Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
APLY vs QQQI: Dividend Yield & Total Return
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, APLY paid 28.6% of its price in cash against QQQI’s 13.7%, and returned more with it reinvested.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $112m for YieldMax AAPL Option Income Strategy ETF and $15.4bn for NEOS Nasdaq-100 High Income ETF.
10.1 pts behind AAPL
APLY over 1 year: paid 28.6%, price −14.2%, total +18.2%, AAPL +28.3%, −10.1 pts. Data to Oct 28, 2026.
AAPL
+28.3%
APLY
+18.2%
28.6% of it arrived as cash
10.1 pts behind AAPL
Total return, distributions reinvested
10.1 pts behind AAPL
APLY over 1 year: paid 28.6%, price −14.2%, total +18.2%, AAPL +28.3%, −10.1 pts. Data to Oct 28, 2026.
AAPL
+28.3%
APLY
+18.2%
28.6% cash
10.1 pts behind AAPL
28.6% of it arrived as cash. Total return, distributions reinvested. APLY over 1 year: paid 28.6%, price −14.2%, total +18.2%, AAPL +28.3%, −10.1 pts. Data to Oct 28, 2026.
Data to Oct 28, 2026.3.3 pts behind QQQ
QQQI over 1 year: paid 13.7%, price −2.8%, total +11.9%, QQQ +15.2%, −3.3 pts. Data to Oct 28, 2026.
QQQ
+15.2%
QQQI
+11.9%
13.7% of it arrived as cash
3.3 pts behind QQQ
Total return, distributions reinvested
3.3 pts behind QQQ
QQQI over 1 year: paid 13.7%, price −2.8%, total +11.9%, QQQ +15.2%, −3.3 pts. Data to Oct 28, 2026.
QQQ
+15.2%
QQQI
+11.9%
3.3 pts behind QQQ
13.7% of it arrived as cash. Both charts share one scale, with zero at the line. QQQI over 1 year: paid 13.7%, price −2.8%, total +11.9%, QQQ +15.2%, −3.3 pts. Data to Oct 28, 2026.
Data to Oct 28, 2026.Pair scorecard
QQQI costs 0.36 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 6.3 points; QQQI is far larger, $15.4bn against $112m.
Points (pts) are percentage points.
| Measure | APLY | QQQI |
|---|---|---|
| Paid and earned | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +18.2% | +11.9% |
| Price change, 1 year | fell 14.2% | fell 2.8% |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 100% of the Oct 23, 2026 payment | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| Benchmark | Apple (AAPL) | Nasdaq-100, measured through QQQ |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 1.04% | 0.68% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $112m | $15.4bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 0% | |
APLY among the 74 income ETFs writing on a single company
How much of its payouts the fund's total return covered, ranked against 74 income ETFs writing on a single company and 164 income ETFs not writing on a single company. 100 is best. How it is computed
QQQI among the 164 income ETFs not writing on a single company
A percentile among the 74 income ETFs writing on a single company. QQQI is a percentile among the 164 income ETFs not writing on a single company, a different set, so the two marks are not on one scale. One year only, and a ratio of two published numbers: it says nothing about where a distribution came from. All income ETFs ranked by it →
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 28, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Feb 9, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026 · 141 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: APLY against AAPL, Apr 28, 2023 to Oct 23, 2026; QQQI against QQQ, Feb 9, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026.
QQQI returned slightly more: +52.7% to +48.5%. QQQI swung less: 16.0% to 21.9%. QQQI fell less at its worst: −18.4% to −24.1%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | APLY | QQQI | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +48.5% | +52.7% | QQQI (slight) | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +15.7% | +16.9% | QQQI (slight) | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −35.3% | +3.2% | QQQI | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 21.9% | 16.0% | QQQI | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 16.0% | 10.8% | QQQI | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −24.1% | −18.4% | QQQI | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 66.1% | 69.5% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 91.8% | 85.4% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.78 | 0.79 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.94 | 0.98 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.58 | 0.79 | QQQI | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.79 | 1.16 | QQQI | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.145 | 0.158 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.65 | 0.92 | QQQI | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | AAPL | QQQ | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −4.1% a year | 0.0% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −1.45 | 0.01 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −9.7% to +1.5% | −3.0% to +3.0% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −1.09 | −0.67 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 7.8% | 4.8% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 141 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, APLY and QQQI hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 28, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
As of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ. Cash paid: distributions over the window, as a share of the starting price. Payout rate: the latest payment, annualized, over today’s price.
Window by window
| Total return | Cash paid | Against the benchmark | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Window | APLY | QQQI | APLY | QQQI | APLY | QQQI |
| 3 months | 0.0% | +9.9% | 6.7% | 3.8% | −1.8 pts | +0.2 pts |
| 6 months | +18.3% | +7.8% | 17.5% | 7.2% | −9.2 pts | −2.1 pts |
| 1 year | +18.2% | +11.9% | 28.6% | 13.7% | −10.1 pts | −3.3 pts |
| 3 years | +63.0% | – | 73.1% | – | −44.1 pts | – |
| Since launchNot the same days: APLY Apr 2023 · QQQI Jan 2024 | +62.0% | +60.7% | 76.2% | 41.2% | −47.9 pts | −12.4 pts |
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APLY and QQQI are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?
- Income paid. APLY paid 28.6% and QQQI 13.7% (cash paid over 1 year, as a share of its price at the start), a gap of 14.9 points.
- What each is measured against. APLY is measured against Apple (AAPL) and QQQI against Nasdaq-100 through QQQ.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 28, 2026).
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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APLY
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, APLY paid 28.6% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 14.2%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +18.2%. Apple (AAPL) returned +28.3% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 10.1 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 20.9%, paid weekly.
QQQI
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QQQI paid 13.7% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 2.8%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +11.9%. Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) returned +15.2% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 3.3 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 14.1%, paid monthly. NEOS estimates that 100% of the distribution paid Oct 23, 2026 was a return of capital (its 19a-1 notice). That is a tax label, not a measure of erosion.
Questions people ask
Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.
How this is computed
It is a place in a set, not a rating or a recommendation.
Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.
Every number is an ETFIQ calculation with distributions reinvested.
Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown
ETFIQ, APLY against QQQI, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/income/aply-vs-qqqi
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). APLY against QQQI. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/income/aply-vs-qqqi
[APLY against QQQI (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/income/aply-vs-qqqi)
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