ETFs / QQQ
What If You Had Invested in QQQ 10 Years Ago?
Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) with real monthly prices, dividends reinvested, through November 2026.
QQQ $647.05 ▼ -6.49% last close, Nov 05, 2026
If you had invested $1,000 in QQQ in November 2016, today it would be worth
$5,893
Same $1,000 in the S&P 500 (SPY): $3,895
If you had put $500 a month into QQQ since November 2016, your $60,500 would be worth today
$153,941
Same plan in the S&P 500 (SPY): $128,888
More options in the What If calculator.
QQQ live price chart
QQQ returns by period
| Period | Total return | Per year | $1,000 became | SPY per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 21, 2026 | $0.7510 | -7.6% | ||
| Jun 22, 2026 | $0.8130 | +10.9% | ||
| Mar 23, 2026 | $0.7330 | -7.7% | ||
| Dec 22, 2025 | $0.7940 | +14.4% | ||
| Sep 22, 2025 | $0.6940 | +17.4% | ||
| Jun 23, 2025 | $0.5910 | -17.5% | ||
| Mar 24, 2025 | $0.7160 | -14.3% | ||
| Dec 23, 2024 | $0.8350 | +23.3% | ||
| Sep 23, 2024 | $0.6770 | -11.2% | ||
| Jun 24, 2024 | $0.7620 | +33.0% | ||
| Mar 18, 2024 | $0.5730 | +165.3% | ||
| Dec 27, 2023 | $0.2160 | — |
QQQ year by year
Best full year: 2023 (+54.9%). Worst: 2008 (-41.7%).
| Year | QQQ | SPY | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (so far) | +5.7% | +8.3% | |
| 2025 | +20.8% | +17.7% | |
| 2024 | +25.6% | +24.9% | |
| 2023 | +54.9% | +26.2% | |
| 2022 | -32.6% | -18.2% | Rising interest rates hit high-growth tech stocks hardest, and QQQ fell much more than the S&P 500. |
| 2021 | +27.4% | +28.7% | |
| 2020 | +48.4% | +18.3% | Technology companies benefited from the shift online during the pandemic, and the Nasdaq-100 far outpaced the broader market. |
| 2019 | +39.0% | +31.2% | |
| 2018 | -0.1% | -4.6% | |
| 2017 | +32.7% | +21.7% | |
| 2016 | +7.1% | +12.0% | |
| 2015 | +9.4% | +1.2% | |
| 2014 | +19.2% | +13.5% | |
| 2013 | +36.6% | +32.3% | |
| 2012 | +18.1% | +16.0% | |
| 2011 | +3.5% | +1.9% | |
| 2010 | +20.1% | +15.1% | |
| 2009 | +54.7% | +26.4% | |
| 2008 | -41.7% | -36.8% | The global financial crisis. Bank failures and a deep recession made this one of the worst years for stocks since the 1930s. |
| 2007 | +19.0% | +5.1% | |
| 2000 | -36.1% | -9.7% | The dot-com bubble burst. QQQ, full of internet and tech stocks, began a fall of more than 80% that lasted until late 2002. |
QQQ: all at once or every month?
Take $12,000: all of it on day one, or $1,000 a month for a year. Across every starting month since 1999 (321 of them), the lump sum was ahead after 12 months in 242 (75%). The lump sum usually won, but roughly one start in 4 favored spreading it out. The best case for monthly investing was a start in August 2000, when it finished the year 85% ahead.
Worst drop
QQQ's worst fall in this history was -81.1%, a near wipe-out, from March 2000 to September 2002. Getting back to the old high took until October 2014: 145 months from the bottom and 14.6 years from the peak. $1,000 invested at that peak shrank to about $189 at the low.
QQQ dividends
QQQ paid $3.09 per share over the last 12 months, quarterly. At $647.05 that is 0.48%, a small yield; nearly all of the return has come from the price. From 2020 to 2025 the yearly payout grew +15.7% a year, well ahead of inflation. The yearly total fell in 2020. Amounts are adjusted for splits.
| Year | Dividends / share | Change | Yield |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $2.79 | -1.8% | 0.45% |
| 2024 | $2.85 | +12.3% | 0.56% |
| 2023 | $2.54 | +18.8% | 0.62% |
| 2022 | $2.13 | +25.8% | 0.80% |
| 2021 | $1.70 | +25.9% | 0.43% |
| 2020 | $1.35 | -14.8% | 0.43% |
| 2019 | $1.58 | +12.5% | 0.74% |
| 2018 | $1.41 | +8.2% | 0.91% |
| 2017 | $1.30 | +3.7% | 0.83% |
| 2016 | $1.25 | +13.6% | 1.06% |
Yield = each year’s dividends divided by the price at the end of the year.
QQQ dividend history: last 12 payments
| Ex-dividend date | Amount | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 21, 2026 | $0.7510 | -7.6% |
| Jun 22, 2026 | $0.8130 | +10.9% |
| Mar 23, 2026 | $0.7330 | -7.7% |
| Dec 22, 2025 | $0.7940 | +14.4% |
| Sep 22, 2025 | $0.6940 | +17.4% |
| Jun 23, 2025 | $0.5910 | -17.5% |
| Mar 24, 2025 | $0.7160 | -14.3% |
| Dec 23, 2024 | $0.8350 | +23.3% |
| Sep 23, 2024 | $0.6770 | -11.2% |
| Jun 24, 2024 | $0.7620 | +33.0% |
| Mar 18, 2024 | $0.5730 | +165.3% |
| Dec 27, 2023 | $0.2160 | — |
Stock splits
- March 2000: 2-for-1
About QQQ
| Issuer | Invesco |
| Launched | March 1999 |
| Tracks | Nasdaq-100 |
| Expense ratio | 0.20% |
| Holdings | About 100 large non-financial Nasdaq companies |
Fund details as of 2025. Check the issuer for the current expense ratio and holdings.
QQQ holds the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq exchange. That makes it heavy in technology and communication companies such as Apple, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Amazon and Alphabet.
Its history is a lesson in both directions. QQQ launched near the top of the dot-com bubble and lost more than 80% by 2002, then went on to beat the S&P 500 by a wide margin in the 2010s and 2020s. Start dates matter a great deal here.
What it leaves out
Because QQQ only holds companies listed on the Nasdaq exchange and excludes financial companies, it skips big names such as JPMorgan, Berkshire Hathaway, Visa and most of the energy and health care giants that trade on the NYSE. That is why it behaves so differently from the S&P 500: it is close to a bet on large technology and internet companies.
Concentration
The Nasdaq-100 caps how much any single company can weigh, and in July 2023 it ran a special rebalance because a handful of names had grown too large. Even so, the top ten holdings make up roughly half the fund. If you also own VOO, you already own all of QQQ's biggest companies; adding QQQ mainly increases how much of your money rides on them.
QQQ or QQQM?
QQQM holds the same index for a lower fee and was launched for long-term investors. QQQ has the longer history and the deep options market. For a buy-and-hold account, QQQM costs less; for this page, QQQ's history back to 1999 is what makes the long what-if results possible.
Questions about QQQ
How much would $10,000 invested in QQQ 20 years ago be worth today?
About $171,909 with dividends reinvested, invested at the November 2006 close: 1619.1% in total, or 15.3% a year.
When does QQQ pay dividends?
In the last 12 months the payments went out in March, June, September and December, $3.09 per share in total.
Did QQQ beat the S&P 500?
Yes. Over the last 20 years it was ahead by 4.7 percentage points a year: +15.3% a year for QQQ against +10.6% for SPY, dividends reinvested. It also fell harder at its worst (-81.1% against -50.8% for SPY over the same history).