What the data shows
Read what the ETF data shows. Every finding links its method and data file. The quarterly and monthly studies are frozen on publication. The nightly set is rebuilt every trading night. Updated Oct 20, 2026. Never a fund pick.
ETFIQ Quarterly
The series →One closed quarter at a time. These figures do not change once published, so a figure quoted from one is still true a year later.
These figures do not move once published, which makes them quotable.
Read the quarterly → · Every quarter →Leveraged ETFs against their own promise, 2026-Q3
492 of the 599 leveraged and inverse ETFs that traded the whole of the third quarter of 2026 returned less than their own stated multiple implied, by a median of 2.25 percentage points.
ETFIQ Monthly
Every month →The same measurements over one closed month. A month rarely contains a holdings filing, so the thematic study names the age of every book it used.
How much of a theme was already the index, August 2026
Across the 187 thematic ETFs that traded the whole of August 2026 and filed a book inside it, the median had 30.8 percent of its money in companies already in the S&P 500, ranging from 0.0 percent at the tenth fund to 75.7 at the ninetieth, at a median fee of 0.50 percent that barely moves across that range.
Leveraged ETFs against their own promise, August 2026
334 of the 406 leveraged and inverse ETFs that traded the whole of August 2026 returned less than their own stated multiple implied, by a median of 0.82 percentage points.
What option-income ETFs paid and made, August 2026
The median of the 304 option-income ETFs that traded the whole of August 2026 paid out 1.38 percent of its own price and returned 1.27 percent in total, and 100 of them paid more cash than they made.
Spot crypto ETPs against the coin they hold, August 2026
The median of the 44 US listed spot crypto ETPs that traded the whole of August 2026 kept 100.6 percent of what its own coin did over the same days, and 16 of them finished behind the coin they hold.
What a buffer ETF delivers mid-period, August 2026
Across the 195 buffer ETFs whose outcome period ran through the whole of August 2026, the reference rose for 178 and fell for 17, the median fund delivered 73.3 percent of its reference’s move, and the buffer was engaged on 14 of them.
Tonight's findings
Every night →Rebuilt every trading night from the data files ETFIQ publishes, and frozen at a permanent dated address the moment the night ends.
On Oct 20, 2026, 95 of 431 buffer ETFs across 8 issuers sat at their cap, so in index terms those funds have no further upside this period.
The state of buffer ETFs · data as of Oct 20, 2026Read →Income · nightlyOver the year to Oct 20, 2026, 52 of the 160 broad option income ETFs with a full year finished ahead of their benchmark, once every cash payment was counted and reinvested. The median fund was −0.8 pts against its benchmark.
Who paid, and where the cash came from · data as of Oct 20, 2026Read →Themes · nightlyBy their latest holdings filings, the typical thematic ETF has 32% of its weight in stocks the S&P 500 already holds, and 72 of 388 funds are more than sixty percent index names.
How much of a theme is already the index · data as of Oct 20, 2026Read →Leverage · nightlyOver the three months to Oct 20, 2026, 504 of 656 leveraged and inverse ETFs finished short of their own stated multiple. The median fund finished -4.5 points from its stated multiple.
The stated multiple and what the holder got · data as of Oct 20, 2026Read →Crypto · nightlyOf the 49 spot crypto ETFs ETFIQ can measure on Oct 20, 2026, 40 finished within a point of the coin they hold, and the typical difference is 0.20%. That difference is the fee, the custody, the friction of creating and redeeming shares in blocks and whatever the market paid for the shares rather than for the coin, all together, and it is the only figure on this desk the sponsor does not publish itself.
What a coin costs in a brokerage account · data as of Oct 20, 2026Read →Alternatives · nightlyOf the 67 alternatives ETFs ETFIQ measured over the year to Oct 20, 2026, 17 rose on average in the weeks the S&P 500 fell, and the median fund fell 40% as much as the index. These funds are sold on behaving differently from stocks, and this is that promise measured.
What alternatives ETFs did when stocks fell · data as of Oct 20, 2026Read →Quarterly and monthly studies carry a publication date and never change; cite the edition. Nightly studies carry the data date; cite the date. Each table names the file it was computed from, published at Open data. Standards and sources →
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Free to use with attribution for figures ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms. The underlying files are at Open data.