BlackRock is launching a new exchange-traded fund tracking the Nasdaq-100 index, stepping directly into a lucrative tech-heavy market dominated by Invesco for over two decades. Trading under the ticker IQQ, the fund is scheduled to debut on Thursday, July 9, 2026.
The rollout arrives amid massive capital inflows into large-cap technology stocks, propelled by ongoing momentum in artificial intelligence.
Sashing Fees: A Direct Assault on QQQ
To aggressively win over market share, BlackRock is undercutting established incumbents on price. The fund introduces an old-school fee war to the Nasdaq-100 territory:
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The Pricing Advantage: IQQ launches with a gross expense ratio of 0.12%, but a promotional fee waiver reduces the net cost to just 0.10% through July 31, 2027.
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The Competition: This undercuts Invesco’s flagship QQQ (0.18% fee) and its lower-cost sibling QQQM (0.15% fee), which together command more than $500 billion in assets. It also matches State Street’s recently launched QNDX ETF at the 10-basis-point mark.
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Accessibility: IQQ will start trading at an initial Net Asset Value (NAV) of $24 per share. This lower absolute price tag makes it highly accessible for retail investors and smaller portfolios compared to QQQ’s trading price of over $720.
Structural Updates and AI Synergy
The timing of the launch aligns with major structural updates and a broader tech bull run. The Nasdaq-100 recently logged its best quarter since April 2020.
Furthermore, Nasdaq modified its index criteria to accelerate the inclusion of newly listed innovators. This faster path to entry recently allowed high-profile private giants like SpaceX to become part of the index, making the benchmark increasingly attractive to investors seeking immediate exposure to cutting-edge technological shifts.
While BlackRock already manages over $41 billion across specialized tech strategies—such as the iShares Nasdaq Top 30 Stocks ETF (QTOP)—IQQ establishes their first broad, core flagship tracker for the standard Nasdaq-100 in the United States.
