Nasdaq vs Dow: How are the key indices different as SpaceX joins one?

Published 7 July 2026 · tech

SpaceX has officially joined the Nasdaq-100 index, less than a month after the Elon Musk-led company first debuted on public markets through its initial public

SpaceX has officially joined the Nasdaq-100 index, less than a month after the Elon Musk-led company first debuted on public markets through its initial public offering. The inclusion in the Nasdaq-100, which tracks the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq, marks a change in the index’s pre-existing rule. The rule required companies that were publicly traded to be listed for three calendar months, excluding the month of listing, before they could be included in the index. Waiver of that rule for SpaceX paves the way for similar looming IPOs, including artificial intelligence giants OpenAI and Anthropic. There are more than 200 investment products that are tied to the performance of the Nasdaq-100, including many pension funds for public school teachers, police officers and firefighters across the United States.

How do the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq differ? The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq are two of the most closely monitored indices on US stock markets. The Dow tracks 30 companies that have large and well-established businesses. Among them are tech giants like Apple, Amazon and Nvidia; financial services companies such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase; and consumer brands, including Nike, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s. Because of their outsized role in the economy, investors typically view the performance of these companies as a snapshot of what the US economy looks like as a whole. SpaceX is not listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. A board that is majority controlled by S&P Global hand-picks companies that it believes best represent the US economy to be included in the index.

Nasdaq listing requirements include a minimum number of publicly traded shares, with at least 1.25 million shares available for investors, a market capitalisation of at least $50m, and a minimum share price of $4 per share to be listed. SpaceX joined the Nasdaq-100 on Tuesday. How do Nasdaq companies enter the Nasdaq-100? The Nasdaq-100 tracks the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq, so companies must first be listed on the exchange and then qualify based on factors like market value, trading activity and financial standing. Historically, the listing rules for the Nasdaq-100 require that the company in question must have an average of at least 200,000 shares traded every day and do so for at least three months.

But Nasdaq waived that last requirement when SpaceX went public. Are investment strategies different? The Dow is usually tied to more conservative investment strategies because the companies typically listed are more established and consistently profitable. While many of the companies overlap, companies on the Nasdaq typically have more high-growth potential, like tech giants, but that also comes with more risk of losses. There are nine companies that are included in both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq-100, including Alphabet, which late last month replaced Verizon in the Dow Jones index, biotech giant Amgen, and Walmart.