- BlackRock's IQQ charges 0.12%, reduced to 0.10% with a fee waiver through July 2027, versus QQQ at 0.18% and QQQM at 0.15% — a fee edge of 8 basis points against QQQ.
- Switching existing QQQ positions is uneconomic for taxable holders: a position up 60% sold in the 15% bracket triggers an immediate tax bill equal to 9% of the original position, which 8 basis points of annual fee savings would take over 100 years to recoup.
- QQQ keeps its dominance on liquidity and options depth: it averaged 10.1 million open options contracts per day over 52 weeks, an ecosystem cheaper Nasdaq-100 ETFs cannot replicate.
- Flows confirm the liquidity moat — IQQ gathered $239 million in its first two weeks while QQQ pulled in $1-3 billion on most days.
- The fee savings accrue mainly to buy-and-hold investors building positions from scratch; traders and frequent buyers are better served by QQQ's liquidity.
Quotes
“This presents a fee advantage for investors seeking exposure to the Nasdaq-100”
“QQQ has a 52-week average of 10.1 million open options contracts per day.”
“During IQQ's first two weeks, it pulled in $239 million in total, whereas the QQQ pulled in $1-3 billion on most days.”
“Fee savings of 0.08% a year would take over 100 years to recoup that.”