Data as of .
FTQI vs ISPY: which paid, and which earned it?
Over the year FTQI paid 12.0% of its price in cash against ISPY’s 5.6%, and returned more with it reinvested.
ETFIQ Return Stability Score: FTQI 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, FTQI and ISPY hold 41% of their money in the same securities at the same weight.
| Holding | FTQI | ISPY |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA Corporation | 6.55% | 7.07% |
| Apple Inc. | 8.76% | 6.31% |
| Amazon.com, Inc. | 4.13% | 3.64% |
| Alphabet Inc. (Class A) | 2.06% | 3.05% |
| Alphabet Inc. (Class C) | 2.05% | 2.42% |
| Broadcom Inc. | 1.92% | 2.92% |
| Meta Platforms, Inc. (Class A) | 2.75% | 1.91% |
| Tesla, Inc. | 2.68% | 1.69% |
| Micron Technology, Inc. | 2.38% | 1.50% |
| Microsoft Corporation | 1.41% | 4.60% |
| Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. | 5.41% | 1.16% |
| Intel Corporation | 1.14% | 0.74% |
| Only in FTQI | Only in ISPY |
|---|---|
| US Dollar 5.75% | ProShares GENIUS Money Market ETF 10.56% |
| Illumina, Inc. 0.76% | Eli Lilly & Co. 1.21% |
| Medpace Holdings, Inc. 0.76% | Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. 1.20% |
| Woodward, Inc. 0.75% | JPMorgan Chase & Co. 1.11% |
| Guardant Health, Inc. 0.64% | Exxon Mobil Corp. 0.84% |
| DocuSign, Inc. 0.58% | Visa, Inc. 0.76% |
| Texas Roadhouse, Inc. 0.58% | Walmart, Inc. 0.70% |
| InterDigital, Inc. 0.53% | Mastercard, Inc. 0.55% |
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 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FTQI | ISPY | FTQI | ISPY | FTQI | ISPY | |
| 3 months | +4.0% | +1.4% | 2.9% | 1.5% | +6.5 pts | −0.8 pts |
| 6 months | +18.3% | +14.7% | 6.3% | 3.6% | −5.9 pts | −3.3 pts |
| 1 year | +21.5% | +13.5% | 12.0% | 5.6% | −0.3 pts | −3.1 pts |
| 3 years | +62.9% | not published | 37.0% | not published | −35.3 pts | not published |
| Since launch | +141.7% | +53.4% | 78.8% | 25.8% | −675.0 pts | −14.5 pts |
| FTQI First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF Covered call on QQQ, paying monthly | ISPY ProShares S&P 500 High Income ETF Option income on SPY, paying monthly | |
|---|---|---|
| Issuer | First Trust | ProShares |
| Strategy | covered call | option income |
| Benchmark | Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) | S&P 500 (SPY) |
| Pays | monthly | monthly |
| Payout rate, annualized | 11.9% | 5.8% |
| Expense ratio | 0.75% | 0.56% |
| Cash paid, 1 year | 12.0% | 5.6% |
| Price change, 1 year | +8.0% | +7.6% |
| Total return, 1 year | +21.5% | +13.5% |
| Benchmark return, 1 year | +21.8% | +16.6% |
| Ahead or behind | −0.3 pts | −3.1 pts |
| Return of capital, latest estimate | not published | not published |
| Age | 4637 days | 1003 days |
| Net assets | $975m | $1.2bn |
FTQI in plain words
Over the year to Sep 18, 2026, FTQI paid 12.0% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 8.0%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +21.5%. Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) returned +21.8% over the same days, so a holder was about even. At its price on Sep 18, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 11.9%, paid monthly.
ISPY in plain words
Over the year to Sep 18, 2026, ISPY paid 5.6% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 7.6%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +13.5%. S&P 500 (SPY) returned +16.6% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 3.1 pts. At its price on Sep 18, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 5.8%, paid monthly.
Questions people ask
- Which paid more, FTQI or ISPY?
- Over the year to Sep 18, 2026, FTQI paid 12.0% of its starting price in cash and ISPY paid 5.6%, so FTQI paid more. Cash paid is not the same as money made: the price change matters too.
- Which returned more once distributions are counted, FTQI or ISPY?
- With every distribution reinvested, FTQI returned +21.5% and ISPY returned +13.5% over the year to Sep 18, 2026, so FTQI returned more.
- Which is cheaper, FTQI or ISPY?
- FTQI charges 0.75% a year and ISPY charges 0.56%, so ISPY 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, FTQI against ISPY, data as of Sep 18, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/income/ftqi-vs-ispy Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.