Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
GRID vs QQQM: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, GRID returned +7.9% to QQQM's +15.2%, and QQQM charges 0.15% to GRID's 0.56%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $11.4bn for First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Smart Grid Infrastructure Index Fund and $110.4bn for Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF.
Pair scorecard
QQQM costs 0.41 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 7.3 points; QQQM is 9.7 times larger.
| Measure | GRID | QQQM |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +7.9% | +15.2% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its all-time high | 14.7%, high on May 11, 2026 | |
| Below its high | 4.5%, high on Oct 6, 2026 | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Electrification and the grid | Nasdaq-100 Index |
| Against its benchmark, 1 year | behind by 5.4 pts | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.56% | 0.15% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $11.4bn | $110.4bn |
| Active share vs the S&P 500 | 92% | |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 9% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 57% | 46.7% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Oct 23, 2020 to Oct 23, 2026 · 313 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: GRID against IWV, Nov 27, 2009 to Oct 23, 2026; QQQM against QQQ, Oct 23, 2020 to Oct 23, 2026.
GRID and QQQM returned about the same: +154.4% and +157.2%. GRID and QQQM swung about the same: 20.7% and 21.0%. GRID fell less at its worst: −29.6% to −35.0%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | GRID | QQQM | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +154.4% | +157.2% | Tie | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +16.8% | +17.0% | Tie | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +138.8% | +147.9% | QQQM (slight) | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 20.7% | 21.0% | Tie | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 13.6% | 13.6% | Tie | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −29.6% | −35.0% | GRID | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 115.2% | 99.6% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 110.3% | 99.8% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.15 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.74 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.69 | 0.70 | Tie | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.05 | 1.07 | Tie | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.104 | 0.147 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.57 | 0.49 | GRID | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | IWV | QQQ | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −2.7% a year | +0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.97 | 0.62 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −8.1% to +2.8% | −0.2% to +0.4% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.06 | 0.10 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 11.6% | 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, 313 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, GRID and QQQM hold 9% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.
half
9% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
GRID and QQQM on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
GRID and QQQM do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. GRID follows Electrification and the grid and QQQM follows Nasdaq-100 Index.
- Holdings in common. 9% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 GRID returned +7.9% and QQQM +15.2% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 7.3 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 the fund returned +7.9% with distributions reinvested against +13.3% for its benchmark, the Russell 3000 Index, so a holder was behind by 5.4 pts.
By weight, 41% of GRID's portfolio is stocks that are also in the S&P 500; its active share against the S&P 500 is 92%. The top ten holdings are 57% of the fund across 122 positions, as published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026. It sits 14.7% below its all-time high of May 11, 2026.
QQQM
QQQM 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 0.15% 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 105 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 GRID and QQQM in the same category?
- GRID is a thematic ETF and QQQM 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, GRID or QQQM?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, GRID returned +7.9% and QQQM +15.2%.
- Which is cheaper, GRID or QQQM?
- QQQM is cheaper, by 0.41 percentage points a year. That is about $41 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, GRID against QQQM, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/grid-vs-qqqm
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). GRID against QQQM. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/grid-vs-qqqm
[GRID against QQQM (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/grid-vs-qqqm)
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