Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
NLR vs QQQ: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, NLR returned −35.8% to QQQ's +15.2%, and QQQ charges 0.18% to NLR's 0.52%.
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Net assets: $3.1bn on Oct 26, 2026 for VanEck Uranium and Nuclear ETF, and $483.0bn on Oct 27, 2026 for Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1.
Pair scorecard
QQQ costs 0.34 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 51.0 points; QQQ is far larger, $476.7bn against $3.1bn.
| Measure | NLR | QQQ |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | −35.8% | +15.2% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its all-time high | 41.6%, high on Jan 28, 2026 | |
| Below its high | 4.5%, high on Oct 6, 2026 | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Nuclear and uranium | Nasdaq-100 Index |
| Against its benchmark, 1 year | behind by 49.2 pts | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.52% | 0.18% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 26, 2026 | $3.1bn | $476.7bn |
| Active share vs the S&P 500 | 100% | |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 0% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 61% | 46.7% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jun 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Aug 24, 2007 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,000 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: NLR against ACWI, Apr 4, 2008 to Oct 23, 2026; QQQ against QQQM, Oct 23, 2020 to Oct 23, 2026.
QQQ returned more: +1,603.2% to +50.2%. QQQ swung less: 20.5% to 25.0%. QQQ fell less at its worst: −51.4% to −62.9%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | NLR | QQQ | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +50.2% | +1,603.2% | QQQ | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +2.1% | +15.9% | QQQ | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −23.5% | +1,361.4% | QQQ | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 25.0% | 20.5% | QQQ | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 17.9% | 13.9% | QQQ | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −62.9% | −51.4% | QQQ | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 79.1% | 100.4% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 96.4% | 100.2% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.99 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.54 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.15 | 0.75 | QQQ | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.21 | 1.11 | QQQ | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.046 | 0.145 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.03 | 0.31 | QQQ | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | ACWI | QQQM | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −3.5% a year | −0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.90 | −0.58 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −11.1% to +4.1% | −0.4% to +0.2% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.22 | −0.10 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 16.7% | 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, 1,000 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, NLR and QQQ hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Jun 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
NLR and QQQ on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
No client brief for this pair: the two funds' holdings are dated 119 days apart.
NLR
By weight, 15% of NLR's portfolio is stocks that are also in the S&P 500; its active share against the S&P 500 is 100%. The top ten holdings are 61% of the fund across 25 positions, as filed for Jun 30, 2026. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 the fund returned −35.8% with distributions reinvested against +13.4% for its benchmark, the MSCI ACWI Index, so a holder was behind by 49.2 pts. It sits 41.6% below its all-time high of Jan 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
- Are NLR and QQQ in the same category?
- NLR 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, NLR or QQQ?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, NLR returned −35.8% and QQQ +15.2%.
- Which is cheaper, NLR or QQQ?
- QQQ is cheaper, by 0.34 percentage points a year. That is about $34 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, NLR against QQQ, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/nlr-vs-qqq
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). NLR against QQQ. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/nlr-vs-qqq
[NLR against QQQ (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/nlr-vs-qqq)
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