QQQ vs. QQQM: What’s the Difference?

By U.S. News & World Report
May 26, 2026 | 8:00 PM

The Nasdaq-100 Index has been a popular benchmark for investors who want outsized exposure to the tech industry. The Magnificent Seven stocks make up roughly 40% of the index’s total assets.

The Invesco QQQ Trust (ticker: QQQ), an index exchange-traded fund, and the Invesco Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQM) both track the Nasdaq-100 to help you invest in this basket of leading tech companies. Communication services and consumer cyclicals are the only other sectors that have more than 10% concentrations across their portfolios.

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While QQQ is the more famed index and has been around for more than 25 years, QQQM is a newer ETF created by the same company that offers the same asset selection. However, these ETFs have subtle differences that are important for investors to know. First, let’s consider the major commonalities between these two ETFs:

QQQ and QQQM: The Similarities

Tech-Heavy Portfolios

Not only do these funds put 57% of their holdings in tech, but all of their top 10 positions are in the sector. Investors who want exposure to artificial intelligence stocks will like that these funds have the tech giants that are leading AI research and development making up nearly half of both ETFs’ portfolios.

Performance

These funds have nearly identical returns since their portfolios are almost the same. QQQ has produced a 44.09% return over the past year compared to QQQM’s 44.17% return as of May 26. There is a slight gap yet again when looking at annualized returns over the past three years, with QQQM winning by less than a tenth of a percentage point. It’s not a big difference for smaller investors, but it is there.

Holdings

QQQ and QQQM have the same top 10 holdings: Nvidia Corp. (NVDA), Apple Inc. (AAPL), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), Micron Technology Inc. (MU), Alphabet Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL) (both share classes), Tesla Inc. (TSLA), Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) and Broadcom Inc. (AVGO). They both have 101 equity holdings and the same amount of exposure to the tech sector expressed as a percentage.

Administration

Both QQQ and QQQM carry out quarterly rebalancing and annual reconstruction.

Tax Efficiency

Previously, QQQ was structured as a unit investment trust, or UIT. Thus, it was more likely to distribute capital gains, resulting in more taxable events for investors. In late 2025, QQQ was reclassified from its original UIT format to an open-ended ETF with a lower expense ratio. QQQM was already structured as a traditional ETF, and continues to be. Now, both ETFs can use in-kind redemptions to avoid triggering capital gains and generating taxable events for investors.

QQQ vs. QQQM: The Differences

While the funds have many similarities, here’s how they differ:

Expense Ratio

QQQ has an expense ratio of 0.18%, which is a bit higher than QQQM’s 0.15%. Since their average returns are almost the same, this means QQQM buyers will usually have higher net returns.

Yield and Distributions

QQQ and QQQM have 30-day SEC yields of 0.43% and 0.46%, respectively. A similar story is told by their respective 12-month distribution rates: 0.39% for QQQ and 0.42% for QQQM as of May 26. In all, QQQM generates more income for holders.

Price

QQQ is more expensive per share. QQQ closed the May 26 trading day at $730.28, and QQQM was at $300.68. This may make QQQM more accessible for beginner investors.

Supply and Demand

QQQ has a three-month average daily trading volume of about 54.6 million shares, while QQQM’s is 3.9 million shares. QQQ also has higher outstanding shares (653 million shares to QQQM’s 300 million shares) and market value of assets under management ($483.3 billion versus $95.1 billion) as of late May.

Both funds have tight bid-ask spreads, but QQQ has slightly better spreads due to its higher trading volume and the presence of more market makers and institutional traders. The average spread as a percentage is zero for QQQ and 0.01% for QQQM, according to Morningstar. QQQ’s higher stock price means any spread isn’t as impactful compared to trading QQQM, but most investors will barely notice either way.

Options Availability

QQQ has a more liquid options market. You can trade QQQ options that expire on any day of the work week that the stock market is open. This makes it appropriate for all sorts of complex options strategies.

In contrast, there are very limited QQQM options. They aren’t always available each month, which limits the number of complex strategies you can execute with them.

Now that we have highlighted the similarities and differences, you may be wondering how they are relevant to your decision of whether to buy QQQ or QQQM. Let’s get more specific by accenting the implications of these differences:

QQQ vs. QQQM: Which One Should You Buy?

A cursory look at the previous section shows that QQQM tends to be more advantageous for long-term, buy-and-hold investors. They can receive more income (higher yield and distribution) and earn higher net returns (lower expense ratio).

“QQQM is attractive for young or newer investors drawn to the lower price per share and expense ratio, and its greater simplicity,” according to Lawrence Klayman, founding partner of KlaymanToskes PLLC, a law firm specializing in investment loss recovery.

On the other hand, QQQ seems to be more appropriate for traders or active investors. This is because they tend to want more liquidity, tighter spreads and a more robust options market.

“QQQ may be a good choice for options and derivatives traders because it offers a greater variety of spreads, straddles and exotic contracts,” says Klayman. “This can be a draw for experienced investors and traders who use options for hedging or income generation. Additionally, if you frequently reallocate capital or practice tactical asset allocation, QQQ’s higher liquidity facilitates quick entry and exit.”

The next time you see QQQ and QQQM, now you know which one you should select based on your investment profile.

But what if you already purchased QQQ as a long-term investor or QQQM as an active tactical investor or trader? Should you switch things up or leave it be?

QQQ vs. QQQM: Should You Reallocate?

QQQM has been growing in popularity in recent months compared to QQQ. Compared with QQQ, QQQM has seen a higher percentage of net fund flows relative to its assets year to date, and it’s enjoyed a rise in interest from retail investors. Though QQQ is still the most valuable (in terms of market value of net assets), QQQM has been on a positive trajectory.

But should you switch from QQQ to QQQM, or vice versa, if the one you own does not fit your investment profile?

Selling QQQ for QQQM as a long-term investor has its pros — higher net returns and higher income. However, if you sell your QQQ holdings, the capital gains tax you will owe on the sale may be more significant than what you hope to benefit. The sale can make sense, however, if you are holding QQQ at a loss (compared to your average entry price), since you can employ a tax-loss harvesting strategy.

Should Active Traders Switch From QQQM to QQQ?

This makes sense for active traders, especially those who are big on options. After closing out any current QQQM trade, it may be better to switch to QQQ.

QQQ and QQQM: Should You Buy a Tech-Heavy Index ETF at All?

Our focus has been on how to choose between QQQ and QQQM. But a final question is also important: Should you be buying a tech-heavy ETF in the first place?

As we have seen, tech stocks, due to their innovativeness, have often produced high returns for investors. For some perspective, note that QQQ has rallied by 579% over the past decade, according to Invesco.

However, there is also a downside risk. When the market is in a downturn, tech-heavy funds tend to have deeper losses than the S&P 500. For instance, QQQ dropped by 32.5% (net asset value) in 2022, whereas the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) dropped by only 18.1%.

Thus, while buying a tech-heavy ETF makes sense, it should not be the only equity play in your portfolio. This is one area where good old diversification can be essential. For example, an equal-weight S&P 500 ETF can add more stability during economic downturns to a portfolio that has QQQ or QQQM (but consult your financial advisor to see what would work best for you).

Whichever way you decide to do it, ensure you have a diversified portfolio that can benefit in prosperous times while remaining steady during volatile periods.

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QQQ vs. QQQM: What’s the Difference? originally appeared on usnews.com

Update 05/27/26: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.

Asia’s next great gourmet destination? Inside Indonesia’s fine-dining revolution

By CNN
August 11, 2026 | 5:44 AM

More than 120 years ago, Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, National Geographic magazine’s first female writer, photographer and board member, chronicled her travels through colonial Indonesia in her book “Java: The Garden of the East.”She was particularly fascinated by a feast known as the rijsttafel (rice table), a multi-dish banquet that was served in the grand Hotel de Nederlanden in Batavia, as Jakarta was known then.Scidmore vividly recalled a “conglomerate mountain” of food, including bits of fish, duck, chicken, beef, omelettes and onions piled alongside steaks, salads, curries, chutneys, spices and tropical fruits.The sumptuous spread had something to satisfy everyone amongst the 100 or so guests that filled the grand dining hall — even the “squeamish folk, unseasoned tourists and well-starched Britons with a small sense of humor.”Like Scidmore, most early Western documentation of Indonesia’s flavors focused on the opulent colonial feast. Little else was known about the diverse and rich flavors found across the enormous archipelago, in spite of it being home to the fabled Spice Islands, which sparked a 16th- and 17th-century “spice rush” for cloves, nutmeg and mace by Portuguese, Dutch and British traders.In more recent decades, the world has become better acquainted with some of the beloved humble foods found in Indonesian homes and warungs (street-side eateries), with satay, nasi goreng and beef rendang among the most familiar dishes beloved by travelers.But now, there’s a rising number of contemporary chefs who are elevating the national cuisine on the global stage by reimagining its famous spices into fine-dining experiences, while sharing the sophisticated stories of Indonesian flavor through a different lens.Made up of thousands of islands dotted across two oceans, Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelagic country. It would be an understatement to say the country’s cuisine is wildly varied.As a result, “the existing understanding of Indonesian food culture is very shallow,” says William Wongso, an Indonesian culinary expert and author.Boasting an enviable array of regional ingredients and flavors, the country’s chefs have been working to educate international gourmets — and even locals — about the beauty of Indonesian cuisine.And Jakarta, its capital city, has become a breeding ground for the movement. Wongso compares it to the dining scenes in New York or Shanghai, which draw talent from all over their respective countries. “Everybody wants to come here to make a thing,” he says. “So people from different regions bring flavors and food cultures.”Some open humble warungs and serve their home cooking. A few look beyond recipes and focus on elements that make Indonesian cuisine unique for a wider audience, reinventing the whole experience.A modern, fine-dining blueprintEnter August, which opened in 2021 inside a gleaming skyscraper in Jakarta’s central business district.The duo behind the concept, Jakartan Hans Christian and Budi Cahyadi from the Indonesian island of Lombok, were definitely not the first people to promote Indonesian flavors — Christian emphasizes figures like Wongso, for example, who have been championing gastro-diplomacy abroad for decades.But August has spearheaded a new format and standard for the country’s fine-dining restaurants: a modern, Indonesia-inspired tasting menu operating at a world-class level of culinary execution and service.The industry has already noticed. August became one of the few Indonesian restaurants to achieve international recognition, placing 42nd on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2026 and earning accolades at The Best Chef Awards.“When I came back to Jakarta, you either had classic French fine dining or very casual bistros, mostly run by expat chefs,” says Christian, who sharpened his skills in Malaysia and the United States before returning to Jakarta in 2016.“There were no locally grown chefs doing their own thing with their own roots or interpretations. For me, August is about the pride of telling our own story … and a responsibility to not only embrace our roots, but also relearn them.”Cahyadi, with more than a decade of hospitality experience in a luxury hotel, agrees. He currently helms the front of house in August’s dining room.“In Jakarta, you either had to pick a place where the food was good but the service was lousy, or a casual place where service was bad but food was decent. When I met Hans, I knew it was time for a place where food is excellent and hospitality is delivered at the exact same time,” he says.In 2019, the two started August as a private kitchen concept before turning it into the current restaurant in 2021.Inside August’s intimate dining room — warmly lit with dark wood accents and a bright, open stainless-steel kitchen at the end of the dining room — the restaurant’s two tasting menus blend familiar Indonesian flavor profiles into completely unexpected forms.Their daikon dish is inspired by the format of Japanese agedashi tofu — silken tofu coated in starch, deep-fried until golden brown and traditionally dressed in dashi sauce.August’s version is served with a cuko sauce — a sweet and sour reduction made with tamarind and palm sugar featuring a tangy umami taste.It reminds locals of eating pempek, the Indonesian fishcake. A drizzle of andaliman pepper oil, Indonesia’s version of Sichuan peppercorns, gives the dish a unique, numbing spicy kick.Another highlight features Japanese Kimendai fish cooked by pouring hot oil over the scales until it crisps up while keeping the flesh tender. It sits in a kuah garang asem (yellow sour curry sauce) from the Central Java region.The sourness comes from a native green fruit called belimbing wuluh (or bilimbi), which looks like an oblong tomato but tastes extremely acidic, while ginger flowers provide a touch of freshness.The curry base is made from a yellow bumbu — made of aromatics such as turmeric and lemongrass. Often compared with France’s mother sauces (a group of five master sauces, such as Béchamel and Hollandaise, that are said to be the foundation of classical French cooking), Indonesian bumbu are spiced sauces that take hours to caramelize and form the base of many different dishes.Christian says that August has slowly evolved over the years, with more Indonesian flavors being incorporated into his menu as the team gains confidence and the demand grows.“In the beginning, our menu leaned more towards classic European because that was my formal training. When more international guests came, they expected more Indonesian flavor,” says Christian.Now, with half of their guests coming from overseas, the team tries to find the balance carefully without being intimidating.“Finding that balance was crucial — doing modern Indonesian cooking in a way that’s exciting for locals without just putting expensive ingredients in a traditional dish. We want to start from a product or a cooking method and create something new out of that idea,” says Christian.The founders admit that Jakarta has few fine dining concepts compared to fellow Southeast Asian cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Manila and Bangkok.“We knew we were a few years behind, but we are in progress to catch up. Over the years, the interest from people who want to learn and taste the flavor of Indonesia is growing,” says Christian. “For the past five to six years, we’ve been on a mission to prove people wrong.”It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t just about the menus, but the operation.They were the first restaurant to impose a reservation fee for diners in Jakarta. It also took a few years to educate their diners to be punctual for the tasting menu so the table could start the menu together – an often tricky feat in Jakarta traffic.But August’s success helped set new operational benchmarks for the city, proving that local diners were ready to enjoy high-end tasting menus.In the years since, Jakarta’s fine-dining community has expanded rapidly.ESA, opened in 2023, proudly offers a menu called New Jakarta Cuisine. Kindling, which opened the following year, blends Indonesian-Chinese dishes with French technique. Selera, newly opened this year in the Keraton at the Plaza hotel, emphasizes the nation’s culinary heritage with local ingredients.Outside the capital, things are changing, too, particularly in the country’s tourist hotspots. Bali, for example, has evolved to offer more than just fine resort dining and Western restaurants catering to visitors.Locavore NXT, helmed by Dutch-Indonesian duo Eelke Plasmeijer and Ray Adriansyah, serves a tasting menu that highlights local ingredients. The independent concept also has a farm, laboratory and store.Meanwhile, young, local and independent concepts are slowly increasing elsewhere in the country.Overlooking the historical Prambanan Temple and Mount Merapi, Suwatu in Yogyakarta, the royal cultural heart of Java, is an upscale hillside restaurant with a menu packed with local dishes cooked by local villagers.In Bandung, both MMBS (Mari Merangkai Bunga Seroja) and Plataran Bandung serve local Sundanese cuisine, with hyper-seasonal tasting menus featuring a creative twist.Not just about the price tagAt the same time, classic Indonesian restaurants are reexamining the stories they would like to tell.For a long time, the 1945 Restaurant inside the Fairmont Jakarta has been regarded as the city’s only high-end Indonesian restaurant in a five-star hotel.Taking over as the chef de cuisine this year, Yopi Tumeru has been determined to inject fresh ideas into the 11-year-old establishment — and he was inspired by the traditional rijsttafel concept.His vision of the legendary feast isn’t only a sumptuous buffet but an educational exploration of Indonesian cuisine.“For many years, Indonesian food was presented either as home cooking, street food or part of a hotel buffet… Our Rijsttafel was designed as a culinary journey through the archipelago. We preserve the generous and communal character of the traditional experience while refining the portions, presentation and sequence,” Tumeru says.The menu includes dishes such as wagyu beef rendang, duck leg confit with sambal madura, tuna collar rica-rica (rahang tuna), tempe nachos and es teler cheesecake — all created to shine new light onto old dishes.For chefs like Tumeru, presenting Indonesian cuisine in a haute gastronomic format isn’t just about slapping on higher price tags and using expensive ingredients.They are proudly showcasing the often undervalued Indonesian cuisine — from the ingredients, the knowledge and the labor to the cultural heritage.“Rendang, for example, is not simply beef cooked in coconut milk. It requires patience, careful control of the heat, and an understanding of how the spices develop over time,” says Tumeru, who feels chefs have a responsibility to help guests appreciate that complexity.Despite giving Indonesian cuisine an upscale makeover, all of the chefs insist their roots and hearts remain with the humble, family-run warung. They encourage diners to ask for street-food tips, which might otherwise feel intimidating without a local guide.The movement isn’t about replacing affordable neighborhood joints. It’s about broadening how the world sees Indonesian food, using fine dining as a welcoming gateway into their country’s vast culinary heritage.“There is still a mindset that Indonesian food cannot be expensive — that is not true,” says Wongso.“These high-end restaurants, if they’re doing it right, they’re quite helpful in changing people’s mindsets. Indonesian food cannot be cheap. It takes immense labor and skill. A single sauce or spice paste takes hours of balancing and preparation. You can Google many things, but you can’t Google taste.”The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

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