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If You'd Invested $5,000 in QQQ the Day It Launched, Here's What You'd Have Today
Key Points
The Invesco QQQ ETF is one of the most popular and best-performing ETFs of the past couple decades.
Most people think of it as a tech ETF. In reality, it's only a "mostly" tech ETF.
Here's what an investment made at its 1999 inception would be worth today (spoiler: it's a lot!).
The Invesco QQQ ETF (NASDAQ: QQQ) is one of the most popular ways to invest in technology stocks (although it's not a pure tech ETF). But what if you'd bought it the day it launched and never sold a share?
Considering that it launched in 1999, you might be surprised to find out that you'd be sitting on a large profit, given that it debuted just a year before the internet bubble went bust.
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Here's what $5,000 would be worth today
Since its inception, the Invesco QQQ ETF has returned approximately 10.6% annually with dividends reinvested. That may not sound like an impressive number, but keep in mind the fund lost more than 80% of its value during the tech collapse within the first few years of its existence.
Source: Getty Images.
The past decade, of course, has been incredible. It's capitalized on the artificial intelligence (AI) rally and unprecedented liquidity in response to the COVID pandemic. Over the past 10 years, the fund has returned nearly 21% per year.
If you consider this altogether, a $5,000 investment made on March 9, 1999 when the fund launched and held through the market close of November 4, 2026 would have grown to $79,030.
That's roughly 16 times the original investment.
But it's important to point out that you would have needed to ride out multiple severe bear markets to capture these returns. That includes the tech bubble, the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID pandemic, and the 2022 bear market. History shows what long-term patience can accomplish, even when you start at the worst time possible.
David Dierking has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.