VTI is the better U.S. stock fund, unless you want the Nasdaq-100

Vanguard Morningstar Total Stock Market ETF, VTI, the fund long called Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF, is the better fund if one of these two will be how you own U.S. stocks. Over the 10 years ended Sept. 30, 2026, Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1, QQQ, returned 20.9% a year at net asset value, against 14.7% for VTI.

That lead is the Nasdaq-100's lead over the total U.S. stock market, not a difference in how Vanguard and Invesco run the funds. Take QQQ only if you want that index, and you know what it leaves out.

QQQ trailed the Nasdaq-100 by 0.25 percentage points a year. Invesco charged 0.20% for nearly all of that decade, then cut the fee to 0.18% in December 2025, when the fund converted from a unit investment trust to an open-end ETF.

VTI matched the total-market index Vanguard reports for the fund. Over the five years ended Sept. 30, 2026, QQQ returned 16.3% a year and VTI returned 12.6%.

What the two funds hold

VTI seeks to track the Morningstar US Total Market Index, which Vanguard's Sept. 30, 2026 fact sheet says covers about 100% of the investable U.S. stock market. Vanguard renamed the ETF on July 29, 2026, after Morningstar rebranded the index it had tracked, the CRSP US Total Market Index, as the Morningstar US Total Market Index.

Morningstar said on July 28 that the change was the name, not the methodology. The 10-year record above was earned against that index.

QQQ seeks to track the Nasdaq-100. Invesco's fact sheet for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2026, describes that index as 100 of the largest domestic and international non-financial companies listed on Nasdaq, weighted by a modified market capitalization.

QQQ holds 100 companies, and VTI holds 3,465. Of QQQ's companies, 90 are also in VTI: 96.3% of QQQ by weight, and 49.9% of VTI. The other 3,375 companies are 49.8% of VTI, and they appear only there.

The giants are in both funds, at different sizes. Apple is 8.5% of QQQ and 6.6% of VTI. Nvidia is 7.7% of QQQ and 7.1% of VTI.

The 10 largest holdings are 49.6% of QQQ and 36.0% of VTI.

Technology is 58.0% of QQQ and 38.1% of VTI.

Financial companies are 11.5% of VTI. The Nasdaq-100 leaves financials out, so that slice is not in QQQ.

The index also leaves out companies that do not list on Nasdaq. Eli Lilly lists on the New York Stock Exchange, and so do Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase. Each is a little over 1% of VTI.

Ten of QQQ's companies are not in VTI. They are 3.5% of QQQ. ASML and Arm are among them.

Nasdaq, with data as of Sept. 30, 2026, counts both as companies based outside the United States. VTI tracks the U.S. market. What QQQ does instead is drop about half the U.S. market by weight and hold the shared names more heavily.

The drop since the October high

From the Sept. 30, 2026 close to the Nov. 9 close, the price of QQQ fell 8.2%. The Nasdaq-100 fell 8.2%. VTI fell 0.9%.

Sept. 30 was not the high. Bloomberg reported on Nov. 2 that the Nasdaq-100 peaked on Oct. 6. From that session's close, the index was down 14.7% on Nov. 5 and 10.6% on Nov. 9.

The wider moves go back further than this fall. Over the five years through Nov. 9, QQQ's annualized price volatility was 23.1%, against 17.6% for VTI. The deepest drop from a peak close was 35.6% for QQQ and 26.2% for VTI.

The fee, and holding both

VTI charges 0.03% a year. QQQ charges 0.18%, six times as much, a gap of 0.15 percentage points. On $10,000, that is $3 a year against $18.

The 6.2 percentage point gap over those 10 years came from the indexes. The fee gap is what you still pay if the indexes move together from here.

QQQ also pays less cash. Over the last four quarterly payments, its trailing distribution yield was 0.46%, against 1.07% for VTI, both measured on the Nov. 10 price.

If the job is one U.S. stock fund, take VTI. You keep the companies in QQQ, about half of VTI, and you keep the half QQQ drops. You pay a sixth of the fee, and the falls have been smaller.

If you want the Nasdaq-100, take QQQ and size it like the bet it is. Holding QQQ next to VTI does not add a new portfolio. The 90 shared companies are already 49.9% of VTI, so the second fund mostly buys more of those same names.

Holders of the Nasdaq-100 earned the lead over the past decade. By the Nov. 9 close, the index was down 10.6% from the Oct. 6 high.