JEPQ review: total return vs QQQ since 2022, measured
JEPQ pays out about 11% of its price a year and is the oldest of the big Nasdaq income funds. Here is what it returned against QQQ on the same days since May 2022, including the 2023 rebound and the 2025 sell-off.
What JEPQ is
JEPQ, the JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF, holds Nasdaq-100 stocks and earns option income mainly through notes linked to Nasdaq-100 calls, paid out monthly. It launched in May 2022, during the bear market, so its record includes part of a fall, the 2023 rebound, two strong years and the 2025 sell-off.
Payout versus total return
Over the last twelve months JEPQ paid out about 11.4% of its price. Since its first close on May 4, 2022 its share price rose about 2.1% a year; the rest of the return came from distributions. Reinvesting them, JEPQ returned about 14.0% a year against QQQ's 18.1% on the same days.
Year by year
2022 from launch: -12.9% against QQQ -18.7%. 2023: +36.3% against +54.9%. 2024: +24.8% against +25.6%. 2025: +15.2% against +20.8%. 2026 to mid November: +5.9% against +11.1%. The 2022 cushion was about six points; the 2023 give-up was about nineteen. That asymmetry is the cost of selling calls into a rebound, and it is where most of the long-run gap came from.
Drawdowns and capture
Its worst drawdown since launch is -20.1% against -22.8% for QQQ, in the February to April 2025 sell-off. On monthly returns it caught about 72% of QQQ's up months and about 71% of its down months: nearly the Nasdaq's shape, with a slice taken off both directions.
JEPQ vs QQQI and GPIQ
On the shared window from January 30, 2024: GPIQ about 17.8% a year, QQQI about 16.2%, JEPQ about 14.6%, against QQQ's 19.0%. All three fell about as far in 2025, between 20% and 21%. The newer funds kept more of the rally; JEPQ kept less while paying out a smaller share of its price than QQQI. Our QQQI review has the side by side.
Is JEPQ a good investment?
This is the record, not advice. For income drawn now, JEPQ has delivered a steady monthly payout from the Nasdaq with drawdowns close to the index's own. For money reinvested over decades, it has trailed QQQ by about four points a year, mostly in the strong years. Compare any income fund on total return over the same days, and model a bad year where the price and the payout fall together.
How we measured
Daily closing prices from Yahoo Finance through the November 11, 2026 close. Total return reinvests each distribution on its ex-date, compared with the index ETF on exactly the same days from the fund's first close. No taxes or trading costs, and past returns do not predict future ones.
Measured from daily closes and distributions, every payout reinvested, each fund against its index on the same days. Past returns do not predict future ones. This is education, not a recommendation to buy or sell anything.