QQQS vs VB

QQQSDInvesco NASDAQ Future Gen 200 ETF

VBAVanguard Morningstar Small-Cap ETF

In short

QQQS Invesco's "future gen" swing: a rules-based basket of roughly 200 Nasdaq-listed innovators for 0.20% a year. Young (2022 launch), small, and lightly traded, so the order screen matters as much as the thesis.

VB Vanguard's small-cap workhorse: roughly 1,400 smaller US companies for three basis points. The CRSP index behind it shifts stocks between size bands in two half steps instead of one jump, which holds turnover down. Trading since 2004.

Stated mandate

QQQS The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the investment results of the Nasdaq Innovators Completion Cap Index. It invests at least 90% of total assets in securities comprising that index.

VB The fund seeks to track the CRSP US Small Cap Index, which measures the investment performance of small U.S. companies. It uses an indexing approach and generally replicates the index by holding its securities in approximately their index weights.

Why people hold it

• QQQS Costs 0.20% a year, below the typical US factor fund and undercutting peers like SUSA (0.25%) and DXUV (0.28%).
• Purely rules-driven: at least 90% of assets sit in the Nasdaq Innovators Completion Cap Index. You own the index, not a manager's hunches.invesco.com
• Roughly 200 holdings make for one of the better-spread portfolios in its factor peer group, rather than a handful of names carrying the load.
• Distributions land on a quarterly schedule.

• VB Three basis points a year, against a small-cap category median near 0.25%. Cost is the one edge in indexing you actually keep.
• About 1,400 stocks held at roughly their index weights, so no single small-cap story carries the fund.vanguard.com
• Its CRSP benchmark migrates a stock between size segments in two 50% packets instead of one move, a design built to cut turnover.crsp.com
• Running since 2004, actively traded, and one of the strongest implementations in its 20-fund small-cap peer group.

Worth knowing

• QQQS A small fund that trades thinly. Spreads can be wide, so limit orders and a little patience do real work here.
• Up-and-coming innovators swing harder than blue chips. This has been one of the bumpier rides among US factor funds.
• Launched in 2022, so the record is short, and small, young funds face more closure risk than entrenched giants.

• VB Small companies move harder in both directions than large-cap benchmarks, and this is full, unhedged exposure to that.
• Benchmarks disagree on where small cap starts. VB follows CRSP, while IWM and VTWO track the Russell 2000, so holdings and results can drift apart.
• US companies only, and distributions land quarterly rather than monthly.

Full QQQS profile⁠

Full VB profile⁠