FTQI vs QYLD: Grades, Fees and Holdings Compared

First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF

FTQIANasdaq

Global X Nasdaq 100 Covered Call ETF

QYLDANasdaq

Overlap

50.3%by weight

Expense ratio

QYLD −0.15pt a year

FTQI0.75%QYLD0.60%

Avg volume · 30D

QYLD 11.1×the volume

FTQI412KQYLD4.59M

10Y return · a year

QYLD +1.3pt

FTQI+8.1%QYLD+9.4%

FTQI vs QYLD Performance

Nov 9, 2021 – Nov 9, 2026

+65.5%FTQI+43.3%QYLD

Expense ratio: FTQI 0.75%; QYLD 0.60%, better
Fund size: FTQI $954M; QYLD $7.84B
1Y total return: FTQI +15.3%, better; QYLD +14.8%
Yield (12M): FTQI 11.83%; QYLD 12.11%, better
Holdings: FTQI 175; QYLD 103
Avg volume (30D): FTQI 412K sh; QYLD 4.59M sh, better
NAV per share: FTQI $20.58; QYLD $17.11
52W range

ETF.net Grade

Pillar letters and Scores for FTQI, QYLD, with each pillar’s weight
Pillar	FTQI	QYLD
Cost30% weight	C42	B65Higher
Mission25% weight	A100	A100
Risk15% weight	A74Higher	A71
Tradability15% weight	A71	A90Higher
Holdings10% weight	A84Higher	A73
Durability5% weight	A89	A91Higher

Rank among Nasdaq-100 Option Income funds

How we build Categories ›

Same Category. FTQI and QYLD are both graded against the same 30 Nasdaq-100 Option Income funds, so their Grades compare head to head.

Nasdaq-100 Option Income⁠

Category · 30 funds

See all 30 ›

QYLD ranks 2nd and FTQI 7th of 30 funds in the Nasdaq-100 Option Income Category.

Rank 1AQQAInvesco QQQ Income Advantage ETFScore 82
Rank 2AGPIQGoldman Sachs Nasdaq-100 Premium Income ETFScore 80
Rank 2AQYLDGlobal X Nasdaq 100 Covered Call ETFScore 80
Rank 4AJEPQJPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETFScore 79
Rank 7ABALQiShares Nasdaq Premium Income Active ETFScore 72
Rank 7AFTQIFirst Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETFScore 72
Rank 9AEDGQGlobal X Nasdaq-100 Income Edge ETFScore 71

Our read on each fund

ETF.net Research

FTQIAFirst Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF

QYLDAGlobal X Nasdaq 100 Covered Call ETF

In short

FTQI Most Nasdaq-100 income funds sell calls on everything, all the time. FTQI works a dial: a hand-picked stock basket with index calls written on 50% to 100% of assets, so managers choose how much upside gets sold. Running since 2014, pays monthly.

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

FTQI The fund seeks current income by investing primarily in U.S.-listed equities and writing exchange-traded covered calls on the Nasdaq-100 Index to obtain option-premium cash flow.

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

FTQI The overlay is adjustable by design. The prospectus sets call notional at 50% to 100% of assets, so coverage can flex rather than run wide open every cycle.sec.gov
Managers may also buy a higher-strike Nasdaq-100 call against the ones they sell, a spread built to keep some index upside above the short strike.sec.gov
The equity sleeve is actively chosen (roughly 230 US-listed stocks) instead of a straight index clone, with the option premium paid out monthly.ftportfolios.com
Trading since 2014, it predates most of the Nasdaq-100 premium-income wave and stands in the upper tier of a now-crowded peer group.

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

FTQI At 0.75%, it prices above the category median, and Nasdaq-100 income rivals such as QQA, GPIQ and JEPQ sit meaningfully lower.
The Nasdaq mandate dates to a 2022 rename. Before that it ran a hedged S&P 500 buywrite, so the longest stretch of its record reflects a different strategy.cbonds.com
Selling index calls trades away part of a Nasdaq rally for premium, and the monthly payout can include return of capital, which reduces your cost basis.sec.gov

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 FTQI profile⁠

Full QYLD profile⁠

FTQI vs QYLD Holdings

How FTQI and QYLD differ

Overlap by weight

50.3%

Shared holdings make up 65.1% of QYLD and 56.2% of FTQI.

About this figure: FTQI earns income from options, which aren’t counted.

QYLD earns income from options, which aren’t counted.

Level by level

Holdings25 in both50.3%
Sector11 Sectors83.0%
Countryby domicile97.6%
Asset classStocks100%

Sector

Sector weights in FTQI and QYLD, widest gap first
Sector	Gap	FTQI	QYLD
Technology	QYLD +10.3 points	47.8%	58.1%
Financials	FTQI +6.1 points	6.3%	0.2%
Health Care	FTQI +5.7 points	10.5%	4.8%
Consumer Staples	QYLD +3.7 points	3.1%	6.8%
Communication	QYLD +2.7 points	8.4%	11.1%
Energy	FTQI +2.2 points	2.7%	0.5%
Consumer Discretionary	FTQI +1.6 points	12.6%	11.0%
Real Estate	FTQI +1.2 points	1.1%	0.0%
Industrials	QYLD +0.4 points	4.8%	5.2%
Utilities	FTQI +0.2 points	1.4%	1.2%
Materials	Same weight	1.1%	1.1%

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Country weights in FTQI and QYLD, widest gap first
Country	Gap	FTQI	QYLD
Canada	QYLD +1.1 points	0.0%	1.1%
Netherlands	QYLD +0.8 points	0.0%	0.8%
United States	FTQI +0.5 points	97.8%	97.3%
Other countries (8)	FTQI +1.3 points	2.2%	0.9%

Concentration

Weight in the 10 largest Holdings

FTQI43.1%
QYLD47.0%

Securities held

FTQI174
QYLD102

Asset class

FTQI: Stocks
QYLD: Stocks

Holdings

Only in FTQI149
In both25
Only in QYLD77

Only in FTQI

149 securities, 38.2% of FTQI by weight

AbbVie Inc.1.57%
CME Group Inc.1.16%
eBay Inc.1.01%
Medpace Holdings, Inc.0.88%
Woodward, Inc.0.80%
Expedia Group, Inc.0.80%
Illumina, Inc.0.73%
Equinix, Inc.0.72%
DocuSign, Inc.0.71%
Texas Roadhouse, Inc.0.68%
VeriSign, Inc.0.62%
Incyte Corporation0.62%
F5, Inc.0.62%
Caterpillar Inc.0.61%
Guardant Health, Inc.0.58%
J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc.0.57%
Casey's General Stores, Inc.0.56%
Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (Class A)0.55%
argenx SE (ADR)0.53%
Alliant Energy Corporation0.52%
Royalty Pharma Plc (Class A)0.51%
InterDigital, Inc.0.51%
Robinhood Markets, Inc. (Class A)0.47%
Nasdaq, Inc.0.47%
Qualys, Inc.0.46%
GE Vernova Inc.0.45%
Commvault Systems, Inc.0.44%
GE Aerospace0.43%
Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc.0.42%
BP p.l.c. (ADR)0.42%
Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc.0.40%
Genmab A/S (ADR)0.40%
Nordson Corporation0.36%
Littelfuse, Inc.0.36%
Talen Energy Corporation0.34%
U.S. Bancorp0.34%
Evergy, Inc.0.34%
Natera, Inc.0.33%
The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.0.32%
Dollar Tree, Inc.0.31%
SEI Investments Company0.31%
TotalEnergies SE0.30%
Cavco Industries, Inc.0.30%
Gen Digital Inc.0.29%
Arch Capital Group Ltd.0.29%
East West Bancorp, Inc.0.29%
HealthEquity, Inc.0.28%
Five Below, Inc.0.28%
The Coca-Cola Company0.26%
Northern Trust Corporation0.25%

Only in QYLD

77 securities, 34.8% of QYLD by weight

Walmart Inc2.89%
Space Exploration Techn-Cl A2.72%
Texas Instruments Inc1.20%
Linde PLC1.12%
Crowdstrike Holdings Inc - A1.05%
Pepsico Inc0.91%
Shopify Inc - Class A0.85%
Analog Devices Inc0.83%
T-Mobile Us Inc0.82%
Qualcomm Inc0.82%
Intuitive Surgical Inc0.76%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc0.66%
Asml Holding Nv-Ny Reg Shs0.63%
Marvell Technology Inc0.59%
Sandisk Corp0.58%
Booking Holdings Inc0.57%
Automatic Data Processing0.57%
Starbucks Corp0.57%
Applovin Corp-Class A0.55%
Marriott International -Cl A0.51%
Moderna Inc0.47%
Adobe Inc0.45%
Western Digital Corp0.45%
Intuit Inc0.43%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals0.43%
Csx Corp0.42%
Constellation Energy0.42%
Monster Beverage Corp0.42%
Cintas Corp0.41%
Cadence Design Sys Inc0.41%
Fortinet Inc0.41%
Synopsys Inc0.40%
Comcast Corp-Class A0.40%
Mondelez International Inc-A0.39%
Airbnb Inc-Class A0.37%
Mercadolibre Inc0.36%
Arm Holdings Plc-Adr0.36%
Ross Stores Inc0.34%
Doordash Inc - A0.34%
O'reilly Automotive Inc0.34%
Honeywell International Inc0.32%
American Electric Power0.32%
Nxp Semiconductors NV0.29%
Fastenal Co0.28%
Datadog Inc - Class A0.28%
Autodesk Inc0.26%
Pdd Holdings Inc0.25%
Paccar Inc0.25%
Idexx Laboratories Inc0.25%
PayPal Holdings Inc0.24%

Weight gaps

All 25 Holdings in both funds, largest gap first.

Holding weights in FTQI and QYLD, widest gap first
Holding	Gap	FTQI	QYLD
Microsoft CorporationMSFT	QYLD +5.11 points	1.64%	6.75%
Micron Technology, Inc.MU	QYLD +1.99 points	1.69%	3.68%
NVIDIA CorporationNVDA	QYLD +1.85 points	5.85%	7.70%
Cisco Systems, Inc.CSCO	FTQI +1.19 points	2.94%	1.75%
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.AMD	FTQI +1.11 points	4.57%	3.46%
Apple Inc.AAPL	FTQI +1.10 points	9.65%	8.55%
Alphabet Inc. (Class A)GOOGL	QYLD +1.04 points	1.82%	2.86%
Broadcom Inc.AVGO	QYLD +0.88 points	1.51%	2.39%
Alphabet Inc. (Class C)GOOG	QYLD +0.86 points	1.83%	2.69%
Intel CorporationINTC	QYLD +0.79 points	0.61%	1.40%
Seagate Technology Holdings PlcSTX	FTQI +0.77 points	1.26%	0.49%
Palantir Technologies Inc. (Class A)PLTR	FTQI +0.74 points	2.48%	1.74%
Costco Wholesale CorporationCOST	QYLD +0.56 points	1.65%	2.21%
Gilead Sciences, Inc.GILD	FTQI +0.48 points	1.46%	0.98%
Meta Platforms, Inc. (Class A)META	QYLD +0.38 points	2.73%	3.11%
Tesla, Inc.TSLA	QYLD +0.37 points	2.85%	3.22%
Applied Materials, Inc.AMAT	QYLD +0.35 points	0.90%	1.25%
Lam Research CorporationLRCX	QYLD +0.30 points	0.89%	1.19%
Amazon.com, Inc.AMZN	QYLD +0.23 points	4.56%	4.79%
KLA CorporationKLAC	FTQI +0.21 points	1.07%	0.86%
Monolithic Power Systems, Inc.MPWR	FTQI +0.19 points	0.46%	0.27%
Palo Alto Networks, Inc.PANW	FTQI +0.12 points	1.33%	1.21%
Netflix, Inc.NFLX	QYLD +0.06 points	1.19%	1.25%
Amgen Inc.AMGN	QYLD +0.05 points	1.13%	1.18%
Astera Labs, Inc.ALAB	QYLD +0.03 points	0.13%	0.16%

All 181 FTQI holdings⁠All 102 QYLD holdings⁠

How we measure overlap

Each holding counts at its smaller weight in the two funds, summed over the full Holdings. Sector, country and asset class use the same rule on each fund’s split. Cash, FX and derivative lines stay out of the counts. Two bond funds get no overlap figure.

FTQI vs QYLD Cost

Overpaying FTQI vs QYLD

$2,665

On $10,000 over 30 years. 7% growth a year before fees, expense ratio only.

FTQI 0.75%
$14,482
QYLD 0.60%
$11,817

Amount$10,000

Years30 years

Cost over time

FTQI 0.75%
QYLD 0.60%
Overpaying

Year by year

Year	FTQI	QYLD	Overpaying
10	$1,336	$1,076	$260
20	$5,078	$4,116	$962
30	$14,482	$11,817	$2,665

Expense ratio

0.75%FTQI
0.60%QYLD, cheaper

QYLD0.60%FTQI0.75%

0.00%1.20%

Middle half of Nasdaq-100 Option Income funds
Median 0.71%

QYLD 10th cheapest of 30 funds

FTQI 17th cheapest of 30 funds

FTQI vs QYLD Dividends

Last 12 months to Nov 9, 2026

Yield (12M): FTQI 11.83%; QYLD 12.11%, better
Payout (12M): FTQI $2.52; QYLD $2.14
Last payment: FTQI $0.22; QYLD $0.18
Ex-dividend: FTQI Oct 21, 2026; QYLD Oct 19, 2026
Paid on: FTQI Oct 30, 2026; QYLD Oct 22, 2026
Frequency: FTQI Monthly; QYLD Monthly

Distribution history

Per share, 2023 to 2026, same scale for both

FTQIMonthly · 46 paymentsAll FTQI payments⁠

QYLDMonthly · 46 paymentsAll QYLD payments⁠

FTQI vs QYLD Risk

Fall from peak · 5 years

FTQI
QYLD

Risk facts

VolatilityStd dev, 3 years: FTQI 9.2%QYLD 8.1%, better
Return per unit of riskSharpe ratio, 3 years: FTQI 1.41, betterQYLD 1.31
Worst fallMax drawdown, 5 years: FTQI −19.4%, betterQYLD −24.6%
Market sensitivityBeta, 5 years: FTQI 0.66QYLD 0.48; Market = 1

FTQI and QYLD in the news

All news⁠

Category Review
The four largest Nasdaq-100 income funds trailed the stocks by 0.9 to 5.8 percentage points
Updated Oct 2, 2026QYLD
Income Watch
A 25.22% distribution rate met a -0.32% SEC yield as the 10-year paid 5.01%
Sep 20, 2026QYLD

Popular comparisons

FTQIAvsQQAA
First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF · Invesco QQQ Income Advantage ETF
Expense ratio
0.75% · 0.29%
Category
QYLDAvsJEPQA
Global X Nasdaq 100 Covered Call ETF · JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF
Expense ratio
0.60% · 0.35%
Category
FTQIAvsGPIQA
First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF · Goldman Sachs Nasdaq-100 Premium Income ETF
Expense ratio
0.75% · 0.29%
Category
QYLDAvsQQQIA
Global X Nasdaq 100 Covered Call ETF · NEOS Nasdaq-100 High Income ETF
Expense ratio
0.60% · 0.68%
Category
FTQIAvsJEPQA
First Trust Nasdaq BuyWrite Income ETF · JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF
Expense ratio
0.75% · 0.35%
Category
QYLDAvsGPIQA
Global X Nasdaq 100 Covered Call ETF · Goldman Sachs Nasdaq-100 Premium Income ETF
Expense ratio
0.60% · 0.29%
Category

FTQI vs QYLD

In short

Stated mandate

Why people hold it

Worth knowing

How FTQI and QYLD differ

Level by level

Sector

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Concentration

Asset class

Holdings

Only in FTQI

Only in QYLD

Weight gaps

Cost over time

Year by year

Distribution history

Fall from peak · 5 years

Risk facts

The four largest Nasdaq-100 income funds trailed the stocks by 0.9 to 5.8 percentage points

A 25.22% distribution rate met a -0.32% SEC yield as the 10-year paid 5.01%

How FTQI and QYLD differ

Level by level

Sector

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Concentration

Asset class

Holdings

Only in FTQI

Only in QYLD

Weight gaps