The Nasdaq-100 ETF Fee War: Why There's Room for 4

The intense competition among core equity index ETFs is no longer confined to the S&P 500. A similar battle is playing out tied to the Nasdaq-100. Lower-fee entrants have challenged Invesco. However, a few months in, we are seeing that the market can support four distinct products.Key Takeaways Despite competition from IQQ and QNDX, Invesco’s QQQ and QQQM have added a combined $33 billion of new money in 2026. iShares’ IQQ and SSIM’s QNDX gathered more than $1.3 billion since their launches this summer. S&P 500-based ETFs are a strong example of how products from different firms can gain traction. The four ETFs have added $224 billion in 2026. S&P 500 Exposure: 4 ETFs Gaining TractionFor more than 25 years, three firms offered S&P 500 ETFs. Yet there is no dominant offering. Indeed, year-to-date through October 28, the four market-cap-weighted S&P 500 ETFs collectively gathered $224 billion of net inflows. Their success set the stage for multi-issuer coexistence across different fee structures and client bases. Each S&P ETF had more than $10 billion of new money this year. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO A) leads with $117 billion net inflows in 2026 aided by its 0.03% fee. VOO’s demand is followed by the State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPYM) with $71 billion. SPYM charges only 0.02%. Meanwhile, the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV A) and State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY A-) pulled in $26 billion and $10 billion, respectively. SPY is the oldest and charges the highest fee (0.09%) of the ETFs, but continues to have strong appeal from institutional investors.Fee War Focused on InnovationIn contrast, the four innovation index tracking Nasdaq-100 ETFs have collectively attracted more than $38 billion in 2026 net inflows. Invesco QQQ Trust launched in 1999 but has more competition than ever before. In late June 2026, the State Street SPFR Portfolio Nasdaq 100 ETF (QNDX) launched at a disruptive 0.10% expense ratio. QNDX amassed more than $600 million in net inflows through late October. Days later, the iShares Nasdaq 100 ETF (IQQ) began trading at the same 0.10% fee. IQQ has quickly built a $765 million asset base. Crucially, this pricing offensive from State Street and iShares takes aim at the retail-focused Invesco NASDAQ 100 (QQQM B+) that launched in 2020. QQQM’s 0.15% fee has been lower than the institutional flagship Invesco QQQ (0.18% fee). Separately there is a suite of popular covered-call ETFs tied to the Nasdaq-100 offered by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, NEOS, and others that have higher expense ratios. Similar to SPY, institutional investors rely on QQQ’s unrivaled secondary market liquidity, deep options contracts, and tight bid/ask spreads. We think they are more willing to prioritize execution over a few basis points of management fees. Meanwhile, QQQM has served buy-and-hold retail allocators the last six years. QQQM gathered $27 billion in the year to date 2026 inflows, while QQQ pulled in $6 billion. Despite the arrival of QNDX and IQQ, demand across Invesco’s suite remained robust. It is possible Invesco is inclined to bring QQQM’s fee down closer to its upstart peers. However, persistent demand in the last four months suggests the risk has been limited.Concentrated Portfolios Ready to ExpandAll four Nasdaq-based funds offer identical fundamental exposure, tracking the tech-heavy benchmark. The four ETFs are dominated by Nvidia (8% of assets), Apple (8%), Microsoft (6%), Micron Technology (4%), and Amazon (4%). However, the recent addition of SpaceX and the pending inclusion of Anthropic help support demand. Meanwhile, historically, the fourth quarter provided strong seasonal tailwinds for the large-cap growth index. QQQ pulled in $13 billion in the last three months of 2025. As fee competition provides greater access, we think there is ample runway for all four ETF platforms to thrive. For more news, information, and analysis, visit the Equity ETF Content Hub.