Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
CTA vs QQQ: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, CTA returned +18.4% to QQQ's +15.2%, and QQQ charges 0.18% to CTA's 0.75%.
askIQ about this page
askIQ about CTA and QQQ
Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $1.4bn for Simplify Managed Futures Strategy ETF and $483.0bn for Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1.
Pair scorecard
QQQ costs 0.57 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 3.2 points; QQQ is far larger, $483.0bn against $1.4bn.
| Measure | CTA | QQQ |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +18.4% | +15.2% |
| Total return, 52 weeks | +17.4% | |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 4.5%, high on Oct 6, 2026 | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | not published | Nasdaq-100 Index |
| Treasury bills, 52 weeks | +3.6% | |
| Against cash | 13.7 points ahead | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.75% | 0.18% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $1.4bn | $483.0bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 96% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 46.7% | |
| Risk | ||
| Correlation with the S&P 500’s weekly returns | −0.19 | |
| Beta to the S&P 500 | −0.36: about 0.36% for each 1% | |
| Its average week when the S&P 500 fell | rose 0.40% | |
| Down-week capture | −36.1% | |
| Weeks the S&P 500 fell | 26 of 52, by 1.10% on average | |
Side by side
CTA and QQQ on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
CTA
CTA is a managed futures fund. ETFIQ measures what every alternatives fund is sold on: whether it moves differently from the stock market. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, its weekly returns had a correlation of −0.19 with the S&P 500’s and a beta of −0.36, so for each 1% the index moved it moved about 0.36% the other way. The S&P 500 fell in 26 of those 52 weeks, by 1.10% on average. In the same weeks CTA rose 0.40% on average, a down-week capture of −36.1%. Over the same 52 weeks CTA returned +17.4% and a Treasury bill fund +3.6%, so it finished 13.7 percentage points ahead of cash.
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 CTA and QQQ in the same category?
- CTA is an alternatives 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, CTA or QQQ?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, CTA returned +18.4% and QQQ +15.2%.
- Which is cheaper, CTA or QQQ?
- QQQ is cheaper, by 0.57 percentage points a year. That is about $57 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.
Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown
ETFIQ, CTA against QQQ, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/cta-vs-qqq
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). CTA against QQQ. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/cta-vs-qqq
[CTA against QQQ (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/cta-vs-qqq)
Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.