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BlackRock just filed to launch the iShares Nasdaq-100 ETF, ticker IQQ, and if you’re Invesco, this is the phone call you’ve been dreading for 27 years.
The filing, submitted to the SEC on April 6, represents the first serious challenge to Invesco’s QQQ Trust, which has sat atop the Nasdaq-100 tracking category with somewhere between $374 billion and $426 billion in assets under management. And BlackRock, the $10 trillion gorilla of asset management, apparently looked at that pile of money and thought: we’d like some of that.
The great Nasdaq-100 land grab
The day after BlackRock’s filing, State Street submitted its own application for a competing Nasdaq-100 ETF. Two of the three largest asset managers on the planet decided, within 24 hours of each other, that Invesco’s near-monopoly had lasted long enough.
The Nasdaq-100 tracks 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq exchange. The index climbed 27.5% in 2025, driven largely by insatiable investor appetite for anything touching artificial intelligence.
Invesco’s QQQ has been the default vehicle for investors seeking pure Nasdaq-100 exposure since its launch in 1999. Previously, only a handful of US-listed ETFs tracked this index, and they were all managed by Invesco.
Neither BlackRock nor State Street has disclosed fee structures for their proposed funds yet.
Why this matters for crypto and tech investors
There’s also the BlackRock factor. This is the same firm that launched the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which became the fastest-growing ETF in history. BlackRock has demonstrated a pattern: identify a category where investor demand is surging, launch a product with competitive fees, and use its massive distribution network to vacuum up assets.
What investors should watch
Invesco’s QQQ currently charges an expense ratio that has remained relatively stable because, well, it didn’t need to compete. That changes now.
Liquidity is the other variable to watch. QQQ is one of the most heavily traded ETFs in the world, and that liquidity itself is a competitive moat. Tight bid-ask spreads and deep order books matter enormously for institutional traders. BlackRock’s IQQ will need to build that liquidity from scratch. State Street faces the same challenge.
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English (US) · 