Data as of .
BALQ vs PAPI: which paid, and which earned it?
BALQ and PAPI both write options for income.
What they hold in common
By the books each fund has filed, BALQ and PAPI hold 3% of their money in the same securities at the same weight.
| Holding | BALQ | PAPI |
|---|---|---|
| CISCO SYSTEMS INC | 2.15% | 0.77% |
| COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP | 2.61% | 0.49% |
| VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC | 0.52% | 0.48% |
| ABBOTT LABORATORIES | 0.33% | 0.52% |
| MERCK & CO INC | 0.29% | 0.59% |
| TEXAS ROADHOUSE INC | 0.29% | 0.51% |
| AVNET INC | 0.25% | 0.71% |
| OMNICOM GROUP INC | 0.25% | 0.48% |
| ALTRIA GROUP INC | 0.22% | 0.55% |
| Only in BALQ | Only in PAPI |
|---|---|
| NVIDIA 8.62% | Corning, Inc. 1.01% |
| APPLE 7.63% | TD SYNNEX Corp. 0.81% |
| MICROSOFT 6.72% | Power Integrations, Inc. 0.73% |
| MICRON TECHNOLOGY 5.06% | Royalty Pharma plc 0.73% |
| AMAZON.COM INC 4.76% | Millicom International Cellular SA 0.72% |
| ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES 4.31% | Texas Instruments, Inc. 0.71% |
| ALPHABET CLASS A 3.44% | Cummins, Inc. 0.70% |
| META PLATFORMS CLASS A 3.31% | Reynolds Consumer Products, Inc. 0.68% |
Weight overlap is an ETFIQ calculation: for every security both funds hold, the smaller of the two weights, summed. Above 50%, holding both is close to holding one of them twice. Holdings dated Jun 30, 2026 and Sep 18, 2026.
Performance, window by window
| Window | Total return | Cash paid | Against the benchmark | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BALQ | PAPI | BALQ | PAPI | BALQ | PAPI | |
| 3 months | −0.5% | +4.7% | 2.8% | 2.0% | +1.9 pts | +2.5 pts |
| 6 months | +27.2% | +5.6% | 6.5% | 4.0% | +3.0 pts | −12.4 pts |
| 1 year | not published | +12.8% | not published | 7.9% | not published | −3.8 pts |
| Since launch | +21.4% | +35.6% | 8.5% | 22.5% | +5.3 pts | −49.6 pts |
| BALQ iShares Nasdaq Premium Income Active ETF Covered call on QQQ, paying monthly | PAPI Parametric Equity Premium Income ETF Covered call on SPY, paying monthly | |
|---|---|---|
| Issuer | iShares | Parametric |
| Strategy | covered call | covered call |
| Benchmark | Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) | S&P 500 (SPY) |
| Pays | monthly | monthly |
| Payout rate, annualized | 8.9% | 7.2% |
| Expense ratio | 0.35% | 0.29% |
| Cash paid, 1 year | 8.5% (since launch on Dec 3, 2025) | 7.9% |
| Price change, 1 year | +11.9% | +4.5% |
| Total return, 1 year | +21.4% (since launch on Dec 3, 2025) | +12.8% |
| Benchmark return, 1 year | +16.1% | +16.6% |
| Ahead or behind | +5.3 pts | −3.8 pts |
| Return of capital, latest estimate | not published | not published |
| Age | 289 days | 1065 days |
| Net assets | $29m | $400m |
BALQ in plain words
Over the period since launch on Dec 3, 2025 to Sep 18, 2026, BALQ paid 8.5% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 11.9%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +21.4%. Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) returned +16.1% over the same days, so a holder was ahead by 5.3 pts. At its price on Sep 18, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 8.9%, paid monthly.
PAPI in plain words
Over the year to Sep 18, 2026, PAPI paid 7.9% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 4.5%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +12.8%. S&P 500 (SPY) returned +16.6% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 3.8 pts. At its price on Sep 18, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 7.2%, paid monthly.
Questions people ask
- Which is cheaper, BALQ or PAPI?
- BALQ charges 0.35% a year and PAPI charges 0.29%, so PAPI is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Other comparisons
Where these figures came from
ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure. It is not affiliated with any issuer, and a link is not an endorsement.
Cite this page. ETFIQ, BALQ against PAPI, data as of Sep 18, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/income/balq-vs-papi Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.