This ETF offers exposure to one of the world’s most widely-followed equity benchmarks, the NASDAQ, and has become one of the most popular exchange-traded products. The significant average daily trading volumes reflect that QQQ is widely used as a trading vehicle, and less as a components of a balanced long-term strategy. Of course, this fund can certainly be useful as part of a buy-and-hold approach for investors looking to maintain a tilt towards the potentially volatile tech sector.
This ETF offers exposure to one of the world’s most widely-followed equity benchmarks, the NASDAQ, and has become one of the most popular exchange-traded products. The significant average daily trading volumes reflect that QQQ is widely used as a trading vehicle, and less as a components of a balanced long-term strategy. Of course, this fund can certainly be useful as part of a buy-and-hold approach for investors looking to maintain a tilt towards the potentially volatile tech sector.
The composition of QQQ is certainly unique; this fund maintains a hefty allocation to technology companies, resulting in potentially significant volatility through heightened exposure to a sector that has historically experienced both impressive rallies and devastating busts. Moreover, the relative concentration (only 100 names) may be less than ideal—especially considering that a small handful of stocks make up a material chunk of the portfolio. QQQ is used primarily by short-term traders, as evidenced by the high average daily turnover. QQQ has penny-wide spreads and can be a nice tool for those looking to quickly establish a position in U.S. equity markets (though SPY accomplishes similar objectives). But investors building a retirement portfolio or maintaining a longer-term objective would be better served to look elsewhere for a fund that achieves better balance across various sectors of the economy.
It should be noted that QQQ is cost efficient; the expense ratio is one of the lowest in the industry. Other more expensive alternatives offer similar exposure, including an equal-weighted version of the same underlying index (QQEW) and a version that focuses only on the non-technology components of the NASDAQ (QQXT).