Data as of Nov 4, 2026.
QQQY vs SPYI: Dividend Yield & Total Return
Over the year to Nov 4, 2026, QQQY paid 29.9% of its price in cash against SPYI’s 12.1% and the two finished level on total return.
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Net assets: $178m on Nov 3, 2026 for Defiance Nasdaq 100 Weekly Distribution ETF, and $12.7bn on Oct 28, 2026 for NEOS S&P 500 High Income ETF.
1.3 pts ahead of QQQ
QQQY over 1 year: paid 29.9%, price −17.8%, total +13.6%, QQQ +12.3%, +1.3 pts. Data to Nov 4, 2026.
QQQ
+12.3%
QQQY
+13.6%
29.9% of it arrived as cash
1.3 pts ahead of QQQ
Total return, distributions reinvested
1.3 pts ahead of QQQ
QQQY over 1 year: paid 29.9%, price −17.8%, total +13.6%, QQQ +12.3%, +1.3 pts. Data to Nov 4, 2026.
QQQ
+12.3%
QQQY
+13.6%
29.9% as cash
1.3 pts ahead of QQQ
29.9% of it arrived as cash. Total return, distributions reinvested. QQQY over 1 year: paid 29.9%, price −17.8%, total +13.6%, QQQ +12.3%, +1.3 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, with zero at the line. SPYI over 1 year: paid 12.1%, price +1.1%, total +14.0%, SPY +14.8%, −0.8 pts. Data to Nov 4, 2026.
Data to Nov 4, 2026.Pair scorecard
SPYI costs 0.33 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.4 points; SPYI is far larger, $12.7bn against $188m.
Points (pts) are percentage points.
| Measure | QQQY | SPYI |
|---|---|---|
| Paid and earned | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +13.6% | +14.0% |
| Price change, 1 year | fell 17.8% | rose 1.1% |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 81% 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 | 1.01% | 0.68% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 28, 2026 | $188m | $12.7bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 0% | |
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 22, 2023 to Oct 30, 2026 · 162 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: QQQY against QQQ, Sep 22, 2023 to Oct 30, 2026; SPYI against SPY, Sep 9, 2022 to Oct 30, 2026.
From Sep 2023 to Oct 2026, SPYI returned more: +60.9% to +54.5%. SPYI swung less: 11.4% to 14.9%. SPYI fell less at its worst: −14.8% to −18.3%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | QQQY | SPYI | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +54.5% | +60.9% | SPYI | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +15.0% | +16.5% | SPYI (slight) | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −65.0% | +10.9% | SPYI | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 14.9% | 11.4% | SPYI | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 10.5% | 7.6% | SPYI | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −18.3% | −14.8% | SPYI | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 61.4% | 68.0% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 85.5% | 80.5% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.71 | 0.78 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.88 | 0.96 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.71 | 1.00 | SPYI | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.01 | 1.50 | SPYI | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.148 | 0.121 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.82 | 1.12 | SPYI | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | QQQ | SPY | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −3.0% a year | −0.6% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −1.01 | −0.52 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −9.0% to +2.9% | −2.8% to +1.6% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −1.11 | −0.86 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 7.6% | 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, 162 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, QQQY and SPYI hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Nov 3, 2026 and Nov 4, 2026.
half
0% 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 | QQQY | SPYI | QQQY | SPYI | QQQY | SPYI |
| 3 months | −3.5% | +1.1% | 7.3% | 2.9% | −0.1 pts | +1.3 pts |
| 6 months | +0.4% | +5.8% | 15.4% | 6.0% | +0.7 pts | +0.7 pts |
| 1 year | +13.6% | +14.0% | 29.9% | 12.1% | +1.3 pts | −0.8 pts |
| 3 years | +51.9% | +62.0% | 88.2% | 39.3% | −39.4 pts | −20.9 pts |
| Since launchNot the same days: QQQY Sep 2023 · SPYI Aug 2022 | +49.8% | +78.5% | 88.1% | 51.3% | −37.0 pts | −25.2 pts |
Client brief:
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QQQY
Over the year to Nov 4, 2026, QQQY paid 29.9% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 17.8%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +13.6%. Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) returned +12.3% over the same days, so a holder was ahead by 1.3 pts. At its price on Nov 4, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 31.5%, paid weekly. Defiance estimates that 81% 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, QQQY against SPYI, data as of Nov 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/income/qqqy-vs-spyi
ETFIQ. (Nov 4, 2026). QQQY against SPYI. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/income/qqqy-vs-spyi
[QQQY against SPYI (ETFIQ, Nov 4, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/income/qqqy-vs-spyi)
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