Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
QQQ vs QQQY: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QQQ returned +15.2% to QQQY's +17.5%, and QQQ charges 0.18% to QQQY's 1.01%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $483.0bn for Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1 and $187m for Defiance Nasdaq 100 Weekly Distribution ETF.
Pair scorecard
QQQ costs 0.83 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 2.3 points; QQQ is far larger, $483.0bn against $187m.
| Measure | QQQ | QQQY |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +15.2% | +17.5% |
| Price change, 1 year | rose 14.6% | fell 15.1% |
| Latest payout, annualized | 30.0% | |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 100% of the Oct 16, 2026 payment | |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 4.5%, high on Oct 6, 2026 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Nasdaq-100 Index | Benchmark: Nasdaq-100, measured through QQQ |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.18% | 1.01% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $483.0bn | $187m |
| 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 22, 2023 to Oct 23, 2026 · 161 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: QQQ against QQQM, Oct 23, 2020 to Oct 23, 2026; QQQY against QQQ, Sep 22, 2023 to Oct 23, 2026.
QQQ returned more: +100.1% to +58.0%. QQQY swung less: 14.8% to 19.5%. QQQY fell less at its worst: −18.3% to −21.3%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | QQQ | QQQY | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +100.1% | +58.0% | QQQ | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +25.1% | +15.9% | QQQ | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +96.8% | −64.0% | QQQ | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 19.5% | 14.8% | QQQY | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 12.5% | 10.4% | QQQY | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −21.3% | −18.3% | QQQY | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 100.4% | 61.4% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 100.2% | 85.1% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 0.71 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 0.88 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 1.02 | 0.77 | QQQ | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.59 | 1.09 | QQQ | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.145 | 0.160 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 1.18 | 0.87 | QQQ | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | QQQM | QQQ | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.1% a year | −2.8% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.58 | −0.92 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.4% to +0.2% | −8.7% to +3.2% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.10 | −1.11 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.4% | 7.7% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 161 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, QQQ and QQQY 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
QQQ and QQQY 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.
QQQ and QQQY do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. QQQ follows Nasdaq-100 Index and QQQY is measured against Nasdaq-100 through QQQ.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 QQQ returned +15.2% and QQQY +17.5% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 2.3 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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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.
QQQY
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QQQY paid 29.5% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 15.1%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +17.5%. Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) returned +15.2% over the same days, so a holder was ahead by 2.3 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 30.0%, paid weekly. Defiance estimates that 100% of the distribution paid Oct 16, 2026 was a return of capital (its 19a-1 notice). That is a tax label, not a measure of erosion.
Questions people ask
- Are QQQ and QQQY in the same category?
- QQQ is a stock ETF and QQQY 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, QQQ or QQQY?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, QQQ returned +15.2% and QQQY +17.5%.
- Which is cheaper, QQQ or QQQY?
- QQQ is cheaper, by 0.83 percentage points a year. That is about $83 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, QQQ against QQQY, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qqq-vs-qqqy
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). QQQ against QQQY. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qqq-vs-qqqy
[QQQ against QQQY (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qqq-vs-qqqy)
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