etf overlap tool · heavy overlap
SPY vs QQQ overlap
93% of QQQ's money sits in companies SPY also holds; 54% of the two funds is the same money, spread over 86 companies both hold.
Holdings as of October 16, 2026 · source: SPDR (SPY), Invesco (QQQ) · How we measured all 1,431 pairs
- same money
- same companies, extra weight
- only in this fund
Swapping one for the other to harvest a loss? In our study of 32 tax-loss harvesting ETF pairs, SPY and QQQ correlated 0.9430 over the 261 weeks to October 16, 2026 and were more than 1 point apart in 36.4% of weeks; over the year to that date, QQQ returned 1.96 points more than SPY. IRS Publication 550 sets no test for when two ETFs are “substantially identical” under the wash-sale rule: it says to consider “all the facts and circumstances in your particular case,” so no correlation figure settles the question.
Hold SPY and QQQ with other funds or stocks? The free portfolio optimizer opens SPY and QQQ beside the rest of what you own: the companies you hold twice, what the funds cost a year, and where the next deposit should go. No account.
The companies you would own twice
GOOGALPHABET INC CL C2.43%2.94%
PLTRPALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES INC A0.65%1.87%What only one of them gives you
LLYELI LILLY + CO1.52%
JNJJOHNSON + JOHNSON0.93%
ABBVABBVIE INC0.76%
MAMASTERCARD INC A0.76%
SHOPShopify Inc0.89%Where each fund puts its money
SPY and QQQ: what people ask
How much do SPY and QQQ overlap?
54% by weight, as of October 16, 2026: heavy overlap. 86 companies appear in both funds; they make up 54% of SPY and 93% of QQQ.
Which stocks do SPY and QQQ both hold?
The largest shared positions are NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN and GOOGL. Ranked by the smaller of the two weights, which is the part you would own twice.
Is it redundant to hold both SPY and QQQ?
Out of every $100 split evenly between them, about $54 (half in each fund) buys identical positions. The rest is exposure only one of the two funds gives you: 418 names only in SPY, 15 only in QQQ. Half in each behaves like 39 equally weighted stocks, against 44 for SPY alone and 31 for QQQ alone. Whether that duplication is a problem depends on the mix you want; this is a description, not advice.
How is ETF overlap calculated here?
For every company held by both funds we take the smaller of its two weights and add them up. The weights come from the full holdings files SPDR and Invesco publish, not a top-10 sample, and companies are matched by their ISIN so share classes stay apart. Sector overlap applies the same rule to the issuers' sector labels; "behaves like N equally weighted stocks" is one over the sum of the squared weights.
Weights come from each issuer's published holdings file and are matched company by company on their ISIN. Cash, futures and currency positions are left out. This page describes what the funds hold; it is not investment advice.