What These Funds Do
Nasdaq-100 income ETFs earn their monthly payout by selling call options on the stocks they hold. A call option is a contract that gives the buyer the right to buy at a set price, so the seller collects cash up front and gives up gains above that price. The bigger the payout, the more of a rally a fund usually gives away.
BALQ is iShares' actively managed version of this approach. It launched on Dec 2, 2025 and holds mostly the big Nasdaq names. So which of five of these funds, measured on the same dates, left holders with the most money, and why?
From Mar 19 to Oct 22, 2026, BALQ returned +21.1% including distributions. That put it first among the five income funds and about 2 points ahead of QQQ, which holds the index with no options. It did this with the lowest current payout rate in the group, about 8.2%.
Performance and yield figures are historical and may change. Total return includes price movement and distributions where available. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Yield is not the same as total return.
One Window, Six Funds
The five income funds launched at different times. Mixing one fund's since-launch return with another's year-to-date return can put them in the wrong order. So every number in the table below starts on Mar 19, 2026, the first trading day of the youngest fund (ROCQ, which incepted Mar 18 and began trading Mar 19), and runs to Oct 22, 2026. That is about seven months.
| Fund | Total return | Price change | Cash paid (% of Mar 19 price) | Current payout rate* | Expense ratio |
| BALQ (iShares Nasdaq Premium Income Active) | +21.1% | +13.8% | 7.1% | ~8.2% (issuer distribution rate 7.94%, Oct 21) | 0.35% |
| QQQ (Invesco QQQ, the index with no options) | +19.2% | +18.8% | 0.4% | ~0.4% | 0.18% |
| TDAQ (TappAlpha Innovation 100 Growth & Daily Income) | +18.2% | +7.0% | 11.2% | ~17.9% | 0.68% (~0.83% incl. QQQM's fee) |
| GPIQ (Goldman Sachs Nasdaq-100 Premium Income) | +15.9% | +9.0% | 6.8% | ~11.1% | 0.29% |
| ROCQ (JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Yield, launched Mar 2026) | +13.3% | +6.7% | 6.8% | ~11.1% | 0.35% |
| QQQI (NEOS Nasdaq-100 High Income) | +12.2% | +3.4% | 8.8% | ~14.5% | 0.68% |
*Current payout rate = latest payout annualized (× 12 for monthly payers; × 4 for QQQ, which pays quarterly) ÷ Oct 22 price. It is a run-rate, not a trailing yield. Payouts are not guaranteed and change from month to month. Total returns assume distributions are reinvested. TDAQ's 0.68% is its own fee; on June 30 it held 99.5% of assets in QQQM, whose 0.15% fee holders also bear.
These are strategy profiles, not recommendations. Suitability depends on individual objectives, risk tolerance, tax situation, time horizon, and broader portfolio construction.
The pattern
With one exception, the funds with lower current payout rates kept more of the gain. BALQ has the lowest current payout rate of the five income funds and finished first. Measured by cash actually paid over the window, the order is less tidy: BALQ paid 7.1% of its Mar 19 price, a bit more than GPIQ and ROCQ (6.8% each). QQQI has one of the highest payouts, finished last, and trailed QQQ by 7 points.
TDAQ is the exception. It has the highest payout and still finished second among the income funds. It sells very short-dated calls that expire daily.
The price column shows where the cash came from. QQQI's share price rose 3.4% while QQQ's rose 18.8%, so QQQI's payout came out of price growth it gave up.
The chart shows when BALQ's lead over QQQ appeared. The two tracked within about a point through July. The gap opened at the late-July low and widened on the August rebound, and it has stayed around 2 to 2.5 points since. BALQ fell only slightly less than QQQ in the June–July drop, so most of the lead came on the way back up. Seven months, mostly rising, is a short record for a lead that size.
