NASDAQ-100 - Investing

Investing

The NASDAQ-100 is often abbreviated as NDX in the derivatives markets. Its corresponding futures contracts are traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The regular futures are denoted by the Reuters Instrument Code ND, and the smaller E-mini version uses the code NQ. Both are among the most heavily traded futures at the exchange.

The NASDAQ-100 Trust Series 1 exchange-traded fund, sponsored and overseen since March 21, 2007 by Invesco through PowerShares, trades under the ticker NASDAQ: QQQ, or "cubes". On December 1, 2004, it was moved from the American Stock Exchange where it had the symbol QQQ to the NASDAQ and given the new four letter code QQQQ, sometimes called the "quad Qs" by traders. On March 23, 2011, Nasdaq changed its symbol back to QQQ. In 2000, it was the most actively traded security in the United States, and hit an all-time split adjusted intra-day trading high of $120.50 on March 24 of that year, but has since dropped to being within the top five after other stocks and ETFs such as the Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts. On July 17, 2007, the ETF closed above $50 for the first time since early 2001. After reaching a peak of $55.07 on October 31, 2007, the Qs succumbed to a wider financial crisis along with a decline in technology spending and plunged towards a November 21, 2008 intra-day low of $25.05. Since then, it has gradually advanced to surpass its 2007 peak, making new 11-3/4 year highs in September 2012 above $70 per share. ProShares issued by ProFunds offer other related NASDAQ-100 ETFs such as the 2x NYSE: QLD, which attempts to match the daily performance of the NASDAQ-100 by 200% and the Inverse 2x NYSE: QID, which attempts to match the inverse daily performance by 200%. For replicating 3x performance; there is the NASDAQ: TQQQ and for Inverse 3x, NASDAQ: SQQQ. ProFunds also issues Inverse Performance NYSE: PSQ for a bearish strategy on the index.