One of the most popular Exchange Traded Funds, the NASDAQ 100 Trust, known as the cubes, may be soon having some strong competition. The cubes (QQQQ) have been the default Fund for the tech industry. This may be about to change. A new exchange traded fund due to be introduced next year is being planned by Archipelago Holdings Inc. This ETF will cover the technology sector; however it is covering the technology sector with a twist. Current technology funds give technology companies weight in the index based on market capitalization. Companies with large market capitalizations such as Microsoft would have a larger influence on the index. For example many technology indexes give Microsoft a 10% or more weight in the index. Archipeligos' new index will be price weighted. Companies with the highest price will be given more weight in the index. By this method Microsoft may only have a 1% weight in this new ETF while Genentech would make up 3.3% of the index. Another difference is this new fund will have a 25% investment in healthcare companies, which are outside the traditional tech sector. The highest priced issue in the index will be Genentech. Genentech will have the greatest weight in this index. This new fund will be very similar to an existing index. This is the ArcaEx Tech 100 index. Over the past five years the ArchEx Tech 100 index has trounced the performance of the QQQQ. Over this period the QQQQ has shed about 10% a year, while during the same period of time the ArcaEx Tech 100 index has only shed about 2.4% a year. This is primarily due to the smaller cap stocks that make up the index and the fact it includes 25% investment in the healthcare industry. This performance alone is bound to attract a lot of attention and competition for the NASDAQ 100 Trust. The QQQQ has about $1 Billion invested. If the new fund gets even only 5% of that it will be a billion dollar fund right out of the gate. This new fund is due to be introduced in early 2006, pending approval by the SEC.
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