QQQ beat VOO by almost six points a year over the last decade. It also lost 83% from 2000 to 2002 and took until 2015 to recover. Here is what each fund holds, how they behaved in the worst years, and why QQQ works as a tilt rather than a retirement core.
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It depends on the job you give the fund. As the main stock holding of a retirement portfolio, VOO is the steadier fit because it owns the whole large-cap market at a fraction of the cost. QQQ is a narrower bet on the biggest Nasdaq growth companies: it can make sense as a deliberate, sized tilt for someone with decades to go, but its history shows why it is risky as the only fund.
Scope: QQQ (and its lower-cost twin QQQM) versus VOO as the stock core of a US retirement portfolio. Excluded: leveraged Nasdaq funds (see QLD and TQQQ), covered-call Nasdaq income funds, and single-stock decisions. Education, not advice for your situation.
| If this describes you | VOO | QQQ or QQQM |
|---|---|---|
| You want one stock fund for decades | Fits: broad, 0.03% | Too narrow on its own |
| You are within 10 years of retiring | Fits as the stock core | A large weight raises sequence risk |
| You want extra growth exposure and can hold through a 35%+ fall | Core | Possible as a small, sized tilt |
| Your 401(k) already tilts to growth or tech | Fits | Adds more of the same |
| You already own a lot of Nvidia, Apple or Microsoft | Already a large share | Raises that share further |
QQQ costs six times as much, holds a fifth as many companies and swings harder. Structure, fees, holdings counts and trailing NAV returns (to Sep 30, 2026) from the issuers; VOO weights from Vanguard (Sep 30); QQQ weights, calendar returns and drawdowns from Exent market data.
| QQQ | QQQM | VOO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Index | Nasdaq-100 | Nasdaq-100 | S&P 500 |
| Expense ratio | 0.18% | 0.15% | 0.03% |
| Holdings | 102 | 103 | 505 |
| Top 10 holdings, share of fund | 47.2% | 47.2% | 40.6% |
| Technology weight | 58.6% | 58.6% | 39.7% |
| Financials weight | None by index rule | None by index rule | 11.1% |
| 10-year return, per year | 20.91% | — (launched Oct 2020) | 15.29% |
| 5-year return, per year | 16.33% | 16.40% | 13.75% |
| Volatility, 10 years (Exent calculation) | 19.0% | — | 15.3% |
| Largest drop, 5 years to Sep 30, 2026 (daily) | −35.1% | −35.1% | −24.5% |
| 2022 calendar-year return | −32.6% | −32.5% | −18.2% |
| Beta vs S&P 500, 60 months (Exent calculation) | 1.22 | 1.22 | 1.00 |
The Nasdaq-100 holds “100 of the largest non-financial Nasdaq-listed companies,” weighted by modified market cap and reconstituted each December (Nasdaq). Nasdaq put its top ten at 52% of the index at the end of 2025; in the funds’ Oct 20, 2026 holdings the figure was 47.2%. VOO’s S&P 500 covers about 83% of US market value across every sector (S&P DJI). The two funds’ monthly returns had a 0.92 correlation over 60 months (Exent calculation): closely linked, with QQQ amplifying moves.
Much more in the two tech-led bear markets, about the same in 2008. Peak-to-trough falls on daily total-return levels (2008 and 2022: Exent market data; dot-com and recovery dates: Exent calculation on daily dividend-adjusted closes; SPY stands in for the S&P 500 because VOO launched in 2010):
| Selloff | QQQ | S&P 500 (SPY) | Back to the old peak, with dividends |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dot-com bust, Mar 24, 2000 → Oct 9, 2002 | −83.0% | −47.5% | QQQ Feb 2015; SPY Oct 2006 |
| Financial crisis, Oct 9, 2007 → Mar 9, 2009 window | −53.4% | −55.2% | QQQ Dec 2010; SPY Aug 2012 |
| Inflation bear market (QQQ Nov 2021 → Nov 2022; SPY Jan → Oct 2022) | −35.1% | −24.5% | Both Dec 2023 |
Calendar years tell the same story: QQQ returned −36.1%, −33.3% and −37.4% in 2000, 2001 and 2002, against −9.8%, −11.7% and −21.6% for SPY. The fuller crash history, including 2020, is in how much QQQ can fall in a crash.
It depends heavily on the start date. From QQQ’s launch on Mar 10, 1999 to Sep 30, 2026 it returned 10.9% a year against 8.5% for the S&P 500 (SPY), a clear win. Start one year later, on Mar 10, 2000, and QQQ returned 8.0% a year vs 8.5%: more than 26 years of owning the faster-growing index for slightly less money. From 2000 through 2012, QQQ lost 2.4% a year while SPY gained 1.7% (same daily dividend-adjusted data).
The last ten years, when large technology companies drove most of the market’s gains, are the period most people remember. They are a record, not a forecast; see how concentrated the S&P 500 is for how past leaders’ weights have shrunk over time.
Because it leaves out large parts of the market on purpose. In our retirement framework (see how to choose ETFs for retirement) a core holding owns a broad market at low cost; QQQ fails that test in three ways:
Not core does not mean wrong. It means the fund needs a defined size next to a broad core, and that size should shrink as withdrawals get closer.
It raises both return in tech-led years and loss in tech-led bear markets, roughly in proportion to its weight. Illustrative, using the calendar-year returns above (weights held constant, no rebalancing effects):
| Mix | 2022 return | 2023 return | Calculation for 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100% VOO | −18.2% | 26.3% | 1.0 × −18.2 |
| 80% VOO / 20% QQQ | −21.1% | 32.0% | 0.8 × −18.2 + 0.2 × −32.6 |
| 50% VOO / 50% QQQ | −25.4% | 40.6% | 0.5 × −18.2 + 0.5 × −32.6 |
| 100% QQQ | −32.6% | 54.9% | 1.0 × −32.6 |
Overlap compounds the effect. Nvidia was 8.4% of VOO and 8.17% of QQQ on Oct 20, 2026, so a 50/50 mix still has about 8.3% in one company; owning both does not dilute the largest names. Exact pair overlaps are in how much VOO, QQQ and VTI overlap.
For buy-and-hold money, QQQM, because it holds the same index for 0.15% instead of 0.18%. Until Dec 2025 QQQ was also a unit investment trust that could not reinvest income or lend securities. Invesco shareholders approved converting it to an open-end fund, with the fee cut from 0.20% to 0.18%, and Invesco expected open-end trading from Dec 22, 2025 (Invesco). What remains is liquidity: QQQ traded 30.2 million shares on Oct 23, 2026 against 2.5 million for QQQM, which matters to options traders, not to monthly savers. In a taxable account, switching from QQQ to QQQM realizes gains, so the same caution as switching between S&P 500 ETFs applies.
| Fund | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| QQQ | Large-cap growth exposure in one fund; 20.9% a year over the last decade; very deep trading and options market; open-end since Dec 2025. | 0.18% fee, six times VOO; 47% in ten companies; no financials; −83% in 2000–02 and −35% in 2021–22. |
| QQQM | Same Nasdaq-100 holdings for 0.15%; lower share price; built for buy-and-hold investors. | All of QQQ’s concentration and drawdown risk; only launched in Oct 2020, so its own record is short; thinner trading than QQQ. |
| VOO | 505 companies across all sectors; 0.03% fee; 10-year NAV return 0.04 points a year below the S&P 500 (15.29% vs 15.33%, Vanguard). | Still top-heavy (about 41% in ten companies); lagged QQQ by almost six points a year over the last decade; no mid or small companies. |
Broader or cheaper ways to hold large US growth companies; expense ratios and holdings from the issuers (Vanguard Sep 30, Schwab Oct 22, Invesco Oct 23, 2026):
| ETF | What it holds | Expense ratio | Holdings | Difference vs QQQ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VUG (Vanguard) | US large-cap growth | 0.03% | 135 | Includes NYSE-listed growth stocks; far cheaper |
| SCHG (Schwab) | US large-cap growth, Dow Jones index | 0.04% | 189 | Similar idea at a low fee |
| MGK (Vanguard) | US mega-cap growth | 0.05% | 52 | Even more concentrated than QQQ |
| VTI (Vanguard) | Whole US market | 0.03% | 3,519 | A broader core instead of a tilt |
| RSP (Invesco) | S&P 500, equal weight | 0.20% | 505 | The opposite of a tilt: less weight in the giants (see RSP vs VOO) |
| VOO + small QQQM slice | S&P 500 plus a Nasdaq-100 tilt | 0.03% / 0.15% | 505 / 103 | Lets you size the tilt deliberately |
When the money is needed soon or the fund is the whole portfolio. Counterexample, on the same daily data: $100,000 put into QQQ at its peak on Mar 24, 2000 was worth $17,019 at the Oct 9, 2002 low; the same amount in SPY was worth $52,495. The QQQ holder needed until Feb 2015 to get back to $100,000, almost 15 years, without withdrawing anything. Someone who retired in 2000 and took withdrawals from that balance would have been further behind still, because shares sold near the low never come back.
The reverse mistake also exists: a 30-year-old who sells QQQ after a 35% fall turns a paper loss into a realized one and misses the recovery the tilt was supposed to ride out. Morningstar found that the gap between what funds return and what their investors earn is wider in volatile funds (Morningstar). If you would not hold through 2022 again, the tilt is too big.
A Nasdaq-100 tilt fell 35% in 2021–22 and 83% in 2000–02; the tilt only works if you can hold it at the size you chose through a fall like that.
As a small growth tilt, it can be; as the only fund, it is risky. QQQ lost 83% from Mar 2000 to Oct 2002 and did not regain its peak, with dividends, until Feb 2015.
The Roth wrapper does not change the funds’ risk. VOO holds 505 companies for 0.03%; QQQ holds about 100 Nasdaq companies for 0.18%, 59% in technology. Many savers use a broad fund as the core and size any QQQ tilt separately.
You can, but expect overlap: Nvidia was 8.4% of VOO and 8.17% of QQQ in Oct 2026. A 20% QQQ slice turned a −18.2% year (2022) into about −21.1%.
No. Shareholders approved converting QQQ to an open-end fund in Dec 2025, with open-end trading expected from Dec 22, 2025, and the fee fell from 0.20% to 0.18%.
Same Nasdaq-100 index; QQQM charges 0.15% vs 0.18% and has a lower share price. QQQ trades far more shares a day, which matters mainly to options traders.
The Nasdaq-100 excludes financial companies by rule and only includes Nasdaq-listed stocks, so banks, insurers and many NYSE-listed firms are left out.
Yes: 20.9% a year vs 15.3% over the 10 years to Sep 30, 2026 (issuer NAV), with higher volatility (19.0% vs 15.3%). From the Mar 2000 peak to Sep 2026, though, QQQ returned 8.0% a year vs 8.5% for the S&P 500.
47.2% in the fund’s holdings on Oct 20, 2026, versus 40.6% for VOO (Vanguard, Sep 30, 2026). Nasdaq reported 52% for the index at the end of 2025.
Market intel provides a Risk ON / Neutral / Risk OFF reading from four pillars, cross-asset analysis, an events calendar and regular written notes. Context for reviewing a plan, not a crash forecast.
Educational content, not investment advice. Examples are illustrative; past performance does not guarantee future results.