QTOC returns by window: total return, cash paid and price change
Window
Total return
QQQ price return
Gap to QQQ
1M
−1.6%
−0.5%
−1.1 pts
3M
+1.3%
+1.2%
+0.1 pts
6M
+7.4%
+11.4%
−4.0 pts
YTD
+12.7%
+16.8%
−4.1 pts
1Y
+14.6%
+17.3%
−2.8 pts
3Y
+68.5%
+102.4%
−33.9 pts
5Y
+51.8%
+90.2%
−38.4 pts
Since launch
+57.2%
+99.2%
−42.0 pts
Since launch, annualised
+9.4%
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Total return at closing prices, distributions reinvested. QQQ's column is its price return, dividends left out: the basis the outcome period uses. Year to date runs from the last close of the year before. Annualised is the steady yearly rate that gives the since-launch total over the same days. Source: ETFIQ.
Source: Tiingo end-of-day prices, with distributions reinvested. Data as of Oct 20, 2026. Updated every trading night. Report a data error
The first slice of loss the fund absorbs for you over its outcome period, stated on the reference index. A 15% buffer means the index can fall 15% before you take any of it.
The most the fund can return over the period if held from the first day to the last. Quoted gross and net of fees. Set by the option market on day one, so the same fund can have a different cap each year.
The window, usually twelve months and sometimes six or three, over which the buffer and, where there is one, the cap apply. On its last day the options expire, the fund resets, and fresh terms are struck from that day’s option prices.
Reset
The day one outcome period ends and the next begins, with a fresh buffer and fresh terms struck at that day’s level.
How much of the buffer still sits below today’s index level. All of it when the index is above its starting level; less once the index is inside the buffer range.
Four ranked ETF lists in one email every Friday morning. The last note
QTOC, Buffer ETFs, ETFIQ, data as of Oct 20, 2026. Every figure is calculated from a named public source; the method is at etfiq.com/methodology. ETFIQ is an independent publisher, is not a fund issuer, broker-dealer or investment adviser, and makes no recommendations.
