CANQ vs QYLD

CANQCCalamos Nasdaq Equity & Income ETF

QYLDAGlobal X Nasdaq 100 Covered Call ETF

In short

CANQ Most Nasdaq-100 income ETFs sell calls and cap your upside. CANQ flips it: about 90% in an actively managed bond portfolio, about 10% in long calls on the index's biggest names. Uncapped participation, monthly income funded by bonds.

QYLD Running since 2013, QYLD is the no-frills version of the Nasdaq-100 income trade: own the index, sell calls against it, pay out monthly. No stock picking, no manager discretion, just a rules-based buy-write index followed closely.

Stated mandate

CANQ Seeks Nasdaq-100 upside through FLEX options while using an actively managed fixed-income portfolio to mitigate downside risk and provide monthly income.

QYLD QYLD seeks, before fees and expenses, to generally match the price and yield performance of the Cboe NASDAQ-100® BuyWrite V2 Index. It uses a buy-write strategy that holds NASDAQ-100 stocks and sells corresponding call options.

Why people hold it

• CANQ Inverts the covered-call playbook. It buys calls rather than selling them, so upside participation in the Nasdaq-100 is uncapped by design.calamos.com
• The income engine is an actively managed multi-sector bond portfolio, not option premium, and the fund pays monthly.calamos.com
• Built to behave like a convertible bond: a fixed-income base plus cash-settled FLEX call options cleared by the Options Clearing Corporation.sec.gov
• Live since 2024 from Calamos, the house that built its name on pairing bonds with equity options.

• QYLD Simple machine: holds Nasdaq-100 stocks, sells the matching calls, and tracks the Cboe NASDAQ-100 BuyWrite V2 Index closely. Nothing to second-guess.
• Income arrives monthly, and the 0.60% fee sits under the median for Nasdaq-100 options-income funds.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades very actively, so getting in and out is rarely the hard part.

Worth knowing

• CANQ At 0.94%, it runs above the category median fee. GPIQ charges 0.29% net of a waiver through April 30, 2027, and JEPQ 0.35%.
• The bond sleeve softens drawdowns rather than setting a defined floor, so a Nasdaq selloff still lands, just lighter than on the index itself.sec.gov
• Monthly payouts can include return of capital, disclosed in Calamos 19a notices. It is also a small, lightly traded fund, so limit orders earn their keep.calamos.com

• QYLD Writing calls sells the upside. When the Nasdaq-100 runs past the strike, that gain goes to the option buyer, not the fund.
• Leaner options on the same index: QQA at 0.33%, GPIQ and JEPQ at 0.35%.
• Payouts are funded by option premium and no target rate is declared, so the monthly check varies with volatility.

Full CANQ profile⁠

Full QYLD profile⁠