 17.3% |
| Beta (vs S&P 500) | 1.15 | 0.98 |
Since inception for max drawdown; 10-year period for Sharpe, volatility, and beta. Sources: PortfoliosLab, MyPlanIQ
The -83% drawdown is the elephant in the room. It happened 25 years ago, during conditions that may never repeat in exactly the same way. But it’s real history, and any honest QQQ ETF review has to include it. An 83% loss means you need a 488% gain just to break even. And QQQ did eventually deliver that — it just took a decade and a half.
The more relevant recent drawdown is 2022’s -33%. Nearly identical to VOO’s -34% — meaning the extra risk of QQQ didn’t actually provide worse downside protection in the most recent crash. This is partly because the 2022 selloff was driven by rate hikes that hit all equities, not just tech.
The beta of 1.15 means QQQ amplifies market moves by about 15%. When the market rises 10%, QQQ tends to rise roughly 11.5%. When it falls 10%, QQQ drops about 11.5%. That amplification is the source of both the excess return and the excess pain.
The Sharpe ratio of 0.82 is actually higher than VOO’s 0.78 over the recent period. That means on a risk-adjusted basis, QQQ has compensated investors well for the extra volatility — at least over the last decade. Whether that continues depends on whether tech keeps delivering earnings growth to justify the premium.
Year-by-Year Total Return — QQQ vs VOO, 11 Years of Data
| Year | QQQ | VOO | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | +9.45% | +1.31% | 🔥 QQQ by 8pts |
| 2016 | +7.10% | +12.17% | VOO by 5pts |
| 2017 | +32.66% | +21.77% | 🔥 QQQ by 11pts |
| 2018 | -0.12% | -4.50% | QQQ |
| 2019 | +39.01% | +31.35% | 🔥 QQQ by 8pts |
| 2020 | +48.60% | +18.29% | 🔥 QQQ by 30pts! |
| 2021 | +27.42% | +28.78% | VOO |
| 2022 | -32.58% | -18.19% | 🛡️ VOO by 14pts! |
| 2023 | +55.13% | +26.32% | 🔥 QQQ by 29pts! |
| 2024 | +25.58% | +24.98% | ~Tie |
| 2025 | +24.83% | +17.82% | 🔥 QQQ by 7pts |
Total returns include dividends reinvested. Source: Yahoo Finance
QQQ won 8 out of 11 years. Only 2016, 2021, and 2022 went to VOO — and 2021 was practically a coin flip (1.4 point difference). The pattern across this QQQ ETF review is consistent: when growth stocks lead, QQQ dominates. When value rotates in (2016) or rates crush tech valuations (2022), VOO provides the cushion.
The 2020 result deserves special attention: QQQ gained 48.6% while VOO gained 18.3%. A thirty-point gap in a single year. That’s what happens when a pandemic accelerates digital transformation and the companies benefiting most — Amazon, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Zoom — are concentrated in one fund.
But 2022 is the flip side. QQQ dropped 33% — nearly one-third of your money gone. If you had $400,000 in QQQ at the January 2022 peak, you were down to $270,000 by December. Meanwhile, VOO “only” lost 18%. The extra returns come with extra pain. Always.
Top 10 Holdings — The Engines Behind the Returns
| Rank | Stock | Sector | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NVIDIA (NVDA) | Technology | 8.90% |
| 2 | Apple (AAPL) | Technology | 7.35% |
| 3 | Microsoft (MSFT) | Technology | 6.13% |
| 4 | Amazon (AMZN) | Consumer Cyclical | 4.90% |
| 5 | Meta Platforms (META) | Communication | 4.03% |
| 6 | Alphabet — Class A (GOOGL) | Communication | 3.77% |
| 7 | Tesla (TSLA) | Consumer Cyclical | 3.65% |
| 8 | Alphabet — Class C (GOOG) | Communication | 3.51% |
| 9 | Walmart (WMT) | Consumer Defensive | 3.08% |
| 10 | Broadcom (AVGO) | Technology | 3.00% |
| Top 10 Total | ~48.3% | ||
Holdings and weights as of February 19, 2026. Source: Yahoo Finance
🔍 Magnificent 7 Concentration — ~42% of QQQ in 7 Stocks
Bar width scaled to NVIDIA (largest holding = 100%)
Compare this to VOO’s top 10 at ~39%. QQQ is 9 points more concentrated. And while VOO at least has Berkshire Hathaway as a non-tech counterweight, QQQ’s entire top 10 is tech or tech-adjacent. This is the single biggest risk factor in any QQQ ETF review.
The absence of financials is what makes QQQ structurally different from VOO. No JPMorgan (VOO’s 11th largest holding). No Bank of America. No Visa or Mastercard. When interest rate decisions shake the financial sector, QQQ barely notices. That’s a feature in some environments and a gap in others.
The Concentration Problem — When Your “100-Stock Fund” Rides on Seven
The concentration numbers tell the real story: the top 10 holdings in QQQ account for roughly 48% of the entire fund. The “Magnificent Seven” alone — Apple, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Tesla — make up approximately 42%.
That means your 102-stock “diversified” ETF is basically a seven-stock fund with 95 companies along for the ride. When NVIDIA rips 239% in a year (2023), QQQ benefits massively. When the same stocks correct, QQQ gets hammered.
This concentration has gotten more extreme over time. In 2015, the top 10 stocks were about 40% of QQQ. Today it’s 48%. The Nasdaq-100’s quarterly rebalancing mechanism prevents the worst excesses, but the trend is clear: a handful of mega-caps are pulling away from everything else.
What QQQ Actually Is (and Isn’t)
QQQ tracks the Nasdaq-100 Index — the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. When you buy a share of QQQ, you’re buying Apple, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Walmart, and about 96 other companies in a single trade.
The “non-financial” part is important. The Nasdaq-100 explicitly excludes banks, insurance companies, and financial institutions. That’s why you won’t find JPMorgan, Berkshire Hathaway, or Goldman Sachs in QQQ. It’s also why QQQ has such a massive tech tilt — when you remove financials (about 13% of the S&P 500), everything else shifts upward.
The Nasdaq-100 uses modified market-cap weighting. Like the S&P 500, bigger companies get bigger slices. But there’s a quarterly rebalancing mechanism that prevents any single stock from exceeding 24% of the index and ensures the top five combined don’t exceed 48%. Without this rule, Apple and NVIDIA would each be pushing 10%+ and the fund would be even more top-heavy than it already is.
A few things any thorough QQQ ETF review should clarify upfront:
It’s not a “tech ETF.” Officially, only about 50% of QQQ is classified as Information Technology. The rest is spread across communication services (Alphabet, Meta), consumer discretionary (Amazon, Tesla), healthcare (Amgen, Gilead), and consumer staples (Costco, PepsiCo). The tech label sticks because the companies feel like tech — even when their GICS sector says otherwise.
It’s not the entire Nasdaq. The Nasdaq exchange lists about 3,300 stocks. QQQ only holds the top 100. For broader Nasdaq exposure including small-caps, that’s a different product entirely.
It’s not a substitute for the total market. QQQ has zero exposure to financials, real estate, and energy — and minimal exposure to utilities. Together these sectors make up roughly 20% of the S&P 500. An all-QQQ portfolio is a deliberate sector bet whether you realize it or not.
Sector Breakdown — Where Your Money Actually Goes
| Sector | QQQ Weight | VOO Weight | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technology | 51.08% | 35.14% | +15.9% |
| Communication Services | 15.82% | 10.91% | +4.9% |
| Consumer Cyclical | 12.74% | 10.57% | +2.2% |
| Healthcare | 5.79% | 9.61% | -3.8% |
| Consumer Defensive | 5.44% | 4.72% | +0.7% |
| Industrials | 4.52% | 7.50% | -3.0% |
| Utilities | 1.35% | 2.25% | -0.9% |
| Basic Materials | 0.42% | 1.65% | -1.2% |
| Financial Services | 0.00% | 13.00% | -13.0% |
| Energy | 0.00% | 2.82% | -2.8% |
| Real Estate | 0.00% | 1.83% | -1.8% |
Source: Yahoo Finance, as of February 2026
Half the fund is technology. Toss in Communication Services (Alphabet, Meta, Netflix) and Consumer Cyclical (Amazon, Tesla), and you’re at nearly 80% in tech or tech-adjacent names. No QQQ ETF review is complete without acknowledging this: it’s a concentrated sector bet dressed up as a broad index fund.
The three zero-weight sectors tell the story: no financials, no energy, no real estate. When oil prices spike and energy stocks rally (like 2022), QQQ sits out the party. When bank earnings crush expectations, QQQ doesn’t benefit. You’re trading breadth for depth — maximum exposure to the world’s most innovative companies, but zero exposure to entire segments of the economy.
For contrast, SCHD has 21% in energy and only 10% in tech. The two funds have almost zero overlap in their top holdings — which is why some investors hold both for genuine sector diversification.
Dividends & Cost — An Afterthought Paired With a Premium Fee
QQQ’s dividend yield is roughly 0.55%. On a $100,000 investment, that’s $550 a year. About $46 a month. That’s not income. That’s a rounding error.
The Nasdaq-100 companies are growth-oriented by nature. They’d rather buy back shares, invest in R&D, or acquire competitors than pay dividends. Apple and Microsoft do pay dividends, but their yields are under 1%. NVIDIA’s yield is under 0.1%. Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet only recently started paying dividends at all, with yields barely above zero.
Reinvesting QQQ’s dividends contributes about 10-15% of long-term total return — less than VOO’s 20-25% contribution. The growth is in the share price, not the cash flow.
If income matters to you at all, QQQ is the wrong fund. SCHD at 3.35% gives you 6x the yield. Even VOO at 1.11% pays double what QQQ does.
The 0.18% Fee — Still Higher Than You’d Think
QQQ charges 0.18% — still 6x what VOO charges (0.03%). On a $100,000 investment, that’s $180 per year versus $30. As noted throughout this QQQ ETF review, the fee gap narrowed in December 2025 when Invesco converted QQQ from an old-school unit investment trust (UIT) to a modern open-ended ETF structure, cutting the fee from 0.20% to 0.18%. That 10% fee reduction was overdue — but the gap with QQQM remains:
| Portfolio Size | QQQ (0.18%) | QQQM (0.15%) | You Save/Year with QQQM |
|---|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $90 | $75 | $15 |
| $200,000 | $360 | $300 | $60 |
| $500,000 | $900 | $750 | $150 |
| $1,000,000 | $1,800 | $1,500 | $300 |
The UIT-to-ETF conversion was a big deal for QQQ. Beyond the fee cut, the new structure lets Invesco reinvest dividends, use futures, and lend securities — tools that were off-limits under the old format. For most investors, the change is invisible: same ticker, same Nasdaq-100 index, same tax treatment. Just slightly cheaper.
For buy-and-hold investors, QQQM has historically been the better deal on fees. Same 102 stocks, same index, same returns — just 0.03% cheaper annually. Over 30 years on a $500,000 portfolio, that 3-basis-point difference compounds to roughly $9,000 in savings. The gap narrowed after QQQ’s fee cut, but it’s still there. We did the exact math in our QQQ vs QQQM comparison.
QQQ still has advantages for active traders: vastly better options liquidity, tighter bid-ask spreads, and higher daily volume. But if you’re buying and holding for years, QQQM does the same job for less.
Who Should (and Shouldn’t) Buy QQQ
You believe tech and innovation will keep leading the economy for the next 10+ years. You can stomach a 33% drawdown without panic-selling (and you’ve actually done it before, not just imagined it). You’re in the accumulation phase — earning, saving, and investing aggressively — and you don’t need income from your portfolio. You already hold a broad index like VOO and want to add a growth tilt as a satellite position.
You need income now or within the next 5-10 years (SCHD or JEPI). You want broad market exposure without the sector concentration (VOO or VTI). You want QQQ’s exposure but at a lower fee (QQQM at 0.15%). You’re within 5 years of retirement and can’t afford a 33%+ drawdown.
QQQ’s outperformance is not free. You’re making a bet that the technology sector — already the most expensive in the market — will continue to grow earnings faster than every other sector. If that bet is right, QQQ will keep crushing VOO. If it’s wrong (valuation compression, regulation, AI bubble), QQQ could underperform by just as wide a margin as it outperformed in the good years. The 2000-2002 crash proves this isn’t hypothetical. It happened before.
QQQ vs the Competition — Quick Guide
Pick the comparison that matches your actual decision:
| Your Question | Comparison | Quick Take |
|---|---|---|
| “Should I stick with the S&P 500?” | QQQ vs VOO | QQQ wins most years. VOO protects in crashes. |
| “Can I get QQQ cheaper?” | QQQ vs QQQM | QQQM is the same fund at 0.15% vs 0.18%. |
| “What about dividends instead?” | SCHD vs VOO | SCHD yields 3.35%. QQQ yields 0.55%. Different universe. |
| “Should I get total market instead?” | VTI vs VOO | VTI is broader than VOO but still less aggressive than QQQ. |
Interactive QQQ Growth Calculator
Model your own QQQ investment using the data from this QQQ ETF review. Adjust the return rate to test aggressive (18%), baseline (14%), or conservative (10%) scenarios based on different historical periods.
[qfl_calculator type=”qqq-growth”]One Approach to Building Around QQQ
Going 100% QQQ is a concentrated bet. The sector risk is real, and the fee is higher than alternatives like QQQM that track the same index. For long-term holders, QQQM offers the identical Nasdaq-100 exposure at 0.15% — saving 0.03% per year on an identical portfolio.
A common allocation approach: 60-70% in a broad index like VOO as the foundation, with 20-30% in QQQ or QQQM for a growth tilt. That gives broad market exposure plus extra tech weight without going all-in on one sector. Investors closer to retirement often shift that balance — more broad index, some dividend exposure through SCHD, and a smaller growth allocation.
Timing matters too. QQQ has historically rewarded buyers who got in during downturns — like late 2022, when the fund was down 33% and sentiment was at its worst. The risk-reward tends to look better after corrections than after 55% rallies.
QQQ ETF Review — Summary
📊 $10K invested in QQQ at launch (1999) grew to ~$130K — a 10.2% CAGR dragged down by the dot-com crash. The 10-year CAGR is a much juicier 19.8%.
💰 0.18% expense ratio — 6x what VOO charges. QQQM offers the identical index at 0.15%. For long-term holders, the switch still saves real money.
🛡️ Max drawdown: -83% (dot-com) and -33% (2022). QQQ delivers the highest highs and the lowest lows of any major U.S. equity ETF.
📈 QQQ beat VOO in 8 of the last 11 calendar years, including a 55% monster year in 2023 driven by the AI boom.
🔍 Top 10 stocks = ~48% of the fund. The Magnificent Seven alone account for 42%. This is a concentrated bet, not a diversified index.
🎯 0.55% dividend yield. Income seekers should look elsewhere. QQQ is a pure growth vehicle.
QQQ — Quick Reference
| Metric | QQQ |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Invesco QQQ Trust |
| Tracks | Nasdaq-100 Index |
| Expense Ratio | 0.18% |
| AUM | ~$400 Billion |
| Holdings | 102 stocks |
| Dividend Yield (TTM) | ~0.55% |
| Dividend Frequency | Quarterly |
| Inception Date | March 10, 1999 |
| Issuer | Invesco |
| 10-Year CAGR (Total Return) | ~19.8% |
| Max Drawdown (Since Inception) | -83.0% |
Data as of early 2026. Sources: Invesco, FinanceCharts, PortfoliosLab
📈 QQQ Live Price Chart
QQQ Deep Dives & Comparisons
We’ve built a library of head-to-head comparisons so you can see exactly how QQQ stacks up against the ETFs you’re deciding between. Each guide includes side-by-side data, fee analysis, and a clear verdict.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is QQQ a good long-term investment?
Over the last 10 years, QQQ has been one of the best-performing ETFs available — compounding at nearly 20% annually. The 26-year track record is also strong at ~10% CAGR, even after absorbing an 83% crash. The risk is that future returns depend heavily on whether tech companies continue growing earnings at above-market rates. If they do, QQQ wins. If they don’t, you’ve taken on extra volatility for no extra return.
Should I buy QQQ or QQQM?
For buy-and-hold investors, QQQM has the fee advantage. It tracks the identical Nasdaq-100 index at 0.15% vs QQQ’s 0.18%. Over decades, the 0.03% savings compound into thousands of dollars. QQQ is only worth the premium if you actively trade options or need its superior liquidity. We break this down in our QQQ vs QQQM comparison.
Can QQQ crash like it did in 2000?
The dot-com crash was driven by companies with no earnings trading at absurd multiples. Today’s Nasdaq-100 is dominated by Apple, Microsoft, and NVIDIA — companies generating massive free cash flow. The risk profile is different. A 30-35% correction (like 2022) is always possible and probably inevitable at some point. An 83% crash would require something structurally catastrophic for the entire tech sector. Possible? Yes. Likely? The fundamentals today are much stronger than 2000.
Should I go all-in on QQQ instead of VOO?
The last decade says yes. The full 26-year history says be careful. Going 100% QQQ means zero exposure to financials, energy, and real estate, with only minimal utilities coverage. In environments where those sectors outperform (like 2022’s energy rally or rate-driven financial stock gains), QQQ lags significantly. A blended approach — say 70% VOO and 30% QQQ — is a common way to capture tech upside without abandoning sector diversification.
Why doesn’t QQQ have any financial stocks?
The Nasdaq-100 index explicitly excludes financial companies. This was a deliberate design choice when the index was created — the Nasdaq exchange historically listed tech and growth companies, while financials were concentrated on the NYSE. Today it means QQQ misses JPMorgan, Berkshire Hathaway, Visa, and Mastercard — all major components of the S&P 500. Investors who want financial exposure alongside QQQ often hold VOO or a financial sector ETF like XLF to fill that gap.
Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. All data sourced from Invesco, Yahoo Finance, FinanceCharts, Stock Analysis, and PortfoliosLab as of early 2026. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
Written by M.Aiden · Updated February 2026