QDTE review: 0DTE covered calls on the Nasdaq, measured
QDTE sells a covered call that expires the same day, every day, and pays weekly. Here is its total return against QQQ since 2024, its share price, and how it compares with QQQI and GPIQ.
What QDTE is
QDTE is the Roundhill Innovation-100 0DTE Covered Call Strategy ETF. It holds Nasdaq-100 exposure and sells call options that expire the same day, every trading day, then pays the premium out weekly. Daily calls reset every morning, so a fund that loses its upside on one day starts fresh the next.
The record
From its first close on March 7, 2024 to midday November 13, 2026, QDTE returned about 16.5% a year with distributions reinvested, against QQQ's 17.2% on the same days. That is closer to the index than any other fund we measured. Its share price fell about 43% over the same time, because it paid out about 76% of its launch price; the twelve-month payout is about 46% of today's price.
By year: 2024 from launch +16.1% against QQQ +15.4%; 2025 +19.3% against +20.8%; 2026 to mid November +8.8% against +10.0%. Worst drawdown -22.9% against -22.8%. Monthly capture: about 87% of QQQ's up months and 78% of its down months.
Price falls, return holds
QDTE is the clearest example of why share price and yield both mislead. The price chart looks like a fund losing money, and the yield looks like a fund earning 40% a year. Neither is true: reinvested, it has earned slightly less than QQQ, with about the same worst drawdown. An owner who spends the payouts is spending part of the principal each week.
Over the common window from January 30, 2024, GPIQ and QQQI kept more of QQQ's return while their share prices held up; the GPIQ review has those numbers. Our own replays of 0DTE SPX credit spreads found the same-day option market priced close to fair, which fits a fund that neither adds nor loses much against its index.
How we measured
Daily closing prices from Yahoo Finance through midday November 13, 2026, split adjusted. Total return reinvests each distribution on its ex-date. Each fund is compared with what it tracks on exactly the same days, from the fund's first close. No taxes or trading costs are included, and past returns do not predict future ones. This is a measurement, not advice for anyone's account.
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.