Data as of Nov 4, 2026.
FTQI vs SPYI: Dividend Yield & Total Return
Over the year to Nov 4, 2026, SPYI paid 12.1% of its price in cash against FTQI’s 12.1%, though FTQI returned more with it reinvested.
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Net assets: $997m on Nov 3, 2026 for First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF, and $12.7bn on Oct 28, 2026 for NEOS S&P 500 High Income ETF.
4.2 pts ahead of QQQ
FTQI over 1 year: paid 12.1%, price +3.5%, total +16.5%, QQQ +12.3%, +4.2 pts. Data to Nov 4, 2026.
QQQ
+12.3%
FTQI
+16.5%
12.1% of it arrived as cash
4.2 pts ahead of QQQ
Total return, distributions reinvested
4.2 pts ahead of QQQ
FTQI over 1 year: paid 12.1%, price +3.5%, total +16.5%, QQQ +12.3%, +4.2 pts. Data to Nov 4, 2026.
QQQ
+12.3%
FTQI
+16.5%
12.1% as cash
4.2 pts ahead of QQQ
12.1% of it arrived as cash. Total return, distributions reinvested. FTQI over 1 year: paid 12.1%, price +3.5%, total +16.5%, QQQ +12.3%, +4.2 pts. Data to Nov 4, 2026.
Data to Nov 4, 2026.0.8 pts behind SPY
SPYI over 1 year: paid 12.1%, price +1.1%, total +14.0%, SPY +14.8%, −0.8 pts. Data to Nov 4, 2026.
SPY
+14.8%
SPYI
+14.0%
12.1% of it arrived as cash
0.8 pts behind SPY
Total return, distributions reinvested
0.8 pts behind SPY
SPYI over 1 year: paid 12.1%, price +1.1%, total +14.0%, SPY +14.8%, −0.8 pts. Data to Nov 4, 2026.
SPY
+14.8%
SPYI
+14.0%
12.1% as cash
0.8 pts behind SPY
12.1% of it arrived as cash. Both charts share one scale, 0 to +16.5%. SPYI over 1 year: paid 12.1%, price +1.1%, total +14.0%, SPY +14.8%, −0.8 pts. Data to Nov 4, 2026.
Both charts share one scale, 0 to +16.5%. Data to Nov 4, 2026.Pair scorecard
SPYI costs 0.07 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 2.5 points; SPYI is 12.7 times larger.
Points (pts) are percentage points.
| Measure | FTQI | SPYI |
|---|---|---|
| Paid and earned | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +16.5% | +14.0% |
| Price change, 1 year | rose 3.5% | rose 1.1% |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 99% of the Oct 30, 2026 payment | 99% of the Oct 23, 2026 payment |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| Benchmark | Nasdaq-100, measured through QQQ | S&P 500, measured through SPY |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.75% | 0.68% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 28, 2026 | $1.0bn | $12.7bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 42% | |
How much of its payouts the fund's total return covered, ranked against 167 income ETFs not writing on a single company. 100 is best. How it is computed
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 →
Risk and return
Sep 9, 2022 to Oct 30, 2026 · 216 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: FTQI against QQQ, Jan 17, 2014 to Oct 30, 2026; SPYI against SPY, Sep 9, 2022 to Oct 30, 2026.
From Sep 2022 to Oct 2026, FTQI and SPYI returned about the same: +73.4% and +73.6%. SPYI swung slightly less: 11.8% to 12.2%. SPYI fell less at its worst: −14.8% to −18.1%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | FTQI | SPYI | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +73.4% | +73.6% | Tie | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +14.2% | +14.2% | Tie | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +5.8% | +5.0% | FTQI | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 12.2% | 11.8% | SPYI (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 8.5% | 8.1% | SPYI (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −18.1% | −14.8% | SPYI | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 31.2% | 68.0% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 58.3% | 80.5% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.45 | 0.78 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.55 | 0.96 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.77 | 0.80 | SPYI (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.12 | 1.17 | SPYI (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.123 | 0.121 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.78 | 0.96 | SPYI | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | QQQ | SPY | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −2.0% a year | −0.6% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.90 | −0.52 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −6.4% to +2.4% | −2.8% to +1.6% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.84 | −0.86 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 13.4% | 4.0% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 216 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, FTQI and SPYI hold 42% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Nov 3, 2026.
half
42% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
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
| Total return | Cash paid | Against the benchmark | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Window | FTQI | SPYI | FTQI | SPYI | FTQI | SPYI |
| 3 months | +0.4% | +1.1% | 3.0% | 2.9% | +3.8 pts | +1.3 pts |
| 6 months | +6.6% | +5.8% | 6.0% | 6.0% | +6.9 pts | +0.7 pts |
| 1 year | +16.5% | +14.0% | 12.1% | 12.1% | +4.3 pts | −0.8 pts |
| 3 years | +60.8% | +62.0% | 38.1% | 39.3% | −30.5 pts | −20.9 pts |
| Since launchNot the same days: FTQI Jan 2014 · SPYI Aug 2022 | +138.8% | +78.5% | 81.1% | 51.3% | −641.3 pts | −25.2 pts |
Client brief:
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FTQI
Over the year to Nov 4, 2026, FTQI paid 12.1% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 3.5%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +16.5%. Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) returned +12.3% over the same days, so a holder was ahead by 4.2 pts. At its price on Nov 4, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 12.3%, paid monthly. First Trust estimates that 99% of the distribution paid Oct 30, 2026 was a return of capital (its 19a-1 notice). That is a tax label, not a measure of erosion.
SPYI
Over the year to Nov 4, 2026, SPYI paid 12.1% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 1.1%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +14.0%. S&P 500 (SPY) returned +14.8% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 0.8 pts. At its price on Nov 4, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 11.5%, paid monthly. NEOS estimates that 99% of the distribution paid Oct 23, 2026 was a return of capital (its 19a-1 notice).
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.
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ETFIQ, FTQI against SPYI, data as of Nov 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/income/ftqi-vs-spyi
ETFIQ. (Nov 4, 2026). FTQI against SPYI. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/income/ftqi-vs-spyi
[FTQI against SPYI (ETFIQ, Nov 4, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/income/ftqi-vs-spyi)
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