Data as of .
FTHI vs IQQQ: which paid, and which earned it?
Over the year FTHI paid 8.9% of its price in cash against IQQQ’s 6.5%, though IQQQ returned more with it reinvested.
ETFIQ Return Stability Score: IQQQ scores higher
Was the payout funded by returns, or by your own capital?
A percentile among the 173 income ETFs writing on an index or proxy. It is a position in a set, not a rating, and neither end of it is a recommendation. All income ETFs ranked by it · How it is computed
What they hold in common
By the books each fund has filed, FTHI and IQQQ hold 38% of their money in the same securities at the same weight.
| Holding | FTHI | IQQQ |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA Corporation | 6.90% | 7.54% |
| Apple Inc. | 7.75% | 6.74% |
| Microsoft Corporation | 2.94% | 4.92% |
| Amazon.com, Inc. | 2.53% | 4.27% |
| Alphabet Inc. (Class A) | 2.41% | 3.25% |
| Broadcom Inc. | 2.01% | 3.11% |
| Alphabet Inc. (Class C) | 1.74% | 3.01% |
| Costco Wholesale Corporation | 1.74% | 1.72% |
| Meta Platforms, Inc. (Class A) | 1.31% | 2.74% |
| Cisco Systems, Inc. | 1.26% | 1.93% |
| Micron Technology, Inc. | 1.10% | 4.44% |
| Tesla, Inc. | 0.97% | 3.20% |
| Only in FTHI | Only in IQQQ |
|---|---|
| US Dollar 5.90% | ProShares GENIUS Money Market ETF 7.60% |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co. 2.67% | Lam Research Corp. 1.61% |
| Dell Technologies Inc. (Class C) 2.52% | Texas Instruments, Inc. 1.13% |
| Bank of America Corporation 2.22% | QUALCOMM, Inc. 1.09% |
| ASML Holding N.V. (New York Registry Shares) 2.17% | Palo Alto Networks, Inc. 0.93% |
| Johnson & Johnson 1.11% | T-Mobile US, Inc. 0.84% |
| ExxonMobil Holdings Corp. 1.09% | Analog Devices, Inc. 0.82% |
| AbbVie Inc. 1.04% | PepsiCo, Inc. 0.80% |
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 May 31, 2026 and Sep 18, 2026.
Performance, window by window
| Window | Total return | Cash paid | Against the benchmark | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FTHI | IQQQ | FTHI | IQQQ | FTHI | IQQQ | |
| 3 months | +1.7% | −3.1% | 2.2% | 1.8% | −0.6 pts | −0.6 pts |
| 6 months | +9.8% | +19.1% | 4.6% | 4.2% | −8.2 pts | −5.1 pts |
| 1 year | +9.7% | +17.7% | 8.9% | 6.5% | −6.9 pts | −4.1 pts |
| 3 years | +47.9% | not published | 28.9% | not published | −30.5 pts | not published |
| Since launch | +156.3% | +51.5% | 82.6% | 24.4% | −257.8 pts | −13.0 pts |
| FTHI First Trust BuyWrite Income ETF Covered call on SPY, paying monthly | IQQQ ProShares Nasdaq-100 High Income ETF Option income on QQQ, paying monthly | |
|---|---|---|
| Issuer | First Trust | ProShares |
| Strategy | covered call | option income |
| Benchmark | S&P 500 (SPY), used as a default proxy | Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) |
| Pays | monthly | monthly |
| Payout rate, annualized | 9.0% | 5.7% |
| Expense ratio | 0.75% | 0.97% |
| Cash paid, 1 year | 8.9% | 6.5% |
| Price change, 1 year | +0.3% | +10.8% |
| Total return, 1 year | +9.7% | +17.7% |
| Benchmark return, 1 year | +16.6% | +21.8% |
| Ahead or behind | −6.9 pts | −4.1 pts |
| Return of capital, latest estimate | not published | not published |
| Age | 4637 days | 912 days |
| Net assets | $2.5bn | $405m |
FTHI in plain words
Over the year to Sep 18, 2026, FTHI paid 8.9% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 0.3%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +9.7%. S&P 500 (SPY), used as a default proxy returned +16.6% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 6.9 pts. At its price on Sep 18, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 9.0%, paid monthly.
IQQQ in plain words
Over the year to Sep 18, 2026, IQQQ paid 6.5% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 10.8%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +17.7%. Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) returned +21.8% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 4.1 pts. At its price on Sep 18, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 5.7%, paid monthly.
Questions people ask
- Which paid more, FTHI or IQQQ?
- Over the year to Sep 18, 2026, FTHI paid 8.9% of its starting price in cash and IQQQ paid 6.5%, so FTHI paid more. Cash paid is not the same as money made: the price change matters too.
- Which returned more once distributions are counted, FTHI or IQQQ?
- With every distribution reinvested, FTHI returned +9.7% and IQQQ returned +17.7% over the year to Sep 18, 2026, so IQQQ returned more.
- Which is cheaper, FTHI or IQQQ?
- FTHI charges 0.75% a year and IQQQ charges 0.97%, so FTHI 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, FTHI against IQQQ, data as of Sep 18, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/income/fthi-vs-iqqq Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.