Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
NSEP vs QQQM: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, NSEP returned +10.3% to QQQM's +15.2%, and QQQM charges 0.15% to NSEP's 0.79%.
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Net assets: $114m on Oct 28, 2026 for Innovator Growth-100 Power Buffer ETF - Sep, and $110.4bn on Oct 27, 2026 for Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF.
Pair scorecard
QQQM costs 0.64 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 4.9 points; QQQM is far larger, $110.4bn against $107m.
| Measure | NSEP | QQQM |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +10.3% | +15.2% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 4.5%, high on Oct 6, 2026 | |
| Index fall to the buffer | 1.1% | |
| Fund price fall to the buffer | 1.5% | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | QQQ | Nasdaq-100 Index |
| The outcome period | ||
| Room to the cap | 16.8% | |
| Buffer left, in index points | 15.0% of 15.0% | |
| Days left in the period | 307 | |
| Period ends | Aug 31, 2027 | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.79% | 0.15% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $107m | $110.4bn |
| 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
Sep 13, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026 · 110 weekly returns · each against QQQQQQM returned more: +50.1% to +28.2%. NSEP swung less: 8.8% to 19.7%. NSEP fell less at its worst: −11.0% to −21.2%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | NSEP | QQQM | QQQ | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | |||||
| Total return | +28.2% | +50.1% | QQQM | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. | |
| Annualized | +12.5% | +21.1% | QQQM | Total return as a yearly rate. | |
| Price return | +28.2% | +48.3% | QQQM | Price change alone, distributions left out. | |
| Risk | |||||
| Volatility | 8.8% | 19.7% | NSEP | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. | |
| Downside deviation | 5.8% | 12.7% | NSEP | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. | |
| Max drawdown | −11.0% | −21.2% | NSEP | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. | |
| Upside capture | 30.6% | 99.8% | 100.0% | QQQM | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. |
| Downside capture | 48.5% | 99.8% | 100.0% | NSEP | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. |
| Beta | 0.42 | 0.99 | 1.00 | NSEP lower | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.87 | 1.00 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | |||||
| Sharpe | 0.91 | 0.87 | NSEP (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. | |
| Sortino | 1.40 | 1.34 | NSEP (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. | |
| Treynor | 0.194 | 0.172 | 0.170 | NSEP | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. |
| Calmar | 1.13 | 1.00 | NSEP | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. | |
| Against the benchmark | |||||
| Benchmark | QQQ | QQQ | QQQ | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +1.0% a year | +0.1% a year | 0.0% | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.45 | 0.75 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. | |
| Alpha range | −3.4% to +5.4% | −0.2% to +0.4% | Both include zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. | |
| Information ratio | −0.75 | 0.14 | QQQM | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 12.0% | 0.3% | 0.0% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 110 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
NSEP and QQQM on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
NSEP and QQQM do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. NSEP follows QQQ and QQQM follows Nasdaq-100 Index.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 NSEP returned +10.3% and QQQM +15.2% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 4.9 points.
- Cost. NSEP charges 0.79% of assets a year and QQQM 0.15%, a gap of 0.64 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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NSEP
From its price on Oct 28, 2026, the fund can gain about 16.8% more before it reaches its cap. The fund's price can fall 1.5% from here before the buffer starts absorbing losses, by the issuer's number. In index terms, QQQ can fall 1.1% from today's level to the point where the buffer begins. Protection left, in index points: 15.0% of the 15.0% buffer still sits below today's QQQ level. 307 days remained on Oct 28, 2026. On Aug 31, 2027 the period ends and a new cap is set.
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 NSEP and QQQM in the same category?
- NSEP is a buffer 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, NSEP or QQQM?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, NSEP returned +10.3% and QQQM +15.2%.
- Which is cheaper, NSEP or QQQM?
- QQQM is cheaper, by 0.64 percentage points a year. That is about $64 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
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ETFIQ, NSEP against QQQM, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/nsep-vs-qqqm
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). NSEP against QQQM. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/nsep-vs-qqqm
[NSEP against QQQM (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/nsep-vs-qqqm)
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