Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
QQQ vs XT: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QQQ returned +15.2% to XT's +22.1%, and QQQ charges 0.18% to XT's 0.46%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $483.0bn for Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1 and $4.1bn for iShares Future Exponential Technologies ETF.
Pair scorecard
QQQ costs 0.28 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 6.9 points; QQQ is far larger, $483.0bn against $4.1bn.
| Measure | QQQ | XT |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +15.2% | +22.1% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 4.5%, high on Oct 6, 2026 | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Nasdaq-100 Index | Broad innovation and megatrends |
| Against its benchmark, 1 year | ahead by 8.7 pts | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.18% | 0.46% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $483.0bn | $4.1bn |
| Active share vs the S&P 500 | 69% | |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 33% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 46.7% | 37% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Apr 2, 2015 to Oct 23, 2026 · 603 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: QQQ against QQQM, Oct 23, 2020 to Oct 23, 2026; XT against ACWI, Apr 2, 2015 to Oct 23, 2026.
QQQ returned more: +629.7% to +292.0%. XT swung slightly less: 19.0% to 20.1%. XT fell slightly less at its worst: −34.3% to −35.1%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | QQQ | XT | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +629.7% | +292.0% | QQQ | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +18.7% | +12.5% | QQQ | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +570.1% | +225.6% | QQQ | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 20.1% | 19.0% | XT (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 13.4% | 13.2% | Tie | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −35.1% | −34.3% | XT (slight) | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 100.4% | 123.1% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 100.2% | 108.7% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 1.11 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 0.89 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.85 | 0.60 | QQQ | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.26 | 0.87 | QQQ | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.145 | 0.103 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.53 | 0.36 | QQQ | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | QQQM | ACWI | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.1% a year | +1.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.58 | 0.61 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.4% to +0.2% | −2.5% to +4.7% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.10 | 0.33 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.4% | 6.5% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 603 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, QQQ and XT hold 33% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.
half
33% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
QQQ and XT on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
QQQ and XT do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. QQQ follows Nasdaq-100 Index and XT follows Broad innovation and megatrends.
- Holdings in common. 33% 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 XT +22.1% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 6.9 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.
XT
By weight, 66% of XT's portfolio is stocks that are also in the S&P 500; its active share against the S&P 500 is 69%. The top ten holdings are 37% of the fund across 197 positions, as published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 the fund returned +22.1% with distributions reinvested against +13.4% for its benchmark, the MSCI All Country World Index, so a holder was ahead by 8.7 pts.
Questions people ask
- Are QQQ and XT in the same category?
- QQQ is a stock ETF and XT 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 XT?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, QQQ returned +15.2% and XT +22.1%.
- Which is cheaper, QQQ or XT?
- QQQ is cheaper, by 0.28 percentage points a year. That is about $28 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 XT, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qqq-vs-xt
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). QQQ against XT. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qqq-vs-xt
[QQQ against XT (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qqq-vs-xt)
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