Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
QQQ vs VCSH: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QQQ returned +15.2% to VCSH's +1.3%; 0% of their weight is in the same names.
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Net assets: $483.0bn on Oct 27, 2026 for Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1, and $43.9bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF.
Pair scorecard
VCSH costs 0.15 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 13.9 points.
| Measure | QQQ | VCSH |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +15.2% | +1.3% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 4.5%, high on Oct 6, 2026 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Nasdaq-100 Index | Bloomberg U.S. 1-5 Year Corporate Bond Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.18% | 0.03% |
| Net assets, QQQ as of Oct 27, 2026 and VCSH as of Sep 30, 2026 | $483.0bn | $43.9bn |
| 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 Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Dec 4, 2009 to Oct 23, 2026 · 881 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: QQQ against QQQM, Oct 23, 2020 to Oct 23, 2026; VCSH against SCHJ, Oct 18, 2019 to Oct 23, 2026.
QQQ returned more: +1,744.1% to +59.9%. VCSH swung less: 3.5% to 19.1%. VCSH fell less at its worst: −11.3% to −35.1%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | QQQ | VCSH | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +1,744.1% | +59.9% | QQQ | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +18.8% | +2.8% | QQQ | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +1,496.6% | +2.8% | QQQ | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 19.1% | 3.5% | VCSH | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 12.7% | 2.5% | VCSH | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −35.1% | −11.3% | VCSH | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 100.4% | 98.3% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 100.2% | 98.3% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 0.95 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 0.99 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.92 | 0.37 | QQQ | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.38 | 0.52 | QQQ | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.145 | −0.003 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.54 | 0.25 | QQQ | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | QQQM | SCHJ | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.1% a year | 0.0% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.58 | −0.29 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.4% to +0.2% | −0.4% to +0.3% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.10 | −0.06 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.4% | 0.5% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 881 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, QQQ and VCSH hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
QQQ and VCSH on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
QQQ and VCSH do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. QQQ follows Nasdaq-100 Index and VCSH follows Bloomberg U.S. 1-5 Year Corporate Bond Index.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Sep 30, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 QQQ returned +15.2% and VCSH +1.3% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 13.9 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.
VCSH
VCSH tracks an index of Short-Term Corporate Bond. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +1.3% with distributions reinvested, against +1.3% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. 1-5 Year Corporate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, QQQ or VCSH?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, QQQ returned +15.2% and VCSH +1.3%.
- Which is cheaper, QQQ or VCSH?
- VCSH is cheaper, by 0.15 percentage points a year. That is about $15 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 VCSH, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qqq-vs-vcsh
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[QQQ against VCSH (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qqq-vs-vcsh)
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