Which U.S. technology index lost nearly 80% from its 2000 peak during the dot-com crash?

The Nasdaq Composite lost nearly 80% from its 2000 peak during the dot-com crash.

The index was heavily weighted toward technology and internet companies, making it especially exposed when investors began rejecting extreme valuations. The Nasdaq Composite reached an intraday high of 5,132.52 on March 10, 2000. It then fell for roughly two and a half years, reaching a low of 1,108.49 in October 2002.

Many newly listed companies had little revenue or no profits, yet their share prices rose on expectations of rapid internet growth. When financing became harder and earnings disappointed, investors sold aggressively. The collapse also affected established technology firms, although the damage was uneven across the industry.

The Nasdaq Composite is not the same as the Nasdaq-100, which tracks 100 large non-financial companies listed on Nasdaq. Both are technology-associated, but the broader Composite includes thousands of securities.