============= Mighty points MTE. Lots of good reasons why; for example in starting, much better to lose 10% on QQQQ, than on NQ derivative Same reason they start you out on a single shot .410; & not a .458 Winchester magnum repeater elephant/big bear gun. Both .40 caliber bore DIAmeter ; assuredly both recoil different , noise different
I think the qqqq would have to go to zero for you to lose all your moola and there is no expiry whilst the nq would eat margin money and it does expire.
If you want the best 'bang for your buck' my reco is futures. For the active trader, I'd say futures provide many benefits over ETF's - for active trading purposes.
the beauty of futures is that they move in 1\4 or 1\2 increments, so it's like the old days where you could scoop several bucks in a single move. And you dont pay SEC fees... that's a mayor pain if you're trading SPY.. [or anything else priced over 50$ for that matter] the SEC will eat you alive.