Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
LQD vs LQDW: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, LQD returned −3.4% to LQDW's +1.2%, and LQD charges 0.14% to LQDW's 0.34%.
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Net assets: $30.6bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF, and $353m on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares LQD Premium Income+ ETF.
Pair scorecard
LQD costs 0.20 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 4.6 points; LQD is far larger, $30.2bn against $352m.
| Measure | LQD | LQDW |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | −3.4% | +1.2% |
| Price change, 1 year | fell 7.8% | fell 10.0% |
| Latest payout, annualized | 20.0% | |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 64% of the Oct 7, 2026 payment | |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 6.3%, high on Sep 22, 2021 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Markit iBoxx USD Liquid Investment Grade Index | Benchmark: US investment grade bonds, measured through LQD |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.14% | 0.34% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 23, 2026 | $30.2bn | $352m |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 0% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Sep 2, 2022 to Oct 23, 2026 · 216 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: LQD against IUSB, Jun 20, 2014 to Oct 23, 2026; LQDW against LQD, Sep 2, 2022 to Oct 23, 2026.
LQD returned more: +14.5% to +10.8%. LQDW swung less: 5.3% to 7.9%. LQDW fell less at its worst: −7.1% to −8.7%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | LQD | LQDW | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +14.5% | +10.8% | LQD | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +3.3% | +2.5% | LQD | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −4.2% | −40.9% | LQD | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 7.9% | 5.3% | LQDW | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 5.6% | 4.2% | LQDW | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −8.7% | −7.1% | LQDW | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 157.4% | 53.6% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 143.3% | 61.8% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.70 | 0.58 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.84 | 0.74 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | −0.13 | −0.37 | LQD | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | −0.18 | −0.46 | LQD | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.005 | −0.034 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.38 | 0.35 | LQD (slight) | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | IUSB | LQD | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.7% a year | −1.4% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.64 | −1.05 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −1.4% to +2.8% | −4.0% to +1.2% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.14 | −0.23 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 5.2% | 4.3% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 216 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, LQD and LQDW hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
LQD and LQDW on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ. Cash paid: distributions over the window, as a share of the starting price.
LQD and LQDW do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. LQD follows Markit iBoxx USD Liquid Investment Grade Index and LQDW is measured against US investment grade bonds through LQD.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 LQD returned −3.4% and LQDW +1.2% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 4.6 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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LQD
LQD tracks an index of US investment grade bonds. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −3.4% with distributions reinvested, against −1.2% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Universal Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.14% a year. It sat 6.3% below its high of Sep 22, 2021 on Oct 28, 2026.
LQDW
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, LQDW paid 11.2% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 10.0%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +1.2%. US investment grade bonds (LQD) returned −3.4% over the same days, so a holder was ahead by 4.6 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 20.0%, paid monthly. iShares estimates that 64% of the distribution paid Oct 7, 2026 was a return of capital (its 19a-1 notice). That is a tax label, not a measure of erosion.
Questions people ask
- Are LQD and LQDW in the same category?
- LQD is a bond ETF and LQDW is an option-income ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
- Which returned more over the last year, LQD or LQDW?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, LQD returned −3.4% and LQDW +1.2%.
- Which is cheaper, LQD or LQDW?
- LQD is cheaper, by 0.20 percentage points a year. That is about $20 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
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How this is computed
Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.
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ETFIQ, LQD against LQDW, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/lqd-vs-lqdw
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). LQD against LQDW. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/lqd-vs-lqdw
[LQD against LQDW (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/lqd-vs-lqdw)
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