Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
QYLD vs SPYI: Dividend Yield & Total Return
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QYLD paid 12.3% of its price in cash against SPYI’s 11.9%, and returned more with it reinvested.
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Net assets: $8.5bn on Oct 12, 2026 for Global X NASDAQ 100 Covered Call ETF, and $12.7bn on Oct 27, 2026 for NEOS S&P 500 High Income ETF.
4.1 pts ahead of QQQ
QYLD over 1 year: paid 12.3%, price +5.8%, total +19.3%, QQQ +15.2%, +4.1 pts. Data to Oct 28, 2026.
QQQ
+15.2%
QYLD
+19.3%
12.3% of it arrived as cash
4.1 pts ahead of QQQ
Total return, distributions reinvested
4.1 pts ahead of QQQ
QYLD over 1 year: paid 12.3%, price +5.8%, total +19.3%, QQQ +15.2%, +4.1 pts. Data to Oct 28, 2026.
QQQ
+15.2%
QYLD
+19.3%
12.3% cash
4.1 pts ahead of QQQ
12.3% of it arrived as cash. Total return, distributions reinvested. QYLD over 1 year: paid 12.3%, price +5.8%, total +19.3%, QQQ +15.2%, +4.1 pts. Data to Oct 28, 2026.
Data to Oct 28, 2026.About even with SPY
SPYI over 1 year: paid 11.9%, price +0.8%, total +13.6%, SPY +13.6%, 0.0 pts. Data to Oct 28, 2026.
SPY
+13.6%
SPYI
+13.6%
11.9% of it arrived as cash
about even with SPY
Total return, distributions reinvested
About even with SPY
SPYI over 1 year: paid 11.9%, price +0.8%, total +13.6%, SPY +13.6%, 0.0 pts. Data to Oct 28, 2026.
SPY
+13.6%
SPYI
+13.6%
11.9% cash
about even with SPY
11.9% of it arrived as cash. Both charts share one scale, 0 to +19.3%. SPYI over 1 year: paid 11.9%, price +0.8%, total +13.6%, SPY +13.6%, 0.0 pts. Data to Oct 28, 2026.
Both charts share one scale, 0 to +19.3%. Data to Oct 28, 2026.Pair scorecard
QYLD costs 0.08 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 5.7 points; SPYI is 1.5 times larger.
Points (pts) are percentage points.
| Measure | QYLD | SPYI |
|---|---|---|
| Paid and earned | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +19.3% | +13.6% |
| Price change, 1 year | rose 5.8% | rose 0.8% |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 99% of the Sep 24, 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 | 0.60% | 0.68% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 12, 2026 | $8.5bn | $12.6bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 54% | |
How much of its payouts the fund's total return covered, ranked against 164 income ETFs not writing on a single company. 100 is best. How it is computed
A percentile among the 164 income ETFs not writing on a single company. 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 →
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Sep 9, 2022 to Oct 23, 2026 · 215 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: QYLD against QQQ, Dec 20, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026; SPYI against SPY, Sep 9, 2022 to Oct 23, 2026.
SPYI returned slightly more: +74.4% to +71.3%. QYLD and SPYI swung about the same: 12.0% and 11.8%. SPYI fell less at its worst: −14.8% to −17.5%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | QYLD | SPYI | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +71.3% | +74.4% | SPYI (slight) | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +13.9% | +14.4% | SPYI (slight) | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +3.3% | +5.4% | SPYI | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 12.0% | 11.8% | Tie | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 8.4% | 8.1% | SPYI (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −17.5% | −14.8% | SPYI | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 37.8% | 68.0% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 64.8% | 80.6% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.55 | 0.78 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.77 | 0.96 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.77 | 0.81 | SPYI (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.10 | 1.19 | SPYI (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.129 | 0.123 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.79 | 0.97 | SPYI | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | QQQ | SPY | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −2.3% a year | −0.6% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −1.36 | −0.53 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −5.5% to +1.0% | −2.8% to +1.6% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.94 | −0.87 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 10.6% | 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, 215 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, QYLD and SPYI hold 54% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026.
half
54% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
As of Oct 28, 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 | QYLD | SPYI | QYLD | SPYI | QYLD | SPYI |
| 3 months | +10.4% | +6.4% | 3.1% | 3.1% | +0.6 pts | +0.3 pts |
| 6 months | +9.4% | +8.7% | 6.1% | 6.1% | −0.5 pts | −0.4 pts |
| 1 year | +19.3% | +13.6% | 12.3% | 11.9% | +4.1 pts | 0.0 pts |
| 3 years | +62.2% | +70.2% | 39.3% | 41.0% | −51.5 pts | −24.8 pts |
| Since launchNot the same days: QYLD Dec 2013 · SPYI Aug 2022 | +202.5% | +79.8% | 117.5% | 51.3% | −646.8 pts | −25.4 pts |
QYLD and SPYI are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?
- What each is measured against. QYLD is measured against Nasdaq-100 through QQQ and SPYI against S&P 500 through SPY.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 QYLD returned +19.3% and SPYI +13.6% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 5.7 points.
- Income paid (similar). QYLD paid 12.3% and SPYI 11.9% (cash paid over 1 year, as a share of its price at the start), a gap of 0.4 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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QYLD
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QYLD paid 12.3% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 5.8%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +19.3%. Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) returned +15.2% over the same days, so a holder was ahead by 4.1 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 11.9%, paid monthly. Global X estimates that 99% of the distribution paid Sep 24, 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 Oct 28, 2026, SPYI paid 11.9% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 0.8%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +13.6%. S&P 500 (SPY) returned +13.6% over the same days, so a holder was about even. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 11.4%, 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, QYLD against SPYI, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/income/qyld-vs-spyi
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). QYLD against SPYI. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/income/qyld-vs-spyi
[QYLD against SPYI (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/income/qyld-vs-spyi)
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