BlackRock has moved into the Nasdaq-100 ETF market with a new filing for the iShares Nasdaq 100 ETF. If it receives the green light, then the fund will trade under the ticker “IQQ.”
The world’s largest asset manager submitted the application to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday.
What the IQQ ETF will do
The proposed BlackRock’s IQQ ETF is designed to follow the Nasdaq-100 Index. This Nasdaq index tracks 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market based on market capitalization.
It includes major firms such as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and NVIDIA.
However, the fund will not buy every company in the index. Instead, it will use a method of representative sampling and buy a selected group of stocks that behave very similarly to the whole index.
Due to this method, the fund can keep costs lower while maintaining the performance very close to the index.
The index is updated once a year in December to make sure it still includes the right companies. In addition, it is rebalanced every quarter in March, June, September, and December to adjust the weight of each company.
The filing further states that the proposed ETF would use at least 80 percent of its assets to buy stocks in the index firms or similar instruments such as the depository receipts of foreign stocks.
“As of February 28, 2026, a significant portion of the Underlying Index is represented by securities of companies in the consumer goods and services and technology industries or sectors,” the BlackRock’s filing added.
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas also pointed to the Nasdaq-100’s strong long-term performance.
In a post on X, he said the index has delivered about twice the return of the S&P 500 since QQQ launched in 1999. He also said it has beaten active fund managers.
In the same post, he mentioned companies like Apple and figures such as Steve Jobs as part of the reason Nasdaq became known as a hub for innovation.
Invesco still leads the Nasdaq-100 ETF market
If it launches, IQQ would become one of only a few U.S.-listed ETFs that directly track the Nasdaq-100. It would also be the first such fund not managed by Invesco.
Nasdaq has long been selective about letting firms use the Nasdaq-100 Index. Because of that, Invesco has had near-exclusive access to this market in the United States for years.
That helped it build the Invesco QQQ Trust, which holds about $374 billion in assets, as well as the smaller $70 billion QQQM fund.
According to Bloomberg, BlackRock is now targeting a part of the U.S. ETF industry that Invesco has controlled for years.
A Nasdaq spokesperson told Bloomberg that “As demand for Nasdaq 100 exposure continues to grow globally, Nasdaq is focused on extending international reach and deepening institutional access by working with a select set of partners in key markets.”
“Nasdaq maintains a valuable, longstanding partnership with Invesco and remains committed to supporting the continued strength and success of the Invesco QQQ Innovation Suite as a cornerstone of the Nasdaq 100 ecosystem,” he added.
Nasdaq says wider access to the benchmark should be additive
Nasdaq commented on the new filings in a statement released the same day. It said it will now allow a select group of new ETF partners in the United States to use the Nasdaq-100 Index.
According to Nasdaq, this step will improve investor access, support better liquidity, and make trading more efficient.
The exchange emphasized that existing agreements, including the one with Invesco for QQQ, remain unchanged. That matters because QQQ has long been the main ETF directly linked to the Nasdaq-100 and remains one of the largest funds in the market.
What comes next for BlackRock’s IQQ
The SEC filing says the fund’s registration could take effect 75 days after submission. If no delay happens, the ETF could launch around mid-June 2026.
However, the filing still leaves some details blank, including the stock exchange listing line and parts of the fee table. Even so, iShares funds are generally known for competitive pricing.
Once approved, the asset manager’s proposed fund would enter a busy but expanding Nasdaq-100 ETF market. Like other ETFs, investors would be able to buy and sell its shares through a regular brokerage account, just as they trade stocks.
For investors, the filing matters because it could add another option in one of the most closely followed parts of the ETF market. BlackRock already leads in many major ETF categories.
BlackRock has also introduced the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF, or ETHB. This ETF will provide investors with direct exposure to Ether without staking all of its ETH holdings.