How to invest in a NASDAQ-100 ETF

With a NASDAQ-100 ETF you invest in the largest technology companies in the US, without having to pick stocks yourself.

What is a NASDAQ-100 ETF?

NASDAQ stands for National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations — quite a mouthful. 'The NASDAQ' is the 2nd largest stock exchange in the United States and is known as a technology exchange, because many technology companies are listed on it.

The NASDAQ is also a stock market index: officially called the 'NASDAQ Composite'. From this index you can read the average value of the stocks on the NASDAQ exchange.

And then there is the NASDAQ-100, an index of the 100 largest companies in the NASDAQ Composite from which financial companies are excluded. A defining characteristic of the NASDAQ-100 is that it contains many stocks from innovative tech companies.

ETF stands for 'Exchange Traded Fund'. An ETF is an investment product that lets you invest in all kinds of companies or governments at once. The ETF pools the contributions of various investors and spreads the total across a broad selection of stocks or bonds. Returns are distributed among investors in proportion to their contribution.

Which companies are in the NASDAQ-100?

The NASDAQ-100 is known as a technology and innovation index. It contains many tech and communications stocks, from companies such as Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Meta and Alphabet (of Google). But you will also find well-known consumer brands in it, such as Netflix, Tesla, Booking.com and Starbucks.

The NASDAQ-100 contains no financial companies, such as banks and insurers. The largest companies (top positions) in the index carry more weight, which means the price is relatively more dependent on their performance.

Why invest in a NASDAQ-100 ETF?

If you would like to invest in the tech sector because you believe in its growth, but don't want to go through the trouble of researching companies and stocks, the NASDAQ-100 ETF could be interesting. With this ETF, you invest in one go in the most well-known listed tech companies in the United States.

Because the focus is on tech, prices may fluctuate somewhat more than with ETFs that are spread across more sectors.

The NASDAQ-100 ETF at Peaks

There are various parties that offer NASDAQ-100 ETFs. And there are various platforms on which you can buy these ETFs.

At Peaks you can invest in the NASDAQ-100 ETF from BNP Paribas. In the Peaks app, you can add it to a new or existing investment portfolio in a matter of minutes. Because Peaks requires no minimum deposit, you can invest in tech stocks with as little as €1.

NASDAQ-100 ETF at low cost

The total fund costs of the NASDAQ-100 ETF are very low at 0.17% per year (total expense ratio + transaction costs of the fund) compared to similar ETFs that invest in the NASDAQ-100 index.

Peaks charges no transaction costs when you wish to buy or sell the ETF.

You do pay spread on the stock market. This is the difference between the price at which market traders are willing to buy or sell stocks and ETFs.

Adding the NASDAQ-100 ETF to an existing portfolio

• Step 1. Open the app and go to 'Portfolio'
• Step 2. Press 'Edit'
• Step 3. Add the NASDAQ-100 ETF
• Step 4. Adjust the allocation so that it comes to 100%
• Step 5. And start investing!

Creating a new Peaks portfolio with the NASDAQ-100 ETF

Creating a new Peaks portfolio with the NASDAQ-100 ETF is very straightforward:

• Step 1. Open an Investment account
• Step 2. Under 'Portfolio', choose 'Custom Portfolio'
• Step 3. Add the NASDAQ-100
• Step 4. (Optionally) add other ETFs to your portfolio and make sure your allocation comes to 100%
• Step 5. Ready? Let's get started!