8 February 1971: Nasdaq opens for business
The National Association of Securities Dealers launched Nasdaq, the world's first electronic stock market, quoting prices on computer screens rather than on a trading floor. Old-school traders saw it as a home for small, speculative companies. Then it became home to Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Amazon and Google. The ugly duckling exchange ended up listing some of the most valuable businesses in history.
The lesson: Tomorrow's giants often start out in places the establishment considers second-rate.
What it meant for investors
$1,000 in Nasdaq 100 index fund at the start of 1990 → $109,091 today, vs $19,429 in the S&P 500.
We start the clock at the start of 1990, the first year in our price data after the event. That is 109.1 times the money, and $89,662 more than a plain index fund made over the same years.
What Nasdaq 100 index fund teaches: A great industry bought at a crazy price can take fifteen years to break even, so the price paid matters even when the story turns out right.
| Bought in | Price then | Worth today | S&P 500 would be |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | $220 | $109,091 | $19,429 |
| 1995 | $400 | $60,000 | $14,783 |
| 2000 | $3,700 | $6,486 | $4,626 |
green = beat the S&P 500 · red = lost money
What if you bought Nasdaq 100 index fund? Every starting year and the full story →
More Nasdaq 100 index fund history
- 10 March 2000: The Nasdaq peaks at 5,048
- 14 April 2000: The Nasdaq drops nearly 10% in a day
- 10 June 2020: The Nasdaq closes above 10,000
- 9 August 1995: Netscape's IPO kicks off the dot-com era
- 22 August 2013: Nasdaq freezes for three hours
- 31 December 1999: Nasdaq ends its best year ever
Could you have called it at the time? The wheel picks the year, you pick the position, ten seconds a pick.
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