From January 2010 through September 2026, $10,000 in QQQ grows to roughly $199,000 — about 19.9×, with a 19.7% annualized return. This is a dated example; the simulator uses the latest available monthly data. Use the Time Machine to replay the full monthly path, including the drawdowns you would have had to sit through, and compare it against the S&P 500 over the same window.

Yes. The tool uses monthly adjusted close prices, which incorporate reinvested dividends and stock splits. That makes it a total-return simulation, not just a price chart.

If you pick a month before the fund existed, the simulation starts at the fund's first month of available data. The result header always shows the actual period simulated.

No — it replays what already happened. Past performance does not guarantee future results; spectacular historical runs (and crashes) may not repeat. The tool exists to build intuition about compounding, volatility, and holding through drawdowns.