QLDY Defiance Nasdaq 100 LightningSpread(TM) Income ETF
Option income on QQQ, paying weekly
Since its launch on Sep 18, 2025, QLDY paid 28.6% in cash and still finished 10.8 points behind QQQ.
Key facts
What a holder got
Over the year to Sep 11, 2026, QLDY returned +9.9% with distributions reinvested and Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) returned +20.7%, so a holder came out behind it by 10.8 points. The lighter segment is the 28.6% that arrived as cash rather than as price.
Its ten largest equity positions
| Holding | Weight | |
|---|---|---|
| Ndx 12/18/2026 2001.44 C | 92.44% | |
| First American Government Obligations Fu | 3.77% | |
| Xnd 12/18/2026 10.44 C | 1.74% | |
| Cash & Other | 1.60% | |
| United States Treasury Note/bond 2.375% | 0.55% | |
| Nasdaq-1 Put Opt 09/26 29300 | 0.13% | |
| Nasdaq-1 Put Opt 09/26 29450 | -0.24% |
Period by period
| Window | Cash paid | Price | Total return | QQQ | Ahead or behind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 months | 8.2% | −13.0% | −4.9% | −0.8% | −4.1 pts |
| 6 months | 18.1% | −2.1% | +16.3% | +20.7% | −4.4 pts |
| Since launch | 28.6% | −20.2% | +9.9% | +20.7% | −10.8 pts |
When QLDY pays
QLDY pays weekly. The last distribution was $0.157 a share, which went ex on Sep 9, 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 Sep 14, 2026; that date is an ETFIQ projection, not the issuer’s.
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 14, 2026 | Sep 15, 2026 | $0.157 | ETFIQ projection from the fund’s own cadence |
| Sep 21, 2026 | Sep 22, 2026 | $0.157 | ETFIQ projection from the fund’s own cadence |
| Sep 28, 2026 | Sep 29, 2026 | $0.157 | ETFIQ projection from the fund’s own cadence |
| Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 6, 2026 | $0.157 | ETFIQ projection from the fund’s own cadence |
| Oct 12, 2026 | Oct 13, 2026 | $0.157 | ETFIQ projection from the fund’s own cadence |
| Oct 19, 2026 | Oct 20, 2026 | $0.157 | ETFIQ projection from the fund’s own cadence |
Every distribution ETFIQ holds for QLDY (13, most recent first)
| Ex-date | Amount |
|---|---|
| Sep 9, 2026 | $0.157 |
| Sep 4, 2026 | $0.1549 |
| Sep 2, 2026 | $0.1569 |
| Aug 26, 2026 | $0.1556 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | $0.1591 |
| Aug 19, 2026 | $0.1637 |
| Aug 12, 2026 | $0.1636 |
| Aug 7, 2026 | $0.1635 |
| Aug 5, 2026 | $0.1597 |
| Jul 31, 2026 | $0.1514 |
| Jul 29, 2026 | $0.1573 |
| Jul 24, 2026 | $0.1643 |
| Jul 22, 2026 | $0.1629 |
Every income ETF going ex-dividend in the next fortnight
In plain words
Since it launched on Sep 18, 2025, QLDY has returned +9.9% with distributions reinvested, against +20.7% for Nasdaq-100 (QQQ), and has paid out 28.6% of its starting value in cash along the way. It pays weekly, and at its current price the latest distribution annualizes to 20.2%. Defiance estimates that 2% of the distribution paid Sep 3, 2026 was a return of capital. That is the issuer’s own Rule 19a-1 estimate and a tax characterization, made before the fund year closes: it says the payment included money the fund gave back rather than earned, not that the fund is eroding.
| Strategy | option income |
|---|---|
| Benchmark | Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) |
| Pays | weekly |
| Net assets (the issuer own daily fund list, as of Sep 11, 2026) | $50m |
| Latest payout, annualized (ETFIQ) | 20.2% |
| Expense ratio (485BPOS XBRL, May 23, 2025) | 1.04% |
| Cash paid, last 12 months, over today’s price (ETFIQ) | 35.8% |
| Launched | Sep 18, 2025 |
| Return of capital, latest distribution (Defiance 19a-1 estimate) | 2.3% |
| Pays | weekly |
| Typical gap between ex-dates | 5 days |
| Typical wait from ex-date to payment | 1 day |
| Last paid, per share | $0.157 ex Sep 9, 2026 |
| Sum of the last 12 distributions | $1.907 |
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 these figures are computed
Questions people ask
- How much has QLDY paid over the last year?
- Over the period from its launch on Sep 18, 2025 to Sep 11, 2026, QLDY paid 28.6% of its starting price in cash distributions, while the price fell 20.2%.
- Is QLDY ahead of QQQ?
- Over the period from its launch on Sep 18, 2025 to Sep 11, 2026, with every distribution reinvested, QLDY returned +9.9% against +20.7% for Nasdaq-100 (QQQ), so a holder was behind it by 10.8 points.
- How often does QLDY pay, and how much?
- QLDY pays weekly. The latest distribution annualizes to 20.2% at its price on Sep 11, 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 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 Sep 9, 2026 at $0.157 a share. The next is not declared; on a cadence of about 5 days the ex-date falls near Sep 14, 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.
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 characterization, 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 used here, defined in full on the income ETFs 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.
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Cite this page. ETFIQ, QLDY, income ETFs, data as of Sep 11, 2026. https://etfiq.com/funds/qldy Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.