The Nasdaq is both an American electronic stock exchange and a family of indices, the most famous of which — the Nasdaq Composite — is the world’s most closely watched barometer of technology stocks. Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon and Alphabet all made their names on it, and they still carry the most weight. Live prices, definition, the difference between the Composite and the Nasdaq 100, history, trading hours and ways to invest: here is the complete guide.
Nasdaq Composite Live Price and Chart
The chart and indicators below are fed automatically by market data. They therefore show the latest available price, not a figure frozen at the time of writing.
- Last price: 25 955,34 points
- Today’s change: -0,21
- 52-week high: 27 722,75 $
- 52-week low: 20 690,25 $
The Nasdaq Composite is calculated continuously during the US trading session. Outside trading hours, it shows the previous close, while futures and European-listed funds give an early read on direction before Wall Street opens.
What Is the Nasdaq? Definition
The word Nasdaq covers two realities. It is first and foremost a marketplace: the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations, created in 1971 by American brokers as the world’s first fully electronic stock market, with no physical trading floor — unlike the New York Stock Exchange. It is also a company, Nasdaq Inc., which runs the exchange and calculates thousands of indices around the world.
In everyday language, “the Nasdaq” usually refers to its flagship index, the Nasdaq Composite, which brings together most of the stocks listed on the exchange. Thousands of companies are listed there, from the small innovative firm to global giants, with a historic dominance of the technology sector.
Why Is the Nasdaq Associated With Technology?
As early as the 1980s, the exchange attracted high-tech companies that were often too young or too small for the NYSE’s listing standards: Microsoft, Apple, Intel, Oracle and Dell all listed there. That tradition continued with Google, Facebook, Amazon and Tesla, then with each new generation of biotechs and software companies. The result: the Nasdaq became the stock market emblem of the digital economy, with a particular sensitivity to technology cycles.
Nasdaq Composite vs Nasdaq 100: What Is the Difference?
Several Nasdaq indices coexist, and it is essential not to confuse them.
| Index | Composition | Key Feature |
|---|---|---|
| Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) | Virtually every stock listed on the Nasdaq | The historic, very broad barometer |
| Nasdaq 100 (NDX) | The 100 largest companies outside the financial sector | The most widely used by ETFs and derivatives |
| Nasdaq Next Generation | A selection of mid-tier stocks | The least followed by retail investors |
The Composite counts thousands of stocks, which makes it a broad snapshot of the market. The Nasdaq 100, concentrated on the hundred largest non-financial companies, is more volatile and more exposed to the tech giants. Most “Nasdaq” ETFs available in Europe track the Nasdaq 100, not the Composite. Always check a product’s underlying index before you buy.
Both indices are weighted by market capitalization, with weight caps to keep any single stock from dominating. The Nasdaq 100 excludes banks and insurers, which sharpens its technology tilt compared with the S&P 500, which covers every sector of the American economy.
How the Nasdaq Stock Exchange Works
The Nasdaq has never had a trading floor: from the start, orders have been matched by computer systems. Its workings rest on three pillars:
- Market makers: institutions that continuously quote buy and sell prices on every stock, which guarantees liquidity even in thinly traded names.
- Opening and closing auctions: orders accumulated overnight and at the end of the session are matched at a single price, which concentrates a significant share of daily trading.
- A tiered structure: listed companies are grouped into tiers with increasingly demanding requirements, from the Nasdaq Capital Market to the Nasdaq Global Select Market, based on their size, liquidity and governance.
This electronic model, groundbreaking in 1971, has become the global norm: today, most major stock exchanges operate without a trading floor. To understand the mechanics shared by all markets, our stock market guide for beginners covers the basics.
Top Nasdaq Stocks: The Biggest Companies
The top of the Nasdaq 100 ranking changes with share prices, but the world’s largest technology companies stay there for the long run: Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Broadcom, Tesla and Netflix. They are joined by leading healthcare and modern consumer names, and by a gradual opening to listed crypto-asset companies.
These heavyweights account for a very large share of the index: the performance of the Nasdaq therefore depends on a handful of stocks far more than that of the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones. For investors who prefer to back their convictions company by company, our detailed profiles, such as the one on Apple stock, analyze the business models and risks of each company.
Nasdaq History: Key Dates
| Date | Event | Key Takeaway |
|---|---|---|
| February 8, 1971 | The Nasdaq is created | The world’s first electronic stock market |
| October 13, 1985 | Launch of the Nasdaq 100 | An index of the 100 largest non-financial stocks |
| March 2000 | Peak of the dot-com bubble | The Composite then reaches 5,048 points |
| 2000-2002 | The bubble bursts | The index loses nearly 78%, the worst crash in its history |
| 2007-2009 | Financial crisis | A fall of roughly half its value, like Wall Street as a whole |
| 2020 | The Covid shock and rebound | The Nasdaq is the first major index to recover its losses, powered by digital |
| 2022 | Bear market | A decline of about one-third, the hardest since 2008, driven by rising rates |
These episodes sum up the Nasdaq’s temperament: above-average growth over the long run, paid for with falls sharper than those of diversified indices. There the investor finds the heart of American innovation, but must accept high volatility.
Nasdaq Trading Hours: When Does the Market Open?
The regular Nasdaq session runs Monday to Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. New York time, which normally means 3:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. in France. During the few weeks in March and late October when the US and European clock changes are out of sync, the session runs from 2:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Paris time.
Before the open, a pre-market phase collects the orders that will be filled at the opening auction; after the close, an extended session allows trading with reduced liquidity. Because US stocks trade in dollars, a French investor also bears the euro-dollar currency risk, which works for or against them depending on the period.
How to Invest in the Nasdaq
Nasdaq ETFs
The simplest solution is an ETF that tracks the Nasdaq 100. Several providers offer euro-denominated versions, with accumulating or distributing share classes. Compare ongoing charges, the replication method and the tracking difference before you choose.
Which Account Should You Use?
- Standard securities account (compte-titres): access to every Nasdaq ETF, standard taxation of capital gains and US dividends, with the withholding tax credit to be reclaimed.
- PEA: ETFs using synthetic replication on US indices are eligible, with the plan’s favorable tax treatment after five years.
- Life insurance (assurance vie): some contracts offer unit-linked products indexed to the Nasdaq 100.
Individual Stocks and Derivatives
Buying the star Nasdaq stocks directly through a securities account remains possible with international brokers: it is the conviction play, at the cost of concentration risk. Futures, options and CFDs on the Nasdaq 100 also exist: reserved for experienced traders, they carry leverage that magnifies losses as much as gains.
Nasdaq vs NYSE: Two Visions of the Stock Market
The United States has two major listed exchanges, born from opposite histories. The NYSE, founded in 1792 around an agreement between brokers under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street, long operated a trading floor where trades were struck by open outcry. The Nasdaq, by contrast, was born electronic in 1971: no trading floor, no physical location, just a network that matches orders.
| Criterion | Nasdaq | NYSE |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1971 | 1792 |
| Original trading model | 100% electronic | Trading floor, since dematerialized |
| Historic specialties | Technology, biotech, growth | Industry, banking, the historic “value” home |
| Flagship companies | Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon | Berkshire, JPMorgan, Coca-Cola |
The line has blurred over time: some technology companies have chosen the NYSE, and the Nasdaq welcomes companies from every sector. But the culture differs: the Nasdaq remains the venue for IPOs of high-growth companies, with listing requirements tiered by company size and maturity. Our page on the US stock market details how Wall Street and its exchanges are organized.
Sectors Represented in the Nasdaq
The Nasdaq is not a one-sector index, but its breakdown tilts clearly toward the digital economy and innovative healthcare:
| Sector | Weight in the Nasdaq 100 | Example Activities |
|---|---|---|
| Information technology | Dominant | Semiconductors, software, hardware, cloud |
| Communication services | Very large | Social networks, search engines, video, telecoms |
| Consumer discretionary | Large | Online retail, electric vehicles, entertainment |
| Healthcare | Significant | Biotechs, medical devices, diagnostic tools |
| Industrials and services | Modest | Air transport, logistics, equipment |
| Consumer staples | Modest | Beverages, retail distribution, everyday products |
This breakdown explains why the Nasdaq reacts so sharply to technology investment cycles and to central bank decisions: the value of its companies rests mostly on distant future profits, which are sensitive to the cost of money. The financial sector is deliberately left out of the Nasdaq 100, unlike the S&P 500.
Nasdaq Dividends and Performance
Nasdaq companies historically pay lower dividends than those of the Dow Jones or the S&P 500: the tech giants prefer to buy back shares or reinvest in growth. The price index is therefore an incomplete measure of the wealth created; “total return” versions, which reinvest dividends, show substantial cumulative gaps over long periods.
Over the past two decades, the Nasdaq has delivered some of the best performance of any major world index, carried first by the internet wave and then by cloud computing and artificial intelligence. That average masks brutal episodes: an investor who entered at the top of the bubble in March 2000 waited roughly fifteen years to get their money back on a price basis. The lesson remains the same: a long horizon, regular contributions, and diversification with less concentrated indices.
Nasdaq Taxation for a French Saver
Nasdaq-linked products held in a securities account follow the standard taxation of foreign securities. US dividends are subject to American withholding tax, reduced to 15% if you have filed form W-8BEN with your broker, and are then taxable in France with a tax credit for the withholding already paid. Capital gains fall under the flat tax (prélèvement forfaitaire unique).
In a PEA, through eligible ETFs, dividends and gains escape income tax after five years of ownership, with only social contributions due. In life insurance, the contract’s own framework applies, with the annual allowance after eight years. Every year, accounts held abroad must be declared, including securities accounts with an American or European broker outside France.
What Moves the Nasdaq?
- Tech giants’ earnings: a handful of companies steer the entire index at every earnings season.
- Interest rates: rising rates cut the present value of future profits, hitting growth stocks first.
- Fed monetary policy and inflation and jobs data, which set the rhythm of the trading sessions.
- Technology cycles: personal computing, the internet, mobile, cloud, artificial intelligence — each wave has lifted its champions, then left them behind.
- Regulation: antitrust action, the taxation of large platforms, semiconductor export controls.
The Risks of a Nasdaq Investment
- Concentration: a major share of the index rests on a few stocks; a disappointment in one of them spreads to the whole.
- Volatility: the Nasdaq falls harder than the US market in crashes, as 2000-2002 and 2022 showed.
- Currency risk: a weaker dollar reduces returns in euros.
- Valuation: periods of enthusiasm push multiples to levels that can take years to digest.
- Dependence on the technology cycle: a slowdown in IT or advertising spending quickly shows up in earnings.
For these reasons, the Nasdaq is most often used as the engine of a diversified portfolio, alongside broader indices and less correlated assets, rather than as a standalone investment.
FAQ: Your Nasdaq Questions Answered
What Is the Difference Between the Nasdaq and the Nasdaq 100?
The Nasdaq Composite groups virtually all the stocks listed on the Nasdaq exchange — thousands of companies. The Nasdaq 100 keeps only the 100 largest companies, excluding banks and insurers. Most mainstream ETFs track the Nasdaq 100.
What Time Does the Nasdaq Open in France?
At 3:30 p.m. Paris time in normal weeks, with the close at 10 p.m. During the clock-change mismatch periods, in March and late October, the session runs from 2:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Can You Buy the Nasdaq in a PEA?
Yes, through ETFs using synthetic replication that are eligible for the PEA, which track the Nasdaq 100 while complying with the plan’s rules. US stocks held directly are not eligible.
Nasdaq vs S&P 500: Why Is the Nasdaq More Volatile?
Because it is concentrated in technology growth stocks, whose expected profits lie further out and whose prices react more sharply to interest rates, innovation cycles and earnings disappointments.
When Is the Best Time to Invest in the Nasdaq?
No one knows in advance. Dollar-cost averaging, with regular contributions, reduces the risk of entering at the wrong time and puts volatility to work instead of suffering it.
Is the Nasdaq Suitable for Beginners?
As a small slice of a diversified portfolio, yes: it is a simple exposure to the American digital economy. As a standalone investment or with leverage, no: the crashes of 2000-2002 and 2022 show how large the losses can be.
Prices shown come from market data updated automatically. This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Investing in the stock market carries a risk of capital loss.