# Tech Sell-Off: A Great Lesson On Why Diversification Is Important

By: [Team Stash](/content/learn/author/team-stash/index.html)  
Published: Jun 14, 2017  
•  Updated: Jun 09, 2026

Big reminder: Tech stocks can be volatile, or subject to big swings in their share prices.

Tech stocks have been on fire all year, but they recently took a beating in a recent tech sell-off.

On Friday, the NASDAQ, the largest index of publicly traded technology stocks in the U.S., shed about [$100 billion](http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/09/big-five-tech-stocks-sell-off-facebook-apple-amazon-microsoft-alphabet.html). Until that point, the [tech sector](http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nasdaq-is-threatening-to-log-its-biggest-blown-lead-in-212-months-as-tech-unravels-2017-06-09) had been up about 17% for the year.

It’s a reminder, experts say, that [tech stocks can be volatile](/content/learn/tech-stocks-to-watch-for-2025/index.html), or subject to big swings in their share prices. That’s why it’s a good idea to diversify, and invest in a variety of industries, geographical regions, and categories of businesses. That way your portfolio won’t take as big a hit when a sector has losses.

### What the tech sell-off means

Here’s a closer look at what happened last week:

Just five companies caused the big swing, according to [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-12/just-five-stocks-account-for-nearly-75-of-the-nasdaq-s-plunge?cmpid=BBD061217_TECH&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=170612&utm_campaign=tech). Those stocks are Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Facebook.

They account for 30% of total weighting of the NASDAQ index. Over the last few days, they were responsible for 75% of the index swing, according to reports.

The biggest loser was [Apple](/content/learn/apple-wwdc17/index.html), whose stock had fallen by 6.2% percent by Monday, shedding $50 billion of value on concerns about [iPhone sales](http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/apple-stock-price-falling-new-iphone-speed-2017-6-1002082799). Google’s parent company Alphabet lost about 4% of its stock value, and $30 billion worth of market cap, and Microsoft lost 3%, or about $17 billion of market cap over the same time period.

Since Monday, the NASDAQ has begun edging up again to regain some of its losses.

Nevertheless, the selloff is a sign that investors are shifting their cash around, moving into stocks that may be [undervalued](/content/learn/how-to-find-undervalued-stocks/index.html), such as financial and energy, some [experts say](http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/12/growth-stocks-vs-value-stocks-why-value-is-finally-winning.html).

Written by

[Team Stash](/content/learn/author/team-stash/index.html)

We want to turn money into a source of hope and opportunity. We teach people how to build good habits, save more and make it easy and affordable to get started investing. So far, we’ve helped over 6 million people create a more secure financial future with our expert advice and award-winning investing app.