Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
QQQ vs XAR: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QQQ returned +15.2% to XAR's −10.0%, and QQQ charges 0.18% to XAR's 0.35%.
askIQ about this page
askIQ about QQQ and XAR
Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $483.0bn for Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1 and $5.0bn for State Street SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF.
Pair scorecard
QQQ costs 0.17 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 25.2 points; QQQ is far larger, $483.0bn against $5.0bn.
| Measure | QQQ | XAR |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +15.2% | −10.0% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 4.5%, high on Oct 6, 2026 | |
| Below its all-time high | 24.1%, high on Aug 14, 2026 | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Nasdaq-100 Index | Defense |
| Against the S&P 500, 1 year | behind by 23.7 pts | |
| Against its benchmark, 1 year | behind by 23.7 pts | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.18% | 0.35% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $483.0bn | $5.0bn |
| Active share vs the S&P 500 | 98% | |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 1% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 46.7% | 32% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Oct 7, 2011 to Oct 23, 2026 · 785 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: QQQ against QQQM, Oct 23, 2020 to Oct 23, 2026; XAR against VOO, Oct 7, 2011 to Oct 23, 2026.
QQQ returned more: +1,383.1% to +905.6%. QQQ swung less: 18.9% to 23.3%. QQQ fell less at its worst: −35.1% to −45.1%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | QQQ | XAR | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +1,383.1% | +905.6% | QQQ | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +19.6% | +16.5% | QQQ | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +1,202.8% | +760.2% | QQQ | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 18.9% | 23.3% | QQQ | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 12.5% | 15.5% | QQQ | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −35.1% | −45.1% | QQQ | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 100.4% | 115.9% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 100.2% | 107.2% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 1.16 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 0.62 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.95 | 0.70 | QQQ | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.44 | 1.05 | QQQ | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.145 | 0.141 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.56 | 0.37 | QQQ | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | QQQM | VOO | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.1% a year | +0.3% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.58 | 0.08 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.4% to +0.2% | −7.0% to +7.6% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.10 | 0.17 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.4% | 14.6% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 785 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, QQQ and XAR hold 1% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.
half
1% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
QQQ and XAR on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
QQQ and XAR do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. QQQ follows Nasdaq-100 Index and XAR follows Defense.
- Holdings in common. 1% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 QQQ returned +15.2% and XAR −10.0% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 25.2 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
The two-page PDF for this pair is coming. Save the comparison to follow its changes. Free. It needs an email sign-in, once.
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.
XAR
By weight, 40% of XAR's portfolio is stocks that are also in the S&P 500; its active share against the S&P 500 is 98%. The top ten holdings are 32% of the fund across 50 positions, as published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 the fund returned −10.0% with distributions reinvested against +13.7% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index, so a holder was behind by 23.7 pts. It sits 24.1% below its all-time high of Aug 14, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Are QQQ and XAR in the same category?
- QQQ is a stock ETF and XAR is a thematic 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 XAR?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, QQQ returned +15.2% and XAR −10.0%.
- Which is cheaper, QQQ or XAR?
- QQQ is cheaper, by 0.17 percentage points a year. That is about $17 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.
Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown
ETFIQ, QQQ against XAR, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qqq-vs-xar
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). QQQ against XAR. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qqq-vs-xar
[QQQ against XAR (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qqq-vs-xar)
Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.