Betashares Nasdaq 100 ETF Guide (NDQ): What Is It All About?

The NDQ ETF, officially the Betashares Nasdaq 100 ETF, gives investors exposure to the Nasdaq 100 Index, which includes 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq market. For Australian investors, the key question is not just what the fund holds, but whether it is the best local way to access that exposure compared with HNDQ, QNDQ, or buying the U.S.-listed QQQ directly.

The NDQ is listed on the ASX, is Australian-domiciled, and was built specifically to make Nasdaq 100 exposure easier for Australian investors.

You will still want to know the usual four things before buying:

• Where it is listed: NDQ trades on the ASX.
• Fund domicile: Australia.
• Whether there is a local alternative: HNDQ and QNDQ are the closest local variants.
• Whether the exposure is hedged or unhedged to AUD: NDQ is not hedged.

Betashares explicitly positions NDQ as the ASX-traded way to access the Nasdaq 100 in one trade, with no need to complete W-8BEN forms. That is a meaningful convenience advantage for Australians compared with buying a U.S.-listed Nasdaq ETF directly. If you want Nasdaq 100 exposure through a standard ASX brokerage account, NDQ is one of the simplest routes.

That said, there are two practical decisions Australians still need to make. First, do you want the exposure hedged or unhedged? Second, are you happy with the heavy concentration in a handful of mega-cap names, or would you prefer an equal-weight version? Those questions are where HNDQ and QNDQ become relevant.

NDQ 1 Year Chart

NDQ has been a strong performer over longer periods, but that comes with higher concentration and valuation risk than a broad global shares ETF. For Australians, the unhedged currency exposure can also make short-term performance look meaningfully different from the underlying U.S. index.

NDQ pays semi-annual distributions, and income is not the main reason most investors own this ETF, with the appeal primarily growth exposure rather than yield.

On trading mechanics, NDQ is a large and liquid ASX ETF with market-making support. That matters because it makes the local wrapper much more convenient for Australians than trying to trade QQQ overnight in U.S. market hours.

NDQ ETF at a glance

The fund tracks the NASDAQ-100 Notional Net Total Return Index. The Nasdaq 100 comprises 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on Nasdaq. Financial companies are excluded, which is one reason the index looks very different from the S&P 500 and even more different from the ASX 200.

That matters for Australians because many local portfolios are already heavy in banks and miners. NDQ gives exposure to sectors that are under-represented in the Australian market, particularly technology and platform-style global growth businesses.

The strategy is still passive, but the outcome is not broad-market neutral. NDQ is deliberately concentrated in a specific style and segment of the U.S. market.

Currency setup: NDQ trades on the ASX in Australian dollars, but the underlying portfolio is exposed to the U.S. dollar and is not hedged.

That means Australian investors in NDQ get two moving parts in returns: the performance of the underlying Nasdaq 100 companies, and movements in the AUD/USD exchange rate. If the Australian dollar falls against the U.S. dollar, that can boost returns in AUD terms. If the Australian dollar rises, it can reduce returns in AUD terms.

• Base currency: AUD for local trading, USD at the underlying asset level
• Trading currency for Australians: AUD on the ASX
• Hedged to AUD? No
• Main currency risk: AUD/USD exchange-rate movements can materially change investor outcomes

What does the ETF actually do?

NDQ aims to track the performance of the Nasdaq 100 Index before fees and expenses. That index holds 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq market. In practice, that means strong exposure to the major U.S. technology and growth companies that dominate discussions around software, semiconductors, cloud infrastructure, digital advertising, e-commerce and platform businesses.

For Australian investors, NDQ is often used as a high-growth satellite allocation rather than a complete portfolio solution. It can complement local Australian equity exposure, which tends to be far heavier in banks, resources and yield-oriented companies and much lighter in global technology leaders.

It is important to understand what NDQ is not. It is not a broad U.S. market ETF, not a global shares ETF, and not a diversified all-in-one portfolio. It is a concentrated growth exposure to large U.S. non-financial companies, and that concentration matters.