Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
IAU vs QQQ: Differences, Returns & Fees
IAU is a commodity fund and QQQ an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QQQ returned +15.2% against +2.7%.
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Net assets: $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust, and $483.0bn on Oct 27, 2026 for Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1.
Pair scorecard
QQQ costs 0.07 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 12.5 points; QQQ is 8.0 times larger.
| Measure | IAU | QQQ |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +2.7% | +15.2% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026 | 4.5%, high on Oct 6, 2026 |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Gold | Nasdaq-100 Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.25% | 0.18% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $60.3bn | $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 and return
Feb 4, 2005 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,133 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: IAU against GLD, Feb 4, 2005 to Oct 23, 2026; QQQ against QQQM, Oct 23, 2020 to Oct 23, 2026.
QQQ returned more: +2,092.0% to +805.4%. IAU swung less: 17.4% to 19.9%. IAU fell less at its worst: −44.4% to −51.4%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | IAU | QQQ | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +805.4% | +2,092.0% | QQQ | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +10.6% | +15.2% | QQQ | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +805.4% | +1,766.0% | QQQ | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 17.4% | 19.9% | IAU | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 11.9% | 13.5% | IAU | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −44.4% | −51.4% | IAU | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 100.4% | 100.4% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 100.0% | 100.2% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.56 | 0.72 | QQQ | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.82 | 1.06 | QQQ | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.098 | 0.145 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.24 | 0.30 | QQQ | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | GLD | QQQM | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.1% a year | −0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.67 | −0.58 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.2% to +0.4% | −0.4% to +0.2% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.18 | −0.10 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.7% | 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, 1,133 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
IAU and QQQ on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
IAU and QQQ do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. IAU follows Gold and QQQ follows Nasdaq-100 Index.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 IAU returned +2.7% and QQQ +15.2% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 12.5 points.
- Size. IAU has $60.3bn in net assets and QQQ $483.0bn (net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026); QQQ is 8.0 times larger.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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Its expense ratio is 0.25% a year, for the three months to Jun 30, 2026, as its 10-Q states.
IAU holds gold. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +2.7% with distributions reinvested, against +2.5% for its benchmark, the price of gold. It sat 24.6% below its high of Jan 29, 2026 on Oct 28, 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
- Which returned more over the last year, IAU or QQQ?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and QQQ +15.2%.
- Which is cheaper, IAU or QQQ?
- QQQ is cheaper, by 0.07 percentage points a year. That is about $7 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.
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ETFIQ, IAU against QQQ, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-qqq
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). IAU against QQQ. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-qqq
[IAU against QQQ (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-qqq)
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