Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
QQQ vs SLV: Differences, Returns & Fees
QQQ is an equity index fund and SLV a commodity fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QQQ returned +15.2% against +14.9%.
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Net assets: $483.0bn on Oct 27, 2026 for Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1, and $26.9bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Silver Trust.
Pair scorecard
QQQ costs 0.32 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.3 points; QQQ is 18.2 times larger.
| Measure | QQQ | SLV |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +15.2% | +14.9% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 4.5%, high on Oct 6, 2026 | 53.5%, high on Jan 28, 2026 |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Nasdaq-100 Index | Silver |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.18% | 0.50% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $483.0bn | $26.5bn |
| 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
May 5, 2006 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,068 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: QQQ against QQQM, Oct 23, 2020 to Oct 23, 2026; SLV against SIVR, Jul 31, 2009 to Oct 23, 2026.
QQQ returned more: +1,854.8% to +248.1%. QQQ swung less: 20.2% to 32.5%. QQQ fell less at its worst: −51.4% to −75.2%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | QQQ | SLV | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +1,854.8% | +248.1% | QQQ | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +15.6% | +6.3% | QQQ | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +1,570.8% | +248.1% | QQQ | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 20.2% | 32.5% | QQQ | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 13.8% | 23.0% | QQQ | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −51.4% | −75.2% | QQQ | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 100.4% | 100.2% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 100.2% | 100.2% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.73 | 0.30 | QQQ | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.08 | 0.42 | QQQ | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.145 | 0.107 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.30 | 0.08 | QQQ | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | QQQM | SIVR | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.1% a year | −0.2% 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% | −0.6% to +0.2% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.10 | −0.19 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.4% | 0.8% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,068 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
QQQ and SLV on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
QQQ and SLV do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. QQQ follows Nasdaq-100 Index and SLV follows Silver.
- Cost. QQQ charges 0.18% of assets a year and SLV 0.50%, a gap of 0.32 points.
- Size. QQQ has $483.0bn in net assets and SLV $26.5bn (net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026); QQQ is 18.2 times larger.
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.
Its expense ratio is 0.50% a year, for the three months to Jun 30, 2026, as its 10-Q states.
SLV holds silver. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +14.9% with distributions reinvested, against +15.0% for its benchmark, the price of silver. It sat 53.5% below its high of Jan 28, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, QQQ or SLV?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, QQQ returned +15.2% and SLV +14.9%.
- Which is cheaper, QQQ or SLV?
- QQQ is cheaper, by 0.32 percentage points a year. That is about $32 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.
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ETFIQ, QQQ against SLV, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qqq-vs-slv
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