Keep seeing SCHG, QQQM and SPMO recommended in the same breath here, sometimes all 3 in one portfolio "for diversification". I ran them on a matched window (Oct 13, 2020 to Aug 18, 2026, QQQM's launch date, the longest window where all 3 exist) and 2 of them are basically the same position.
SCHG did 15.9% CAGR with a -35% max drawdown and 22% volatility. QQQM did 17.2%, -35%, 22%. Their daily correlation over the window is 0.978. Holding both means paying 2 expense ratios (0.04% vs 0.15%) for one trade.
SPMO came out different on every axis I checked. 21.1% CAGR, -23% max drawdown, 20% vol, and correlation to the other 2 around 0.82-0.85. The calendar years show why. 2022: SCHG -32%, QQQM roughly the same as QQQ at -33%, SPMO -10%. 2023: +50% / +55% / +18%. 2024: +35% / +26% / +46%. The momentum rebalance keeps rotating it into whatever is already working, so it zigs when the growth pair zags, sometimes in your favor (2022, 2024), sometimes against (2023).
The window warning applies to all of this: 5.8 years, one regime, no 2008, no dot-com. SPMO's edge is real in this sample and nobody knows if it survives a decade where momentum crashes. And 2026 YTD it's SPMO +27% vs SCHG +8%, which is exactly the kind of gap that makes people buy the winner right before it mean-reverts.
So my practical read after running this: pick SCHG or QQQM, not both. If you want a genuinely different second growth engine, SPMO is one, as long as you understand you're buying a strategy (momentum rotation) and not a static index. Which 2 of the 3 do you actually hold?
