BetaShares Nasdaq 100 ETF (NDQ) — Review & Analysis

NDQ is Australia's fifth-largest ETF, with $9.0 billion in assets as at May 2026 — about 2.5% of the entire $358 billion Australian ETF market. It's Australia's most popular technology-themed ETF and the go-to single-fund US tech bet for Aussie investors. NDQ dwarfs its direct competitors — at $9.0B it's more than 5x the size of FANG ($1.8B) and 9x the size of HNDQ ($973M) as at May 2026. Betashares launched NDQ in May 2015, and it tracks the Nasdaq-100 Index — the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. The management fee is 0.48% per annum — significantly higher than IVV at 0.04% but justified by the more specialised exposure.

To compare NDQ side-by-side with every other ETF on the ASX, see the full ETF directory.

The Nasdaq-100 is dominated by what was historically called the "Magnificent 7" plus the broader tech mega-cap complex. As at May 2026, Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, Amazon, Meta, Alphabet (A and C), Tesla and Broadcom together make up around 48% of the index. By sector NDQ is approximately 58% information technology, 17% communication services, 14% consumer discretionary and 6% healthcare. There is zero financials exposure — banks aren't listed on the Nasdaq. Over the 5 years to May 2026, NDQ has returned +126.6% — the highest 5-year return of any major broad ETF on the ASX, driven almost entirely by US mega-cap tech dominance.

NDQ pays distributions semi-annually (late June and late December) at a very modest yield. As at May 2026, the trailing 12-month cash distribution yield runs around 0.4-0.6% — NDQ is a pure capital-growth fund, not an income fund. NDQ is currency-unhedged. There is a hedged equivalent, HNDQ, at 0.51% MER for investors who want to remove the currency variable. NDQ has gathered the largest dollar inflows of any Australian technology-themed ETF for the past 5 consecutive years, and is now held in an estimated 35-40% of all Australian SMSFs with international equity exposure.

NDQ is the right product for investors with high conviction in continued US tech mega-cap leadership who want concentrated exposure in a single trade. It's appropriate as a "satellite" position alongside a broader core like VAS + VGS, not as a standalone core holding — extreme concentration in US tech means a +126% rally can also reverse into a -30% drawdown when sentiment turns (as it did in 2022). A $10,000 investment in NDQ at its May 2015 launch (with all distributions reinvested) would be worth roughly $60,000 as at May 2026 — an annualised return of about 17.7% per year over the 11-year period. For our take, see Best ETFs in Australia 2026.