Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
QLDY vs QQQ: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QLDY returned +11.9% to QQQ's +15.2%, and QQQ charges 0.18% to QLDY's 1.04%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $56m for Defiance Nasdaq 100 LightningSpread Income ETF and $483.0bn for Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1.
Pair scorecard
QQQ costs 0.86 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 3.3 points; QQQ is far larger, $483.0bn against $56m.
| Measure | QLDY | QQQ |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +11.9% | +15.2% |
| Price change, 1 year | fell 25.3% | rose 14.6% |
| Latest payout, annualized | 19.6% | |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 100% of the Oct 19, 2026 payment | |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 4.5%, high on Oct 6, 2026 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Benchmark: Nasdaq-100, measured through QQQ | Nasdaq-100 Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 1.04% | 0.18% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $56m | $483.0bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 0% | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 96% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 46.7% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Sep 26, 2025 to Oct 23, 2026 · 56 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: QLDY against QQQ, Sep 26, 2025 to Oct 23, 2026; QQQ against QQQM, Oct 23, 2020 to Oct 23, 2026.
QQQ returned more: +18.7% to +14.8%. QQQ swung less: 18.8% to 21.6%. QQQ fell less at its worst: −10.3% to −13.1%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | QLDY | QQQ | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +14.8% | +18.7% | QQQ | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +13.7% | +17.3% | QQQ | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −25.4% | +18.2% | QQQ | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 21.6% | 18.8% | QQQ | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 14.3% | 12.1% | QQQ | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −13.1% | −10.3% | QQQ | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 116.7% | 100.4% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 110.0% | 100.2% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.14 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.98 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.53 | 0.74 | QQQ | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.79 | 1.15 | QQQ | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.100 | 0.145 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 1.05 | 1.67 | QQQ | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | QQQ | QQQM | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −4.5% a year | −0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −1.63 | −0.58 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −10.0% to +1.0% | −0.4% to +0.2% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.67 | −0.10 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 3.8% | 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, 56 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, QLDY and QQQ hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
QLDY and QQQ 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.
QLDY and QQQ do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. QLDY is measured against Nasdaq-100 through QQQ and QQQ follows Nasdaq-100 Index.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 28, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 QLDY returned +11.9% and QQQ +15.2% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 3.3 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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QLDY
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QLDY paid 34.4% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 25.3%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +11.9%. Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) returned +15.2% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 3.3 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 19.6%, paid weekly. Defiance estimates that 100% of the distribution paid Oct 19, 2026 was a return of capital (its 19a-1 notice). That is a tax label, not a measure of erosion.
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 QLDY and QQQ in the same category?
- QLDY is an option-income 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, QLDY or QQQ?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, QLDY returned +11.9% and QQQ +15.2%.
- Which is cheaper, QLDY or QQQ?
- QQQ is cheaper, by 0.86 percentage points a year. That is about $86 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, QLDY against QQQ, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qldy-vs-qqq
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). QLDY against QQQ. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qldy-vs-qqq
[QLDY against QQQ (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qldy-vs-qqq)
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