Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
BAI vs QQQ: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, BAI returned +19.6% to QQQ's +15.2%, and QQQ charges 0.18% to BAI's 0.55%.
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Net assets: $13.6bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares A.I. Innovation and Tech Active ETF, and $483.0bn on Oct 27, 2026 for Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1.
Pair scorecard
QQQ costs 0.37 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 4.4 points; QQQ is far larger, $483.0bn against $13.2bn.
| Measure | BAI | QQQ |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +19.6% | +15.2% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its all-time high | 19.6%, high on Jun 22, 2026 | |
| Below its high | 4.5%, high on Oct 6, 2026 | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Artificial intelligence | Nasdaq-100 Index |
| Against its benchmark, 1 year | behind by 28.2 pts | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.55% | 0.18% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $13.2bn | $483.0bn |
| Active share vs the S&P 500 | 76% | |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 36% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 42% | 46.7% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Nov 1, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026 · 103 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: BAI against ARTY, Nov 1, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026; QQQ against QQQM, Oct 23, 2020 to Oct 23, 2026.
BAI returned more: +67.0% to +46.0%. QQQ swung less: 20.4% to 34.4%. QQQ fell less at its worst: −21.3% to −33.3%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | BAI | QQQ | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +67.0% | +46.0% | BAI | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +29.5% | +21.0% | BAI | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +64.0% | +44.5% | BAI | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 34.4% | 20.4% | QQQ | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 23.4% | 13.2% | QQQ | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −33.3% | −21.3% | QQQ | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 91.9% | 100.4% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 102.9% | 100.2% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.98 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.89 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.81 | 0.84 | QQQ (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.19 | 1.30 | QQQ (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.283 | 0.145 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.89 | 0.99 | QQQ (slight) | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | ARTY | QQQM | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −9.4% a year | −0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −1.15 | −0.58 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −25.5% to +6.8% | −0.4% to +0.2% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.88 | −0.10 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 11.3% | 0.4% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 103 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, BAI and QQQ hold 36% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.
half
36% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
BAI and QQQ on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
BAI and QQQ do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. BAI follows Artificial intelligence and QQQ follows Nasdaq-100 Index.
- Holdings in common. 36% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 BAI returned +19.6% and QQQ +15.2% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 4.4 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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BAI
By weight, 55% of BAI's portfolio is stocks that are also in the S&P 500; its active share against the S&P 500 is 76%. The top ten holdings are 42% of the fund across 49 positions, as published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 the fund returned +19.6% with distributions reinvested against +47.8% for its benchmark, the Morningstar Global Artificial Intelligence Select Index, so a holder was behind by 28.2 pts. It sits 19.6% below its all-time high of Jun 22, 2026.
QQQ
QQQ tracks the Nasdaq-100. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +15.2% with distributions reinvested, against +15.2% for its benchmark, the Nasdaq-100 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.18% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 96% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 103 positions, with the top ten at 46.7%. It sat 4.5% below its high of Oct 6, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Are BAI and QQQ in the same category?
- BAI is a thematic ETF and QQQ is a stock ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
- Which returned more over the last year, BAI or QQQ?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, BAI returned +19.6% and QQQ +15.2%.
- Which is cheaper, BAI or QQQ?
- QQQ is cheaper, by 0.37 percentage points a year. That is about $37 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.
How this is computed
Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.
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ETFIQ, BAI against QQQ, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/bai-vs-qqq
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). BAI against QQQ. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/bai-vs-qqq
[BAI against QQQ (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/bai-vs-qqq)
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