S&P 500 vs Nasdaq 100
The S&P 500 holds five hundred large American companies across every sector; the Nasdaq 100 holds only a hundred, listed on the Nasdaq and excluding financials, with far heavier concentration in technology. The two share their largest holdings, which is why they rise and fall together — and why the gap widens mainly when technology parts company with the rest of the market.
Over the period both series share, Nasdaq 100 comes out ahead at +14.3% a year.
| Asset | Total return | Annualised | Volatility | Largest drawdown |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 | ×42.3 | +9.4% a year | 15.8% | −54.7% (March 2009) |
| Nasdaq 100 | ×261 | +14.3% a year | 24.0% | −79.8% (October 2002) |
Figures calculated on 26/10/2026 from monthly closing prices. Past performance is no guide to future performance.
What each index actually holds
The S&P 500 tracks five hundred of the largest companies listed on American exchanges, weighted by free-float market capitalisation. Every sector is there: technology, healthcare, financials, energy, consumer goods. It is the index most managers mean when they say "the US market".
The Nasdaq 100 tracks the hundred largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq. Excluding financials is not a detail: it rules out banks and insurers from the start, leaving that much more room for software publishers, semiconductor makers and online platforms.
The two overlap heavily at the top — the same giants carry the most weight in both — but not in the same proportions. The Nasdaq 100 spreads its weight over five times fewer names, so it concentrates more.
What the comparison shows, and what it hides
Putting the two curves side by side over a long period does not only show which rose more: above all it shows that the better performer is also the one that fell furthest in the troughs. The dot-com crash from 2000 onwards cost the Nasdaq 100 far more than the S&P 500, and it took far longer to regain its previous high.
A second point escapes the raw comparison: both are price indices, with dividends excluded. The gap against their total-return versions is small for the Nasdaq 100, whose companies distribute little, and noticeably larger for the S&P 500. Comparing the total-return versions therefore shifts the verdict at the margin, and the comparison tool lets you check that.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Nasdaq 100 a technology index?
Not formally: its criteria are a Nasdaq listing and the exclusion of financials, not membership of the technology sector. In practice technology dominates, which is why it is read as a barometer for the sector.
Why do both curves start at the same value?
The tool places the same opening amount on each asset on the first day both have a price. That is what makes the comparison readable: the gap you see is the difference in performance, not the difference in index levels, which mean nothing relative to each other.
Can you invest in an index directly?
No. An index is a calculation, not a product. Exposure comes through index funds or ETFs, whose fees and replication method create a small gap against the index they track.