Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
QQQM vs XAR: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QQQM returned +15.2% to XAR's −10.0%, and QQQM charges 0.15% to XAR's 0.35%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $110.4bn for Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF and $5.0bn for State Street SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF.
Pair scorecard
QQQM costs 0.20 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 25.2 points; QQQM is far larger, $110.4bn against $5.0bn.
| Measure | QQQM | 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 | 0.15% | 0.35% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $110.4bn | $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 23, 2020 to Oct 23, 2026 · 313 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: QQQM against QQQ, Oct 23, 2020 to Oct 23, 2026; XAR against VOO, Oct 7, 2011 to Oct 23, 2026.
QQQM returned slightly more: +157.2% to +143.4%. QQQM swung less: 21.0% to 24.5%. XAR fell slightly less at its worst: −32.4% to −35.0%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | QQQM | XAR | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +157.2% | +143.4% | QQQM (slight) | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +17.0% | +15.9% | QQQM (slight) | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +147.9% | +135.6% | QQQM (slight) | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 21.0% | 24.5% | QQQM | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 13.6% | 15.7% | QQQM | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −35.0% | −32.4% | XAR (slight) | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 99.6% | 115.9% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 99.8% | 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 | 0.70 | 0.59 | QQQM | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.07 | 0.92 | QQQM | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.147 | 0.141 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.49 | 0.49 | Tie | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | QQQ | 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 | 0.62 | 0.08 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.2% to +0.4% | −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, 313 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, QQQM 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
QQQM and XAR on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
QQQM and XAR do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. QQQM 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 QQQM returned +15.2% and XAR −10.0% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 25.2 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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QQQM
QQQM 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 0.15% 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 105 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 QQQM and XAR in the same category?
- QQQM 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, QQQM or XAR?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, QQQM returned +15.2% and XAR −10.0%.
- Which is cheaper, QQQM or XAR?
- QQQM is cheaper, by 0.20 percentage points a year. That is about $20 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, QQQM against XAR, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qqqm-vs-xar
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). QQQM against XAR. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qqqm-vs-xar
[QQQM against XAR (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qqqm-vs-xar)
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