If you own an exchange-traded fund (ETF) within your portfolio, one that doesn't cover Australian shares, there's a good chance it will be the BetaShares Nasdaq 100 ETF (ASX: NDQ).
This index fund has soared in popularity amongst ASX investors in recent years, thanks to its future-facing composition and tech-heavy exposure.
As my Fool colleague Bronwyn reported late last month, NDQ is one of the most sought-after ASX ETFs on our market. It is currently the seventh-most popular fund by funds under management. We also recently covered how NDQ was the fourth most-bought fund for customers using the Stake brokerage platform over the second half of the 2025 financial year.
The Betashares Nasdaq 100 ETF is a relatively simple index fund, covering the largest non-financial stocks listed on the US' Nasdaq stock exchange. The Nasdaq is known for housing most of America's best-known tech stocks. That includes all of the famous 'Magnificent 7', as well as companies like Airbnb, Netflix, Adobe and PayPal.
It's not just a tech ETF, though. Some other names that can be found in NDQ's holdings include Starbucks, Pepsico, Monster Beverage and Cadbury-owner Mondelez International.
But let's get down to the numbers.
How much would $10,000 invested in the NDQ ETF in 2020 be worth today?
Five years ago, on 5 November 2020, NDQ's ASX units were being priced at $27.59 each. Today, at the time of writing anyway, those same units are worth $57.85 each. That's a gain worth 110%. Or approximately 15.95% per annum.
Not bad. This means investors would have more than doubled their capital investment alone, with that $10,000 turning into $20,968 or so today. Most of these gains came from simple stock price appreciation. However, some would also have come from currency returns too.
Although NDQ is an ASX-listed ETF, its portfolio is priced in US dollars. That means that its returns need to be converted from US dollars to Australian dollars before we can assess them. The Australian dollar is almost 10% lower today against the greenback than it was five years ago. As a result, his would have provided our returns with an additional (and meaningful) boost.
However, that's not where the story ends. As Betashares NASDAQ 100 ETF investors would know, this fund also pays out periodic dividend distributions.
Since late 2020 and today, investors have enjoyed around $4.32 in dividend distributions per NDQ unit. That would see our investor bank another $1,636 in returns over the five-year period.
As such, we can conclude that a $10,000 investment in the ASX's NDQ ETF would be worth a total of roughly $22,603.50 right now. Again, not bad.
