QQQI Yields You Almost 14%, but Can It Survive a Dot-Com-Style Recession?

The NEOS Nasdaq-100 High Income ETF (NASDAQ:QQQI) is one of the highest-yielding options ETFs. You get a 13.76% annual dividend yield, with monthly dividend payments. The expense ratio is bearable at 0.68%, or $68 per $10,000, and the package looks too good to say no to for many income-oriented investors

However, there’s a catch that many people don’t tell you about: the QQQI and the broader options ETF universe in general can massively drag down your total returns, with significantly more long-term risk.

The biggest risk is that these ETFs can crash hard, and after a crash, the recovery is far more drawn out.

But even with that caveat, ETFs like QQQI make sense for millions of investors. Let’s take a look at who it makes sense for and whether it can survive a Dot-Com-esque recession.

It will be an uphill battle with this ETF

The QQQI holds a Nasdaq-100 portfolio, and it has the same weights as the plain Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ), with a call-writing overlay. That structure will not collapse no matter how badly a recession hits since there’s no leverage involved here. But you could fall significantly behind the rest of the market.

Against a plain QQQ, the performance of QQQI has been neck and neck for most of its history, with a more substantial divergence after a major correction.

The first real test since QQQI’s inception was the spring 2025 selloff. After that selloff, the QQQ gained a 6% lead over QQQI in October 2025. A second selloff hit in Q1 2026, and although it was smaller, it ended up making things a lot worse.

QQQI is now up 58.5% since its inception, whereas the QQQ is up 70.4% over the same timeframe.

Each time a major downturn hits, it stings a lot more for QQQI, since it gives up some of the upside to pay those dividends and cannot recover as fast. If the AI rally bursts and Nasdaq-100 stocks tank by 75% or more, it could take many more years for the QQQI to recover vs. the QQQ.

For some investors, it will likely take decades

It took the Nasdaq-100 16 years to recover after the Dot-Com crash. For QQQI holders who are not reinvesting their dividends, it will take decades to fully recover, and this may not even happen in their lifetime.

QQQI only keeps up during rallies if you consider total return, which assumes reinvesting dividends. But if you do reinvest, the whole use case of these ETFs falls apart. The monthly dividends are the only reason you’d pay 3-4x more in expenses and take a double-digit performance haircut.

Returns on just price alone are 12.3%, meaning the plain Nasdaq-100 has outperformed you by 5.6x since QQQI’s inception. Obviously, holders have been cashing out a near-14% yield every year during this time frame, but you would’ve been ahead if you just bought the QQQ and sold 15% a year.

You should still buy, but only if you’re the investor below

If you are well into your retirement and a single-digit yield on your retirement savings is not cutting it, you can buy an options ETF like the QQQI.

Millions of investors can benefit from an instrument that returns a portion of the stock market’s gains as monthly dividends without selling off their premium. Doing the market math yourself every month is more hassle-prone than it looks, and an elderly investor is better off leaving it to the QQQI.

This specific options ETF is on the riskier end of the spectrum, but keep in mind that a crash similar to the Dot-Com one may not even happen in your lifetime. Lots of investors argue that the government no longer has the firepower (financial or political) to absorb a recession and would rather print its way out to delay a crash. You’re thus much better off holding QQQI in such an environment.

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