QLDY Defiance Nasdaq 100 LightningSpread Income ETF
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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QLDY paid 34.4% in cash and returned 11.9% in total, against 15.2% for QQQ.
Promise check: MissedOver the year to Oct 28, 2026, QLDY paid 34.4% in cash and returned 11.9% in total, covering 34.6% of its payout.
QLDY risk and return scorecard
vs QQQ · Sep 2025 to Oct 2026 · 56 weekly returns · dividend-adjusted
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records; risk-free rate: U.S. Treasury, Daily Treasury Bill Rates, 13-week coupon equivalent Method · Data
Money in and out
Net fund flows · May 31, 2026What you earned
What it paid
13 distributions · latest Oct 28, 2026More on QLDY
Every number below is on this page. Open what you need.Price and total return, 1 year
$38.93+0.2%1 day, priceClose, Oct 28, 2026
Total return adds every distribution, reinvested. Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices.
Source: Tiingo end-of-day prices. Data as of Oct 28, 2026. Updated every trading night. Report a data error
| Window | Total return | Cash paid | Price | QQQ | Ahead or behind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1M Sep 28 – Oct 28, 2026 | −2.1% | 3.4% | −5.4% | −1.5% | −0.6 pts |
| 3M Jul 29 – Oct 28, 2026 | +9.4% | 10.4% | −1.0% | +9.8% | −0.4 pts |
| 6M Apr 29 – Oct 28, 2026 | +8.0% | 19.6% | −11.6% | +9.9% | −1.9 pts |
| YTD Dec 31, 2025 – Oct 28, 2026 | +15.5% | 30.5% | −17.0% | +18.5% | −3.0 pts |
| 1Y Oct 28, 2025 – Oct 28, 2026 | +11.9% | 34.4% | −25.3% | +15.2% | −3.3 pts |
| Since launch Sep 18, 2025 – Oct 28, 2026 | +19.1% | 38.5% | −23.0% | +22.6% | −3.5 pts |
| Since launch, annualised Sep 18, 2025 – Oct 28, 2026 | +17.0% | – | – | – | – |
Total returns, distributions reinvested. Listed Sep 2025: no 3 years windows.
Source: Tiingo end-of-day prices, with distributions reinvested.
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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
QLDY paid 34.4% in cash over the year and returned 11.9% in total, less than it paid out.
Money in and out
Monthly data · as of May 31, 2026QLDY: in the month to May 31, 2026, net $7.1m came in, by its SEC filing.
monthly, from SEC filings
Computed by ETFIQ from the monthly sales and redemptions QLDY files with the SEC on Form N-PORT.
How this is computed
ETFIQ reads no daily data for this fund, so its flows are monthly, and the latest month filed is May 2026. Every day and month ETFIQ holds for QLDY, back to Sep 2025, is in its flows file. Flows across every fund · How these flows are computed · Compare QLDY with other funds in the flows tool
Month by month, money in and money outSep 2025 to May 2026
QLDY, money in and money out each month from Sep 2025 to May 2026: two bars a month, money in above the line and money out below. Every bar is from QLDY’s SEC filings (N-PORT item B.6). Of the 9 months listed, money came in on net in 6 and went out in 3.
Every bar is from QLDY’s SEC filings (N-PORT item B.6). Of the 9 months listed, money came in on net in 6 and went out in 3.
Most recent first.
How this is computed
N-PORT months: money in is sales plus reinvestments; money out is redemptions.
N-PORT months are the filed sales plus reinvestments less redemptions. Later months add up the daily data; the Source column names any missing day.
Source: ETFIQ, from the fund’s SEC N-PORT filings. Data as of May 31, 2026. Updated when the fund files its next report.
QLDY key stats
QLDY return of capital and tax
Trading
as of Oct 27, 2026
13 distributions for QLDY, $0.1469 to $0.1608 a share and $0.157 in the middle, Sep 16, 2026 to Oct 28, 2026. 6 further ex-dates are expected with no amount the issuer has declared, so they are not drawn.
QLDY pays weekly. The last distribution was $0.1469 a share, which went ex on Oct 28, 2026, with payment about 1 day later. The next has not been declared. On its own cadence of about 5 days the ex-date falls near Nov 2, 2026; that date is an ETFIQ projection, not the issuer’s.
Expected distributions for QLDY. A projected row carries the fund’s own spacing forward from its last ex-date, at the last amount paid. Neither is an issuer statement. Source: ETFIQ.
Cash distributions per share for QLDY. Source: ETFIQ from Tiingo end-of-day distributions.
Source: ETFIQ, from Tiingo end-of-day distributions.
How much of what it paid out did its total return cover?
That is the share of the 164 income ETFs not writing on a single company sitting at or below QLDY.
One year only, and a ratio of two published numbers: it says nothing about where a distribution came from. Where the fund sits in this set, not a rating. Do not average it with another category's score.
Total return as a share of the cash paid: 34.6% · 29th pct, −271.3% to 2,166.7% across 164.
QLDY top ten by weight, 96.5% of the fund, of its 5 equity positions, from the holdings published by its issuer for Oct 28, 2026. The options the fund writes are not positions of this kind and are not listed. Source: the issuer’s own daily file.
Source: Defiance’s daily holdings file. Updated each trading day. Last checked Oct 28, 2026.
Also against FEPI, ULTY, XDTE, TDAQ, QQQY, QUSA, RNTY, JEPI, JEPQ, SPYI, DIVO, RDVI, KNG, FTHI, BALI, OMAH, FTQI, SDVD, YYY, OVL, DUBS, PBP, IVVW, YMAG, DJIA, XPAY, QYLG, EGGY, JOYT, OVLH, MAGY, DOGG, XYLG, WDTE, XRMI, XIJN, OEI, SPIN, ACKY, SDTY, OARK, QDTY, XISE, BIGY, APRJ, XIMR, APRH, DRKY, XIDE, SPUT, JULH, OCTH, OCTJ, YQQQ, QRMI, JANJ, JULJ, LJAN, JANH, LOCT, LAPR, FDND, LJUL, DYLG, FGSI, GPIQ, GPIX, ISPY, ROCY, ROCQ, SIXH, KHPI, PAPI, XQQI, IQQQ, TCAL, TSPY, CAIQ, YLDE, SEPI, XSPI, VAIE, ACSP, GRNI, QVOL, BALQ, ACQQ, YSPC, HEMI, CVRD, SIOO, SCLZ, XSHP, PCOV, DDDD, JUDO, NLSI, XVSP, TPRY, TPAY, CDPI, RECI, VOOY, SCEP, KYLD, KIQQ, ODTE.
About QLDY
How we measure
12 seats on QLDY, as of Oct 28, 2026: 1 Mixed, 4 Challenges, 6 Not enough data, 1 Does not apply.
Questions people ask about QLDY
- How much has QLDY paid over the last year?
- Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QLDY paid 34.4% of its starting price in cash distributions, while the price fell 25.3%.
- Is QLDY ahead of QQQ?
- Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, with every distribution reinvested, QLDY returned +11.9% against +15.2% for Nasdaq-100 (QQQ), so a holder was behind it by 3.3 points.
- How often does QLDY pay, and how much?
- QLDY pays weekly. The latest distribution annualizes to 19.6% at its price on Oct 28, 2026, which is not a promise; the next one can differ.
- Is the QLDY distribution return of capital?
- Defiance estimates 100% of the distribution paid Oct 19, 2026 was return of capital. That is a tax characterization from the fund's own 19a-1 notice, not a measure of erosion.
- When does QLDY next pay a distribution?
- QLDY pays weekly. The last distribution went ex on Oct 28, 2026 at $0.1469 a share. The next is not declared; on a cadence of about 5 days the ex-date falls near Nov 2, 2026, which is an ETFIQ projection. Payment usually follows the ex-date by 1 day.
- What does QLDY cost?
- The prospectus expense ratio is 1.04% a year.
- How much of QLDY’s distribution is return of capital?
- Defiance’s Rule 19a-1 notice estimates 100.0% of the distribution paid Oct 19, 2026 was return of capital. Across its notices for distributions paid Oct 30, 2025 to Oct 19, 2026, the estimate is 71.2%. Estimates come before the fund year closes and often change.
Links are sources, not endorsements.
Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown
ETFIQ, QLDY, income ETFs, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/funds/qldy
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). QLDY, income ETFs. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/funds/qldy
[QLDY, income ETFs (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/funds/qldy)
The payout bar for QLDY, redrawn every trading night.
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<figure style="margin:0;max-width:640px">
<a href="https://etfiq.com/funds/qldy"><img src="https://etfiq.com/assistant/api/embed/income/qldy.svg" alt="QLDY: QLDY over 1 year: paid 34.4%, price −25.3%, total +11.9%, QQQ +15.2%, −3.3 pts. Data to Oct 28, 2026." width="640" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<figcaption style="font:13px/1.5 sans-serif">QLDY: QLDY over 1 year: paid 34.4%, price −25.3%, total +11.9%, QQQ +15.2%, −3.3 pts. Data to Oct 28, 2026. Data: <a href="https://etfiq.com/funds/qldy">ETFIQ</a></figcaption>
</figure>The day's ETF flows, a comparison and one number. Every trading morning. About the Daily
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