QLDY · Defiance Nasdaq 100 LightningSpread(TM) Income ETF
Over the past year QLDY paid 28.3% in cash and still finished 10.5 points behind QQQ.
What a holder got
Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, QLDY returned +10.8% with distributions reinvested and Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) returned +21.4%, so a holder came out behind it by 10.5 points. The lighter segment is the 28.3% that arrived as cash rather than as price.
Period by period
| Window | Cash paid | Price | Total return | QQQ | Ahead or behind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 months | 8.4% | −10.8% | −2.5% | +2.1% | −4.6 pts |
| 6 months | 17.7% | −3.0% | +15.3% | +20.2% | −4.9 pts |
| Since launch | 28.3% | −19.2% | +10.8% | +21.4% | −10.5 pts |
In plain words
With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +10.8%. Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) returned +21.4% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 10.5 pts. At its price on Sep 4, 2026 the latest distribution annualises to 19.7%, paid weekly. Defiance estimates that 2% of the distribution paid Sep 3, 2026 was a return of capital (19a-1 notice, estimated, a tax characterisation rather than a measure of erosion).
| Strategy | option income |
|---|---|
| Benchmark | Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) |
| Pays | weekly |
| Net assets (SEC filing, whole fund, as filed for May 31, 2026) | $39m |
| Latest payout, annualised (ETFIQ) | 19.7% |
| Expense ratio (prospectus XBRL) | 1.04% |
| Cash paid, trailing 12 months (ETFIQ) | 35.0% |
| Launched | Sep 18, 2025 |
| Return of capital, latest distribution (Defiance 19a-1 estimate) | 2.3% |
Every figure is an ETFIQ calculation from exchange prices and cash distributions (Tiingo end-of-day), total return with distributions reinvested. Return of capital is the issuer’s estimate. How this desk computes every figure
Questions people ask
- How much has QLDY paid over the last year?
- Over the period from its launch on Sep 18, 2025 to Sep 4, 2026, QLDY paid 28.3% of its starting price in cash distributions, while the price fell 19.2%.
- Is QLDY ahead of QQQ?
- Over the period from its launch on Sep 18, 2025 to Sep 4, 2026, with every distribution reinvested, QLDY returned +10.8% against +21.4% for Nasdaq-100 (QQQ), so a holder was behind it by 10.5 points.
- How often does QLDY pay, and how much?
- QLDY pays weekly. The latest distribution annualises to 19.7% at its price on Sep 4, 2026, which is not a promise; the next one can differ.
- Is the QLDY distribution return of capital?
- Defiance estimates 2% of the distribution paid Sep 3, 2026 was return of capital. That is a tax characterisation from the fund's own 19a-1 notice, not a measure of erosion.
- What does QLDY cost?
- The prospectus expense ratio is 1.04% a year.
The words on this page
- Total return
- What a holder actually ended up with: price change plus every distribution, reinvested. The only figure that answers whether you came out ahead.
- Cash paid
- Distributions over the window as a share of what the fund cost at the start. A measure of cash delivered, not of return: a fund can pay a great deal and still lose money.
- Ahead or behind
- The fund’s total return minus the benchmark’s over exactly the same days, in percentage points. Both sides reinvest.
- Return of capital
- The issuer’s own estimate, in a Rule 19a-1 notice, of how much of a distribution was your own money returned. An estimate and a tax characterisation, not a measure of erosion.
- Covered call
- Selling call options on shares the fund holds. It collects a premium and gives up the gains above the strike, which is why these funds pay well and lag a rising market.
Every term this desk uses, defined in full on the income desk vocabulary page.
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.
Funds near this one
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Cite this page. ETFIQ, QLDY on the income desk, data as of Sep 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/funds/QLDY.html Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.