Wealthy PotFXAIX vs QQQ: The Whole S&P 500 or the Nasdaq-100's Tech Giants
FXAIX is Fidelity's S&P 500 index mutual fund at 0.015% a year. QQQ is Invesco's Nasdaq-100 ETF at 0.18%, twelve times the fee. They are not two versions of the same thing. FXAIX owns about 500 large U.S. companies across every sector. QQQ owns about 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on Nasdaq, so half of it is technology and it holds no banks. The overlap is 53.8% on our holdings match: almost everything in QQQ is also in FXAIX, but QQQ covers only about half of FXAIX. Over the ten years to 30 September 2026 QQQ returned 20.91% a year and FXAIX 15.32%. That lead came from a decade in which large technology stocks did exceptionally well, and it came with deeper drops along the way. That is a record, not a promise.
Table of Contents
The Short Answer
- Overlap: 53.8%. 93.7% of QQQ's money sits in companies FXAIX also owns. Those companies are only 55.8% of FXAIX; the rest is banks, health care, energy, industrials and other businesses QQQ leaves out.
- Fees: FXAIX 0.015%, QQQ 0.18%. On $10,000 that is $1.50 a year against $18.
- Ten years to 30 September 2026: QQQ 20.91% a year, FXAIX 15.32%. Same date for both, from each issuer.
- QQQ is more concentrated. Its ten largest companies were 47.7% of the fund; FXAIX's were 40.6%. About half of QQQ is information technology, against about a third of FXAIX.
- QQQ has fallen harder. Its worst quarter in its prospectus window was a 22.33% drop; FXAIX's worst in its window was 19.59%.
- Different wrappers. FXAIX is a mutual fund priced once a day with no minimum; QQQ is an ETF that trades all day at any broker.
- Core or tilt. FXAIX can be a whole U.S. stock holding on its own. QQQ is a bet on one slice of the market; if you add it to FXAIX, you are adding more of companies you already own.
How Much They Overlap
FXAIX normally invests "at least 80% of assets in common stocks included in the S&P 500® Index." QQQ's index "includes securities of 100 of the largest domestic and international non-financial companies listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market." Two rules make them differ: QQQ excludes financial companies, and it only takes companies listed on Nasdaq's exchanges, so a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange is out however large it is.
Our Portfolio Overlap Checker puts the overlap at 53.8%, across 85 shared companies. It adds up the smaller of the two weights for every company both funds hold, using each fund's SEC holdings report (Form N-PORT): Fidelity's dated 31 May 2026 and Invesco's dated 30 June 2026.
| Largest shared holdings | % of FXAIX (31 May 2026) | % of QQQ (30 Jun 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA | 7.89% | 7.58% |
| Apple | 7.05% | 6.65% |
| Alphabet | 6.11% | 6.27% |
| Microsoft | 5.14% | 4.34% |
| Amazon | 4.07% | 4.01% |
| Micron | 1.68% | 5.62% |
| AMD | 1.29% | 4.09% |
| Tesla | 1.88% | 3.29% |
The biggest names are held at similar weights. The difference shows lower down: QQQ puts far more into chipmakers such as Micron and AMD, while 44% of FXAIX is in companies QQQ does not own at all. The largest of those on Fidelity's 31 May filing were Eli Lilly (1.35%), Berkshire Hathaway (1.34%), JPMorgan (1.24%), Exxon Mobil (0.93%), Visa (0.84%) and Johnson & Johnson (0.84%).
Going the other way, about 6% of QQQ was outside FXAIX on these filings, mostly companies based abroad or not in the S&P 500, such as Marvell (1.13%), ASML (0.79%), Arm (0.65%) and Shopify (0.60%).
FXAIX vs QQQ Side by Side
| FXAIX | QQQ | |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Fidelity 500 Index Fund | Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1 |
| Index | S&P 500 | Nasdaq-100 |
| Expense ratio | 0.015% | 0.18% |
| Prospectus cost example, $10,000 over 10 years | $19 | $230 |
| Type | Open-end mutual fund, priced once a day | ETF, trades all day; a unit investment trust until December 2025 |
| Minimum | None | One share, unless your broker sells fractions |
| Holdings | 507 (28 Feb 2026) | 102 (2 Oct 2026) |
| Ten largest companies | 40.6% (31 May 2026) | 47.7% (30 Jun 2026) |
| Information technology | 32.5% (28 Feb 2026) | 50.4% (31 Mar 2026) |
| Communication services | 10.5% | 15.3% |
| Consumer discretionary | 9.9% | 12.6% |
| Financials | 12.5% | None; the index excludes them |
| Health care | 9.8% | 5.1% |
| Industrials | 9.2% | 4.2% |
| Fund size | $749.4 billion (28 Feb 2026) | $505.2 billion (2 Oct 2026) |
| Inception | 17 Feb 1988 | 10 Mar 1999 |
Returns: QQQ Led, With Bigger Swings
Fidelity and Invesco both publish returns to 30 September 2026, so the table compares the same dates.
| Average annual return to 30 Sep 2026 | 1 year | 3 years | 5 years | 10 years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FXAIX | 15.72% | 22.87% | 13.78% | 15.32% |
| S&P 500 | 15.74 | 22.89 | 13.79 | 15.33 |
| QQQ (NAV) | 23.74% | 28.05% | 16.33% | 20.91% |
| Nasdaq-100 | 24.00 | 28.31 | 16.56 | 21.16 |
| QQQ minus FXAIX | +8.02 | +5.18 | +2.55 | +5.59 |
| FXAIX, after taxes on distributions | 15.40 | 22.49 | 13.39 | 14.82 |
| QQQ, after taxes on distributions | 23.52 | 27.83 | 16.13 | 20.70 |
The fee did not decide this. QQQ costs 0.165 points a year more and still finished 5.59 points a year ahead over ten years. The difference is what each fund owns. In this decade, large technology and internet companies outran the rest of the market, and QQQ holds a larger share of them.
The ride was rougher. QQQ's prospectus shows a worst quarter of minus 22.33% (the quarter to 30 June 2022) over calendar years 2015 to 2024. FXAIX's shows a worst quarter of minus 19.59% (the quarter to 31 March 2020) over 2016 to 2025. The windows differ by a year, so treat this as a rough guide, not an exact comparison. A fund that holds fewer companies in fewer industries moves more when those industries fall.
It can reverse. A decade led by banks, energy, health care or industrial companies would favor FXAIX, which holds them and QQQ largely does not. Nobody can tell you which kind of decade comes next.
| Hypothetical $10,000 held for 10 years | Ending value |
|---|---|
| At FXAIX's 10-year return (15.32%) | $41,595 |
| At QQQ's 10-year return (20.91%) | $66,776 |
This is educational information, not personalized investment advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results, and all investing carries the risk of loss.
Where They Really Differ
Breadth. FXAIX spreads money over about 500 companies in every sector. QQQ holds about 100, and its prospectus calls it "non-diversified," a legal term meaning it is not bound by the usual limits on how much a fund puts in a few companies.
Cost. 0.18% is low for a fund but high next to FXAIX's 0.015%. On $100,000 that is $180 a year against $15. If you want the Nasdaq-100 at a lower fee, Invesco's QQQM charges 0.15% for the same index; see QQQ vs QQQM.
Structure. QQQ was a unit investment trust for most of its life. Its prospectus says it was "reclassified as an open-end management investment company" after the close on 19 December 2025, so the old trust's limits no longer apply. FXAIX is a conventional mutual fund: one price a day at the 4 p.m. close, no minimum, and a Fidelity rule that blocks new purchases for 85 days after two sell-within-30-days round trips in 90 days.
Where you can hold it. QQQ trades on an exchange, so any brokerage account can hold it. FXAIX's prospectus warns "you may be charged a transaction fee if you buy or sell shares through a non-Fidelity broker."
Which One Fits You
You want one fund for your U.S. stocks: FXAIX. It covers the large companies in every sector, at a fraction of the cost, and does not depend on one industry staying on top.
You already own FXAIX and want more technology: add QQQ in a small slice, knowing what it does. Nearly all of QQQ is already inside FXAIX, so adding it mainly raises your weight in the same giant tech companies. Decide on a target share, such as 10% or 20% of your stocks, and stick to it.
Your 401(k) offers FXAIX but not QQQ: FXAIX is the natural core. You can hold a Nasdaq-100 fund in an IRA or brokerage account if you want the tilt.
You use a broker other than Fidelity: QQQ trades anywhere. For the S&P 500 side, a low-cost ETF does FXAIX's job; compare FXAIX vs VOO and QQQ vs VOO.
You might need the money within a few years: neither is a short-term holding, and QQQ has shown the larger falls.
Taxable account: both lost about 0.2 to 0.5 points a year to taxes on distributions over ten years (QQQ 0.21, FXAIX 0.50). If you already hold either with large gains, selling to switch can cost more than it saves.
Sources & Methodology
- Fidelity 500 Index Fund Summary Prospectus, 29 April 2026: the 0.015% fee table, strategy, no purchase minimum and worst quarter.
- Fidelity Concord Street Trust, Form 485BPOS filed 24 April 2026: the roundtrip rule and non-Fidelity broker fees.
- Fidelity Concord Street Trust, Form N-CSR for the year ended 28 February 2026: FXAIX's size, holdings count and sector weights.
- Fidelity's FXAIX performance page: returns to 30 September 2026.
- Invesco QQQ Trust, Form 485BPOS filed 19 December 2025: the 0.18% fee table, index rules, the conversion from a unit investment trust and worst quarter.
- QQQ Form N-CSRS for the half-year to 31 March 2026: QQQ's sector weights.
- Invesco's QQQ page: returns to 30 September 2026, holdings count and size on 2 October 2026.
- FXAIX Form N-PORT for 31 May 2026 and QQQ Form N-PORT for 30 June 2026: the holdings behind the overlap and top-ten figures.
How the overlap was computed. The Portfolio Overlap Checker sums the smaller of the two weights for each company held by both funds, using each fund's latest N-PORT in our dataset. The two filings are a month apart; we state both dates rather than adjust either one. Tax drag is before-tax minus after-tax-on-distributions return, our arithmetic.
What we could not verify. QQQ's calendar-year returns appear only as a chart image in its prospectus, so we do not quote single years. We did not check which brokers carry FXAIX or which 401(k) plans offer either fund.
This article is for general education and is not investment, tax or legal advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results, and all investing carries the risk of loss. Figures were checked against the sources above on 5 October 2026; verify current figures with each fund company before acting.
FAQ: FXAIX vs QQQ
Is QQQ better than FXAIX?
It has returned more over the last decade, 20.91% a year against 15.32% over the ten years to 30 September 2026, with larger drops. It is also narrower and twelve times the fee. Better depends on whether you want the whole large-company market or a tilt toward technology.
How much do FXAIX and QQQ overlap?
53.8% on our holdings match. Nearly all of QQQ (93.7%) is in companies FXAIX owns, but those companies make up only about 56% of FXAIX.
Which is cheaper?
FXAIX, at 0.015% a year against 0.18%. On $10,000 that is $1.50 against $18.
Should I hold both FXAIX and QQQ?
You can, but know that QQQ adds more of the same large technology companies FXAIX already holds. Keep the QQQ slice to a size you have chosen on purpose.
Does QQQ hold any banks?
No. The Nasdaq-100 is limited to non-financial companies, which is why FXAIX's 12.5% in financials has no counterpart in QQQ.
Why did QQQ beat FXAIX?
Because of what it owns, not its fee. QQQ costs more, but over the last decade the large technology and internet companies it concentrates on rose faster than the rest of the market. A cheaper way to own the same index is Invesco's QQQM at 0.15%.
Which is better for a Roth IRA?
A Roth shields either fund's gains from tax, so the choice is about risk and coverage. FXAIX works as a core holding on its own; QQQ is a concentrated tilt.
Cite This Page
Journalists, educators and bloggers are welcome to cite this comparison. Please link back so readers can reach the underlying filings.
"FXAIX vs QQQ: The Whole S&P 500 or the Nasdaq-100's Tech Giants." Wealthy Pot, 2026. https://wealthypot.com/fxaix-vs-qqq/
Related comparisons: QQQ vs VOO · SPY vs QQQ · QQQ vs QQQM · QQQ vs VTI · FXAIX vs VOO · FXAIX vs IVV · All ETF comparisons
