Okay? Just because you don't have access to that investment vehicle doesn't mean others aren't using it. What type of reasoning is this? "I, personally, am not too badly effected, therefore it's not a problem"

And guess what, your VTI which does track NASDAQ as part of it's index is effected by this inclusion rule.

His reasoning is valid. Compared to the S&P500, it's a small sum of money. Most people aren't buying a fund that tracks that nasdaq index. The total effect isn't that large.

His reasoning isn't valid.

Not only is he wrong that it doesn't impact him, because VTI is impacted, but the whole premise is wrong. "I'm not harmed" does not mean things are fine. If I go murder your neighbor, will you come to my trial and demand I go free because you weren't harmed? Should the judge let me go because he wasn't harmed?

He wasn't making the case he isn't harmed. He was making the case that the effect isn't large. You don't appear to understand the claim itself, let alone the reasoning.

Just because you don't understand the basics of the financial system, or the different indices, or the amount of money flowing into the funds that track each, it doesn't mean others don't. The impact if it had been included in the S&P500 would have been at least an order of magnitude more than just the nasdaq 100.

Your honor, I only murdered one person, that effect size isn't large, there's 9 billion people on earth. You should dismiss this case.

There’s around five trillion dollars indexed to the S&P 500 in large funds. QQQ is half a trillion dollars.

If you look at Fidelity mutual funds, the difference is even greater. FXAIX has $827B in it, USNQX has $9.6B in it.

The absolute dollars do matter, as do the risk characteristics of both baskets of stocks. If and when SPCX meets the S&P 500 index criteria it will be included.

Also, NASDAQ both operates the NASDAQ exchange and also decides what is in the NASDAQ 100. S&P decides what is in the S&P 500 but they do not operate an exchange. Allowing SPCX into the NASDAQ 100 was good for NASDAQ the exchange and it was legal, so it happened. The S&P 500 committee was not facing the same incentive so SPCX will have to wait until it meets the criteria for inclusion.

If you understand the incentives, you can predict the outcome. I agree that it sucks that QQQ holders had to swallow SPCX.

One last thing, if you reread my post, I explicitly acknowledge I have exposure to SPCX through VTI which I own in my Roth IRA. As of right now, 0.14% of VTI is SPCX which means I have $91 of exposure. I think I’ll be OK if it goes to zero :) I said I have no SPCX in my 401K which is just FXAIX, an S&P 500 index fund.

Classic apples-to-peanuts comparison

>QQQ and /NQ or /MNQ futures are the most popular instruments for getting exposure.

QQQ tracks the Nasdaq 100. It's an index fund. If the index includes a new ticker, then QQQ has to buy it.

Buying QQQ doesn't seem like going out of one's way. I don't understand your comment. "ETFs and chill" is a very common investment strategy.

There’s an order of magnitude more money indexed to the S&P 500, you have to go out out your way to buy QQQ since NASDAQ 100 and total market funds are uncommon in 401K options for employees.

QQQ is more volatile and higher risk than the S&P 500, the people buying it should understand that.

You could buy QQNE :)

And who is forced to buy QQQ?

Many retirement accounts have limited options, leaving few passive index options. I sort of doubt many would offer qqq but not s&p, but it’s possible

I'm not sure why that's relevant. The original discussion was about who's forced to buy NDX 100 stocks like SpaceX. The answer to that is "index funds".

Asked and answered. Whatever cute point you're trying to make is rendered moot by real market dynamics and index inclusion rules.

Why was musk/spacex so interested in having the rules broken to include spacex stock? Do you think maybe there was a reason that involved musk benefitting??