NASDAQ-100 ETF (QQQ) DCA Calculator
What a fixed monthly buy of NASDAQ-100 ETF actually did — computed from real daily closes (Mar 1999 → Jul 2026), not projections. Run your own amount and schedule below.
What $100 a month actually built
The last 10 years of a $100 monthly plan in QQQ, month by month: the flat line is cash paid in ($12,100 total), the accent line is what the position was worth along the way — ending at $36,409. Every point is computed from that day's real close.
Timing luck, quantified
Same plan, different start month. Each bar below is one possible 5-year monthly DCA window in QQQ's history, sorted from worst to best — the honest spread between unlucky and lucky timing, and the case for starting on a schedule instead of waiting:
269 possible 5-year start months — 92% ended positive.
Why dollar-cost average into QQQ?
Our QQQ series starts in March 1999 — which means it walks straight into the dot-com crash. The Nasdaq-100 lost roughly 83% from its 2000 peak and needed about fifteen years to see that high again. A lump sum bought in 2000 lived that entire arc; a monthly plan spent 2001–2003 quietly accumulating at the bottom, which is why the worst 5-year window above looks painful but survivable.
The honest counterweight: QQQ is a concentrated bet on US mega-cap tech, and the last decade's AI-driven run is exactly the kind of stretch that flatters every backtest it touches. Treat the trailing-10-year number as one regime, not a promise — the 1999–2015 half of this dataset is what discipline actually feels like.
FAQ
History, not opinion: $100 every month into QQQ for the last 10 years (121 buys, $12,100 invested) would be worth $36,409 today — +201% before fees and taxes. Past performance doesn't predict the future, but that's what the plan actually produced.
The worst 5-year monthly-DCA start in QQQ's history began Dec 2003 and finished at -33%. The best (Sep 2016) finished at +115%. DCA doesn't delete timing luck — it narrows it and removes the decision.
A lump sum bets everything on one entry price. Monthly DCA spreads your cost across QQQ's ups and downs — you buy more units when it's cheap, fewer when it's expensive. Compare both directly in our lump sum vs DCA calculator.
Real QQQ daily closing prices from Mar 1999 to Jul 2026 (27.4 years), refreshed weekly and validated for gaps, zeros and staleness — see the data & methodology page. Fees, spreads and taxes are not modelled.
Run the plan on a real exchange
Five exchanges where DCA — and tokenized stocks & ETFs — actually work, each with a real discount. Pick one, copy the code, trade cheaper.
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