SPYM vs. QQQM: SPYM is the better fund to own alone

State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPYM) is the better fund to own alone. The companies behind 93.2% of Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF (QQQM) are already in SPYM. Furthermore, SPYM costs just $2 a year per $10,000, versus $15 for QQQM.

Holding QQQM makes sense only if you want to make a deliberate bet on the Nasdaq companies just below the giants. For example, Apple and Nvidia weigh about the same in both funds, but QQQM holds Micron and AMD at nearly three times their SPYM weight. QQQM has earned more over five years. But it's also taken bigger losses in bad markets.

What the two funds hold

SPYM opened on Nov. 8, 2005, but has tracked the S&P 500 only since Jan. 24, 2020. Before that it followed three other large-company indexes. It traded as SPLG until Oct. 31, 2025, when State Street changed its name and ticker. QQQM has tracked the Nasdaq-100 since it launched on Oct. 13, 2020. Nasdaq builds that index from 100 of the largest nonfinancial companies listed on its exchange.

The companies that SPYM does not hold are 6.8% of QQQM, and Space Exploration Technologies, the company known as SpaceX, is the largest of them, at 2.7% of QQQM.

Nasdaq added SpaceX to the Nasdaq-100 before the open on July 7, 2026.

The companies QQQM does not hold are 47.5% of SPYM. Eli Lilly is 1.8% of SPYM and Berkshire Hathaway is 1.7%, and neither is in QQQM.

Apple is 7.9% of SPYM and 8.4% of QQQM. Nvidia is 6.4% of SPYM and 6.8% of QQQM.

The ten largest holdings are 48.9% of QQQM and 38.6% of SPYM. Micron Technology, among QQQM's ten largest, is 4.1% of QQQM and 1.4% of SPYM.

For the typical company the two funds share, QQQM’s weight is 2.9 times SPYM’s. Apple and Nvidia are the exceptions, at nearly the same weight in both.

The gap comes from the indexes

The gap between the funds is the gap between the indexes. Over the five years through Nov. 12, QQQM's price is up 73.1% and the Nasdaq-100's is up 73.1%. SPYM's price is up 62.3% and the S&P 500 is up 62.2%.

Price returns exclude dividend yields. That's an important distinction, because SPYM yields roughly twice what QQQM does. Counting dividends, QQQM’s net asset value returned 16.4% a year over the five years through Sept. 30, against 13.8% for SPYM, or 113.7% against 90.5% in total. SPYM trailed the S&P 500’s total return by 0.03 percentage point a year over that stretch — very close to its 0.02% fee.

For this year, on price, QQQM's lead over SPYM has mostly gone. Through Sept. 30, QQQM's price was up 20.4%, and so was the Nasdaq-100. SPYM's was up 11.9%, against 11.8% for the S&P 500.

Through Nov. 12, on price, QQQM was up 12.0% for the year, and so was the Nasdaq-100. SPYM was up 11.1%, against 10.9% for the S&P 500.

Nearly all of QQQM’s 2026 lead disappeared after the Nasdaq-100’s Oct. 6 record close. By Nov. 2 the index had fallen 10.4%, and a Nov. 5 selloff in AI-related stocks pushed it lower.

The five-year lead has come with a deeper fall, on a different stretch. From Sept. 15, 2021, through Nov. 12, 2026, QQQM's worst drop from a peak close was 35.6%. SPYM's was 25.4%.

Over the same five years, QQQM’s worst fall from a closing high was 35.6%, against 25.4% for SPYM, both in the 2021-22 decline.

How the portfolios differ

SPYM had $181.85 billion in net assets as of November 13th, per Morningstar data, versus $109.12 billion for QQQM. SPYM holds 505 stocks and QQQM holds 101.

Information technology made up 37.9% of SPYM as of Nov. 13, and financial companies 12%. QQQM puts 56.2% in technology and holds next to no financial companies.

SPYM’s holdings traded at 18.55x earnings as of Nov. 13, against a P/E of 19.97 for QQQM. Over the past five years, QQQM’s annualized volatility was 17.82%, against 15.43% for SPYM.

When the Nasdaq-100 fund is the right one

Own SPYM if it is your main U.S. stock fund. It holds nearly every company in QQQM, plus Eli Lilly, Berkshire Hathaway and the financial sector stocks the Nasdaq-100 excludes. It's also $13 a year cheaper per $10,000.

Own QQQM if you want more of your money in Micron, AMD and the other Nasdaq companies below the top tier, and you can sit through deeper drops, like its 35.6% fall in the 2021-22 decline, against 25.4% for SPYM. Owning both adds little diversification. It raises your stake in the companies the funds share and adds QQQM’s 6.8% outside the S&P 500, led by SpaceX.