FTEC vs QQH

FTECAFidelity MSCI Information Technology Index ETF

QQHFHCM Defender 100 Index ETF

In short

FTEC Fidelity's tech sleeve runs 0.08% a year and holds about 300 names, tracking an MSCI index that reaches from mega-cap chipmakers down into small-cap software. Cheap beta on the whole US tech stack, not just the giants.

QQH Tech exposure with a built-in escape hatch: QQH follows an in-house index that steps from fully invested to 70/30, then 40/60, then all cash as its trend signal breaks down. Rules-based market timing in an index wrapper, for 0.98%.

Stated mandate

FTEC Seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the MSCI USA IMI Information Technology Index.

QQH The Fund seeks to generally track the HCM Defender 100 Index before fees and expenses. It invests at least 80% of net assets in index securities, while the index uses a proprietary trend-based allocation among technology equities and cash or cash equivalents.

Why people hold it

• FTEC At 0.08%, it ties the cheapest fund in its broad-tech group and undercuts VGT's 0.09%, against a cohort median of 0.40%. On a sector sleeve, that gap compounds quietly.
• The MSCI USA IMI benchmark covers large, mid and small cap US tech, so the roughly 300 holdings stretch past the mega-cap tier alone.msci.com
• Trading since 2013 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund, it sits in the top quartile of its broad technology peer group.

• QQH The de-risking ladder is written into the prospectus with hard numbers: 3.5% below the BuyLine signal moves the index to 70/30 equity/cash, 6.5% to 40/60, and 12% to all cash or cash equivalents.sec.govhowardcm.com
• Getting back in has a rule too: the index reinvests in equities only after the reference large-cap index closes above the signal for five straight sessions, so one green day does not flip it.howardcm.com
• No manager discretion to second-guess. The equity sleeve is the largest, most liquid US technology names, and the shift triggers live in the index methodology, not in a trading desk's judgment.howardcm.com
• Running since 2019, so the mechanism has been through real tech drawdowns rather than backtests alone.

Worth knowing

• FTEC Membership follows GICS Information Technology, so several household-name tech businesses classified into other sectors never show up here.msci.com
• One sector, one story: tech moves harder than the broad market in both directions, and roughly 300 names does not soften that.
• Distributions arrive quarterly, and a growth-heavy sector index is not built around payouts.

• QQH At 0.98% it sits above the technology category median (25 funds measured), and far above plain tech trackers like XLK at 0.08% and VGT at 0.09%. The signal is what you are paying up for.
• The trigger watches a broad US large-cap index, not tech itself, so the move to cash can lag or sidestep a selloff that hits technology alone.sec.gov
• Defender describes a mechanism, not an outcome: between triggers the fund can be fully invested, and the index is built and maintained by HCM using a model it does not publish.howardcm.com

Full FTEC profile⁠

Full QQH profile⁠