QUAL vs THRO: Differences, Returns & Fees
QUAL and THRO hold 44% of their weight in the same names, and THRO returned +18.3% over the year. Net assets on Oct 9, 2026: $49.0bn for iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF and $7.5bn for iShares U.S. Thematic Rotation Active ETF.
QUAL costs 0.42 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 1.2 points; QUAL is 6.5 times larger.
| QUAL | THRO | |
|---|---|---|
| Expense ratio | 0.15% | 0.57% |
| Net assets | $49.0bn | $7.5bn |
| Total return, 1 year | +17.1% | +18.3% |
| What it tracks | MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index ? | No index, actively managed |
| Holdings in common | 44% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 45.7% | 43.5% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 9, 2026.
What they hold in common
By the books each fund has filed, QUAL and THRO hold 44% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Above 50%, holding both is close to holding one of them twice. Holdings dated Oct 9, 2026.
half
44% in common
On the same fields
QUAL and THRO on the fields both publish, as of Oct 9, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
About QUAL
QUAL tracks the MSCI USA Quality Factor. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +17.1% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 9, 2026, 97% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 119 positions, with the top ten at 45.7%.
About THRO
THRO is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +18.3% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.57% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 9, 2026, 93% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 247 positions, with the top ten at 43.5%.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, QUAL or THRO?
- In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, QUAL returned +17.1% and THRO +18.3%.
- Which is cheaper, QUAL or THRO?
- QUAL is cheaper, by 0.42 percentage points a year. That is about $42 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure; a link is not an endorsement. 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, QUAL against THRO, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qual-vs-thro
ETFIQ. (Oct 9, 2026). QUAL against THRO. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qual-vs-thro
[QUAL against THRO (ETFIQ, Oct 9, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qual-vs-thro)
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