Which is cheaper, BALQ or HEMI?

BALQ charges 0.35% a year and HEMI charges 0.49%, so BALQ is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Income ETFs

BALQ vs HEMI: Dividend Yield & Total Return

BALQ and HEMI both write options for income.

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Net assets: $43m on Nov 3, 2026 for iShares Nasdaq Premium Income Active ETF, and $35m on Jul 31, 2026 for Hartford Equity Premium Income ETF.

BALQ on its own →HEMI on its own →

At a glance

10.0%

BALQ cash paid, since launch, Dec 3, 2025

7.6%

HEMI cash paid, since launch, Dec 17, 2025

+15.6%

BALQ total return, since launch, Dec 3, 2025

+12.6%

HEMI total return, since launch, Dec 17, 2025

BALQ · since launch to Nov 4, 2026 4.1 pts ahead of QQQ

BALQ

+15.6%

QQQ

+11.5%

4.1 pts ahead of QQQ

BALQ since launch: paid 10.0%, price +5.1%, total +15.6%, QQQ +11.5%, +4.1 pts. Data to Nov 4, 2026.

QQQ

+11.5%

BALQ

+15.6%

10.0% of it arrived as cash

4.1 pts ahead of QQQ

Total return, distributions reinvested

4.1 pts ahead of QQQ

BALQ since launch: paid 10.0%, price +5.1%, total +15.6%, QQQ +11.5%, +4.1 pts. Data to Nov 4, 2026.

QQQ

+11.5%

BALQ

+15.6%

10.0% cash

4.1 pts ahead of QQQ

10.0% of it arrived as cash. Total return, distributions reinvested. BALQ since launch: paid 10.0%, price +5.1%, total +15.6%, QQQ +11.5%, +4.1 pts. Data to Nov 4, 2026.

Data to Nov 4, 2026.

HEMI · since launch to Nov 4, 2026 Not measured

HEMI

+12.6%

none

Not measured

HEMI since launch: paid 7.6%, price +4.6%, total +12.6%, not measured against a benchmark. Data to Nov 4, 2026.

HEMI

+12.6%

7.6% of it arrived as cash

Total return, distributions reinvested

Not measured

HEMI since launch: paid 7.6%, price +4.6%, total +12.6%, not measured against a benchmark. Data to Nov 4, 2026.

HEMI

+12.6%

7.6% of it arrived as cash. Both charts share one scale, 0 to +15.6%. HEMI since launch: paid 7.6%, price +4.6%, total +12.6%, not measured against a benchmark. Data to Nov 4, 2026.

Both charts share one scale, 0 to +15.6%. Data to Nov 4, 2026.

Pair scorecard

BALQ costs 0.14 points a year less.

Points (pts) are percentage points.

BALQ vs HEMI: Dividend Yield & Total Return
Measure	BALQ	HEMI
Paid and earned
Measure	BALQ	HEMI
Price change	rose 5.1% (since Dec 3, 2025)	fell 0.4% (6 months)
Return of capital, issuer estimate	97% of the Nov 5, 2026 payment	99% of the Oct 29, 2026 payment
Against its benchmark
Measure	BALQ	HEMI
Benchmark	Nasdaq-100, measured through QQQ	its own stocks
Cost and size
Measure	BALQ	HEMI
Expense ratio	0.35%	0.49%
Net assets, BALQ as of Nov 3, 2026 and HEMI as of Jul 31, 2026	$43m	$35m
Holdings
Measure	BALQ	HEMI
Holdings in common	43%

Method

What they share

43%

By the books each fund has filed, BALQ and HEMI hold 43% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Nov 3, 2026.

50%

0 half 100%

half

43% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first BALQ HEMI

NVIDIA 8.33% 8.49%

APPLE 7.82% 6.41%

MICROSOFT 7.46% 6.05%

AMAZON.COM INC 5.04% 5.06%

BROADCOM INC 2.99% 3.60%

ALPHABET CLASS A 2.75% 6.62%

META PLATFORMS CLASS A 3.09% 2.33%

ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES 4.10% 2.26%

MICRON TECHNOLOGY 4.74% 1.86%

WALMART 2.97% 1.33%

GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP 0.82% 1.10%

MERCK & CO INC 0.57% 1.32%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in BALQ

COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP 3.46%

ALPHABET CLASS C 2.44%

SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES COR 2.10%

APPLIED MATERIAL INC 1.71%

INTEL CORPORATION 1.71%

LAM RESEARCH 1.64%

QUALCOMM 1.18%

VALERO ENERGY CORP 0.79%

Only in HEMI

JPMorgan Chase & Co 2.34%

Eli Lilly & Co 2.32%

Mastercard Inc 1.84%

Sherwin-Williams Co 1.47%

General Electric Co 1.41%

KLA Corp 1.40%

Wells Fargo & Co 1.32%

Texas Instruments Inc 1.31%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

BALQ iShares Nasdaq Premium Income Active ETF · Covered call on QQQ, paying monthly HEMI Hartford Equity Premium Income ETF · Covered call on its own stocks, paying monthly

Issuer iShares Hartford

Strategy covered call covered call

Benchmark Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) HEMI's own stocks, without the options (from its filed holdings, rebalanced at each filing; latest Jul 31, 2026)

Pays monthly monthly

Payout rate, annualized 8.5% 8.6%

Expense ratio 0.35% 0.49%

Cash paid, 1 year 10.0% (since launch, Dec 3, 2025) 7.6% (since launch, Dec 17, 2025)

Price change, 1 year +5.1% (since launch, Dec 3, 2025) +4.6% (since launch, Dec 17, 2025)

Total return, 1 year +15.6% (since launch, Dec 3, 2025) +12.6% (since launch, Dec 17, 2025)

Benchmark return, 1 year +11.5% (since launch, Dec 3, 2025) not published

Ahead or behind +4.1 pts (since launch, Dec 3, 2025) not available

Return of capital, latest estimate 97% 99%

Age 336 days 322 days

Net assets, BALQ as of Nov 3, 2026 and HEMI as of Jul 31, 2026 $43m $35m

As of Nov 4, 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

Window by window: BALQ vs HEMI: Dividend Yield & Total Return
	Total return		Cash paid		Against the benchmark
Window	BALQ	HEMI	BALQ	HEMI	BALQ	HEMI
3 months	−3.8%	+0.3%	2.1%	2.2%	−0.3 pts	0.0 pts
6 months	+1.3%	+4.0%	5.2%	4.4%	+1.7 pts	−0.4 pts
Since launchNot the same days: BALQ Dec 2025 · HEMI Dec 2025	+15.6%	+12.6%	10.0%	7.6%	+4.1 pts	not measured

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Alert

About each fund

BALQ

Over the period from its first trade on Dec 3, 2025 to Nov 4, 2026, BALQ paid 10.0% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 5.1%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +15.6%. Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) returned +11.5% over the same days, so a holder was ahead by 4.1 pts. At its price on Nov 4, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 8.5%, paid monthly. iShares estimates that 97% of the distribution paid Nov 5, 2026 was a return of capital (its 19a-1 notice). That is a tax label, not a measure of erosion.

HEMI

HEMI's own stocks, without the options (from its filed holdings, rebalanced at each filing; latest Jul 31, 2026) returned +4.4% over the same days, so a holder was about even.

Over the 6 months to Nov 4, 2026, HEMI paid 4.4% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 0.4%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +4.0%. At its price on Nov 4, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 8.6%, paid monthly. Hartford estimates that 99% of the distribution paid Oct 29, 2026 was a return of capital (its 19a-1 notice).

Questions people ask

Which is cheaper, BALQ or HEMI?: BALQ charges 0.35% a year and HEMI charges 0.49%, so BALQ is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Other comparisons

BALQ vs GRNI BALQ vs RNTY BALQ vs CVRD BALQ vs JUDO HEMI vs IQQQ HEMI vs XQQI HEMI vs ROCQ HEMI vs KIQQ

Where to next

Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) →All income ETFs ranked by the Distribution Coverage Score →How the scores are computed →BALQ on its own →HEMI on its own →BALQ dividend history →BALQ holdings →HEMI dividend history →HEMI holdings →Method →Standards and sources →

Sources and dates

BALQ filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

BALQ prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

BALQ 19a-1 distribution notice ↗

iShares page for BALQ ↗

HEMI filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

HEMI prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

HEMI 19a-1 distribution notice ↗

Hartford website ↗

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.

Every number is an ETFIQ calculation with distributions reinvested.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, BALQ against HEMI, data as of Nov 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/income/balq-vs-hemi

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Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.