QLD vs TQQQ: which held to its multiple?
Over three months against its own daily promise, QLD finished 1.4 points short and TQQQ 2.7 points short. ProShares Ultra QQQ and ProShares UltraPro QQQ.
QLD returned +1.9% while 2 times QQQ's move would have been +4.2%
TQQQ returned +0.9% while 3 times QQQ's move would have been +6.4%
A percentile among the 470 leveraged ETFs, long, over three months. It is a position in a set, not a rating, and neither end of it is a recommendation. All leveraged ETFs ranked by it → How it is computed →
Performance, window by window
| Total return | Multiple would give | Difference | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Window | QLD | TQQQ | QLD | TQQQ | QLD | TQQQ |
| 1 month | +6.0% | +8.7% | +6.6% | +9.9% | −0.6 pts | −1.2 pts |
| 3 months | +1.9% | +0.9% | +4.2% | +6.4% | −2.4 pts | −5.4 pts |
| 6 months | +53.2% | +81.3% | +53.7% | +80.6% | −0.5 pts | +0.7 pts |
| 1 year | +39.6% | +52.1% | +47.6% | +71.4% | −7.9 pts | −19.3 pts |
| 3 years | +224.6% | +352.7% | not meaningful | not meaningful | not meaningful | not meaningful |
| Since launch QLD Jan 2010 · TQQQ Feb 2010 | +10175.7% | +37961.2% | not meaningful | not meaningful | not meaningful | not meaningful |
QLD and TQQQ over each window. Every figure is an ETFIQ calculation with distributions reinvested. Source: ETFIQ. Open the live comparison on ETFIQ →
On the same fields
QLD and TQQQ on the same fields, as of Sep 30, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
QLD in plain words
Three months to Sep 30, 2026: QLD returned +1.9% where its own daily promise gave +3.3%, 1.4 points short. Read the multiple against the whole window instead and 2 times QQQ's 2.1% implies +4.2%, which makes QLD look 2.4 points short. 0.9 of that is daily compounding, which happens to any 2 times fund over the same path, and the rest is the fund. QLD aims to return +2 times QQQ's move each day, then resets. Over one day it does that. Over longer, the daily results compound, so the total is not +2 times the period's move: in a market that falls and comes back it is reliably less, and in a steady run it can be more. QQQ moved at 19% annualized over that window. That is what decides how far the two figures separate: the same fund on a calm underlying and a violent one is a different product.
TQQQ in plain words
Three months to Sep 30, 2026: TQQQ returned +0.9% where its own daily promise gave +3.6%, 2.7 points short. Read the multiple against the whole window instead and 3 times QQQ's 2.1% implies +6.4%, which makes TQQQ look 5.4 points short. 2.8 of that is daily compounding, which happens to any 3 times fund over the same path, and the rest is the fund. TQQQ aims to return +3 times QQQ's move each day, then resets. Over longer, the daily results compound, so the total is not +3 times the period's move: in a market that falls and comes back it is reliably less, and in a steady run it can be more.
Questions people ask
- Which came closer to its stated multiple, QLD or TQQQ?
- Over the window to Sep 30, 2026, QLD finished 2.4 points from what its multiple implies and TQQQ finished 5.4 points from its own, so QLD came closer. Neither figure predicts the next window: it depends on how much the underlying moves about.
- Are QLD and TQQQ levered on the same thing?
- Yes. Both are levered on the Nasdaq-100, QLD at +2 times and TQQQ at +3 times the daily move.
- Which one decays faster, QLD or TQQQ?
- Decay follows how much the underlying moves about. Over this window QLD’s moved at 19% annualized and TQQQ’s at 19%, so QLD has the rougher ride and, at the same multiple, loses more to compounding.
- Can I hold QLD or TQQQ for a year?
- Both reset every day, so the multiple in the name applies to a single day and the daily results compound. Over a year the total is not the multiple times the year’s move, and in a market that falls and comes back it is reliably less. ETFIQ makes no recommendation either way.
ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure. It is not affiliated with any issuer, and a link is not an endorsement. A comparison is not a recommendation.
ETFIQ, QLD against TQQQ, data as of Sep 30, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/leverage/qld-vs-tqqq
Free to use with attribution. Every figure is calculated from a named public source; the method is at etfiq.com/methodology.
Cite this page. ETFIQ, QLD against TQQQ, data as of Sep 30, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/leverage/qld-vs-tqqq Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.
Other forms
- Plain
- ETFIQ, QLD against TQQQ, data as of Sep 30, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/leverage/qld-vs-tqqq
- APA
- ETFIQ. (Sep 30, 2026). QLD against TQQQ. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/leverage/qld-vs-tqqq
- Markdown
- [QLD against TQQQ (ETFIQ, Sep 30, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/leverage/qld-vs-tqqq)