{"url":"https://etfiq.com/methodology/","section":"methodology","title":"Methodology: how every ETFIQ figure is built | ETFIQ","description":"How every ETFIQ figure is built: scope, sources, how each field is calculated and checked nightly, and what it cannot tell you.","as_of":"Oct 21, 2026","structured_data":[{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"ETFIQ","item":"https://etfiq.com/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Methodology","item":"https://etfiq.com/methodology/"}]},{"@type":"WebPage","name":"Methodology: how every ETFIQ figure is built","description":"How every ETFIQ figure is built: scope, sources, how each field is calculated and checked nightly, and what it cannot tell you.","url":"https://etfiq.com/methodology/","dateModified":"2026-10-21","isPartOf":{"@type":"WebSite","name":"ETFIQ","url":"https://etfiq.com"},"speakable":{"@type":"SpeakableSpecification","cssSelector":[".lede"]},"publisher":{"@id":"https://etfiq.com/#org"}}],"characters":7213,"truncated":false,"content":"ETFIQ / Methodology \n On this page\n The rules that apply everywhere The methods Independence How to check any of this \n Every specification below describes the data as published on Oct 21, 2026 . Rebuilt every trading night.\n Methodology\n How every ETFIQ figure is built. Each method covers what is in scope, every source and how often it is read, the formula for each figure, the nightly checks, and what the figure cannot tell you.\n The rules that apply everywhere\n Every figure has a named public source and a stated kind Four kinds of figure appear here. Each says which it is, with its basis and date. Figures a fund's issuer or its filings report are credited to them. An issuer's own estimate, such as a Rule 19a-1 return-of-capital estimate, is called an estimate and credited to the issuer. Figures ETFIQ calculates are marked ETFIQ, and each can be derived from a document you can open. Projections, such as a next ex-date carried forward from a fund's own spacing, are labelled ETFIQ projections, never an issuer statement. Hypothetical histories, the ETF Models benchmarks' returns before each family's rule was frozen, are labelled hypothetical, with the date the record became tracked. Category scores are ETFIQ calculations. Each is a percentile of one published figure within a stated set, the figure prints beside the score, and the whole file is published so anyone can recompute it. The method in full . A figure ETFIQ computed is marked ETFIQ Issuer and exchange figures are labeled as theirs. This matters most where the two share a table, as they always do for buffer ETFs. Every figure carries its date in the text Not in a footnote. These figures change daily, so a figure without a date is not a fact. Every fund page and every fund table opens with the same performance and net assets block Net assets with the day they are as of, the fee, and total return for 1 month (30 days), 3 months (91 days), year to date (from the last close of the year before), 1 year (365 days), 3 years (1,095 days) and since launch. Total return is at closing prices with distributions reinvested, counted back from the fund\u2019s last close. A fund younger than a window shows it as not available and names the month it launched beside its since-launch figure; a window is never filled with a shorter record. A fund page also shows 6 months. Each category\u2019s own figures, such as the buffer left or the gap to a leveraged fund\u2019s multiple, come after the block and never in its place. Nothing here is a recommendation ETFIQ suggests no allocation and ranks nothing by merit. A ranking page sorts one published field, named in its title. A figure is left out rather than approximated If the data cannot support a figure, ETFIQ omits it and says why. Example: comparison pages showed no overlap figure while holdings books were capped at 300 rows, because overlap computed from a truncated book comes out too low. A comparison is listed for search when it meets the pair rule Every comparison ETFIQ publishes stays published and linked. It is listed in the sitemaps and open to search engines when people search for the pair, when Google Search Console has shown it, or when it passes four tests read off its own table. Both funds print a one-year total return, net assets and an expense ratio. Their two holdings books, where both are dated, are no more than 100 days apart. They are not near-copies, which means 95% or more of holdings in common, one-year returns within 0.5 percentage points and fees within 0.02 percentage points. And within one category the smaller fund holds $100m or more, while across categories the two funds must share one segment with the smaller holding $250m or more, or both hold $10bn or more with at least 10% of holdings in common. Every other comparison carries a noindex line and stays open to readers. Nightly checks are not enough on their own Every night, independent code recomputes every published number from the raw sources. It can still share a blind spot with the pipeline, and once did. So each method also tests rules that must hold however the code is written. The methods\n Buffer ETFs Defined outcome ETFs 431 funds. Cap, buffer, protection left and the outcome band. Why protection left is in index points. Income ETFs Option-income ETFs 376 funds. Total return, cash paid, the gap to the benchmark, and what a 19a-1 estimate does and does not tell you. Thematic ETFs Measured against the index 415 funds. Weight overlap, active share, in-index weight, and the tests the overlap figures must pass. Leveraged ETFs Leveraged and inverse ETFs 739 funds. The stated multiple, what it implies over a window, the difference from it, and why funds are compared only over the days they all traded. Crypto ETFs Spot crypto ETPs 70 funds across the coins they hold. Tracking difference against the coin, why it uses the fund\u2019s own trading dates, when a difference in points stops meaning anything, and what a thin quote is. Alternatives ETFs Measured against the S&P 500 86 funds across the strategies they run. Weekly correlation and beta, what each did in the weeks the index fell, return against T-bills, and how a strategy is read from the prospectus. Stocks, bonds, commodities and allocation How a fund is placed 2689 funds. The claim order, each group and segment, and the filings behind every placement. Every category The seven category scores One score per category: a percentile on one published figure, among funds that can be compared. The method, the weights and what each score cannot tell you. Fund flows Money in and out How daily flow comes from the change in shares outstanding, the monthly figures from SEC filings, round trips, and how much of the market each covers. Portfolio Look-through books 3439 books. How a portfolio is looked through to its securities, overlap, protection and cash. ETF Model Portfolios ETFIQ benchmarks 36 benchmarks in 6 families. How each fund is chosen, the rule for every family, hypothetical and tracked returns, and the governance. Independence\n ETFIQ is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser. It takes no payment from issuers and carries no sponsored placement. Links to issuer pages let you check a figure at its source. A link is not an endorsement.\n How to check any of this\n Every published figure is free as JSON on the open data page . Use ETFIQ's figures with attribution and the as-of date. Issuer data stays under its owner's terms. Independent code recomputes every number nightly from the raw sources, and the statistics page shows the result. Errors are listed on the corrections page .\n A figure marked ETFIQ is one ETFIQ computed. Every other figure is the issuer\u2019s or the exchange\u2019s, and is labeled that way.\n\n Cite this page. ETFIQ, Methodology, data as of Oct 21, 2026. https://etfiq.com/methodology/ Free to use with attribution for figures ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms. The underlying files are at Open data .\n Other forms Plain ETFIQ, Methodology, data as of Oct 21, 2026. https://etfiq.com/methodology/ APA ETFIQ. (Oct 21, 2026). Methodology. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/methodology/ Markdown [Methodology (ETFIQ, Oct 21, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/methodology/)","source":"ETFIQ, independent ETF data. Recomputed nightly from public filings and prices.","publisher":{"@id":"https://etfiq.com/#org","name":"ETFIQ","url":"https://etfiq.com"},"license":"https://etfiq.com/license/","license_text":"Figures ETFIQ computes are free to use with attribution: ETFIQ (etfiq.com). Issuer data stays under its owner's terms.","citation":"ETFIQ, Methodology, data as of Oct 21, 2026. https://etfiq.com/methodology/"}