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What are the difference of these leverages. QQQ on margin vs QLD
QLD... Why All the Warnings to Not Hold it Long Term?
I locked myself in a box spread and levered myself at 3.33x on SPY/QQQ
Dollar cost averaging JEPI ETF and some QLD trading is keeping me afloat
Investing student loan into TQQQ? Good idea or meh
Analysis of LEAPS on Base (1x) vs Leveraged (3x) Securities
Dip Buying BackTesting - SPY & QQQ with Leveraged Accounts
Anyone just trying to match SPY with minimum drawdowns?
I need help with QLD investing (aggressive investment strategy)
What’s better: a 2x leverage ETF or a deep ITM leap that has 2x leverage on the same underlying?
Mentions
QLD is a 2x keveraged etf, and leverage in QLD resets daily. It is meant for short term trading, not long term investing as you get absolutely cooked in any market drops. Ex: QQQ vs QLD starting with $100 day 1: market up 10% QQQ at $110 QLD at $120 (2x leverage so up 20%) Day 2: market down 9% QQQ at $100.1 QLD at $98.4 (down 18%) Over time the compounding will do it's work and keep you behind an unleveraged ETF. Bull runs like the 2010s are not common and are one of the few instances leveraged ETFs actually did well in the medium term. Best bet for long term leverage is a slight amount of margin.
Ok. First question: do you know what QLD is?
Long term and you can handle massive (like straight up anxiety inducing) swings without being kept up at night? QLD. But never go 100% in anything. Always diversify.
Go for the 2x versions, QLD (NDX) or SSO (SPX). Couple with 2x long duration treasuries (UBT). Look into the HFEA strategy. We could be approaching a dovish, quantitative easing environment, so long duration bonds will appreciate in value as yields drop. I haven't executed any variation of the HFEA strategy, but I'm interested in trying now that I have a larger portfolio. I may allocate about $100K (around 13.5%) of my current total portfolio for this strategy in the next serious downturn. Or I might just chicken out and just keep buying the S&P 500 as I've always done.
Nice. I only did QLD out of kind humor. Leveraging a leveraged ETF.
No reason not to. I think most of us realize this makes more sense (especially given the erosion of our dollar and keeping up with inflation), but for most, having a levereged asset of any kind makes sleep less comfortable. I held QLD for a while and loved it. It had a good run and I thought I could time a new entry, but then it just kept going up.
I have seen all this before....saying you can't do this. But when I look at SPYU it is 400% in the 5 year. I wouldn't put all my money there....but I own a small holding of QLD long. From what I see if you hold long enough it will come back. When we have a pull back these leverage funds are the buy and hold.
Buy more QLD and GLD calls
Leverage funds like QLD, TQQQ. Of course options is huge risk/reward.
you pair the crypto short with tech longs, QLD is a safe bet
I personally would hold off for a 10% dip and put half in 3x levered index ETFs. SPXL, QLD, and UDOW and then i would invest the rest when the market moved 5% in either direction from there.
Would be better to do a 2x ETF like SSO or QLD imo.
I plan to invest in QQQ and QLD over the next three months, allocating approximately 30% to QQQ and 70% to QLD. In my view, the majority of stocks are expected to experience solid gains over the next 6–9 months
Try https://www.top3sectorportfolio.com/ They do the double Q’s QLD but go inverse QID on the dips. Overall strategy outperforms the market. Free service or go gold for $9.
So true! When he started the tariff talk in April my account was down like 30%. I sold most of my etf’s and put it into individual stocks and leveraged ETF’s like SOXL & QLD and made quite a bit. But for some reason I thought options could maybe bring me to the next tier and I’ve really been trying to learn for the past two months or so and I was doing so well generally until today…. Idk what happened, it was like a gambling itch came in and kept telling me to chase the losses and I’d see a resistance soon. And then it just kept going higher… 😔
I go deep ITM which costs a bit more, but you get more. QQQ at 400, and SPY at 500, QLD at 90. All expire in 2027.
I buy Leaps. I own QQQ, SPY and QLD calls out to 2027. I have just about doubled my money every year on these. I will sell these early next year and buy the 2028s when the come available. Have been doing this for about 6 years.
QQQ or the leveraged versions like QLD or TQQQ if you can stomach it. Hedge with gold and bonds and use a 200SMA strategy. This is the important part. Rebalance once a week or once a month.
I’ve begun defaulting to SPUU or QLD as my go to ticker. They are 2x SPY or 2x QQQ. I like LETFs a lot but I’ve had issues with individual stocks getting stuck or killed (NVDX, MSTU) but as far as I can see back tested SPY continues to rise and drawdowns are very short , even in COVID/April situations. So you get the benefits of leverage and the benefits of SPY in one
The short answer: DCA smooths your entry, it does not change the underlying drag. In leveraged structures, path matters more than price target. Averaging down does not magically fix the math of leverage. With leveraged etfs the drag comes from path dependency meaning, volatility harvests you over time because the product is forced to rebalance daily. ZEBRAs do not rebalance like an ETF, but the leverage is still there: bigger swings, faster drawdowns. If you DCA into drops, you are just increasing exposure into a falling tape. That can look brilliant if the trend resumes, or catastrophic if the drawdown persists. It is not eliminating decay, it is doubling down on timing. The reason QLD looks better than TQQQ is simply that the higher the leverage, the harsher the volatility tax. You cannot average that out of existence. You can only size smaller, or accept that leveraged bets need strong trends to survive.
TQQQ and QLD UPRO and SSO ZROZ, EDV GLD and lower ER variants CTA, KMLM, and DBMF
Pretty simple, just set up a portfolio allocation based on backtesting and personal risk preference. You just regularly rebalance to the target allocation every week or month. QLD ZROZ GLD and CTA are my recommended funds. I would use at least 60-70% QLD and the rest into the other funds.
Diversified LETFs are for long term holding. Single stock LETFs are for swing trading and shorter term plays. www.testfol.io Check returns versus regular ETFs on SSO, QLD, UPRO against stuff like SPY and QQQ. Bull runs far outpace the volatility decay and sideways losses.
I am up 53% on QLD since I bought in February of this year. It's the up and down decay that will be explained. I have read it a thousand times. If you long hold it should just be a portion of your investments....
Vol decay, try QLD or SSO. Or a portfolio with SPXL/TQQQ with other uncorrelated funds rebalanced periodically. Check out r/LETFs
TQQQ / QLD hedge 🤔
At $50k ahead this month, i just (monday) cashed out completely. I have some expensive medical bills to pay and this will definitely help. All stock choices were based on nothing but the feedback and threads that you guys in here have posted. You guys absolutely rock and thanks so much! I do think I'll jump back in, though with smaller investments on my 4 favorites and biggest earners: QLD, GOOG, SOFI and RKLB. I had small losses with UNH, SOUN ($1k loss, ouch!), and miscellaneous AI stocks, which I'll stay away from. I realize my $50k gain isn't much to many of you, but it's quite a bit for me, and will help me out with some financial difficulties I have right now. I'm going to continue to hope everyone here continues to make their biggest gains! Carry on!
QLD 70% GLD 20% ZROZ 10% Much simpler, more diversified across asset classes, with higher expected return. Combine with 200SMA switching strategy and you’ll outperform any portfolio you can come up with in terms of risk-adjusted-return.
It’s a hedged strategy already so the volatility is much lower than pure TQQQ and expected returns are higher. You will at minimum need to use QLD or SSO on the leveraged side of the portfolio to not underperform the indices.
QQQ fairly low volume dump and vix still super low. Touching 20SMA which we bounce off fairly often. I think we go up from here. Bought some QLD near close for a little swing trade.
I just bought QLD thinking it's going to bounce off the 20SMA tomorrow
You have the right idea. QLD and SSO are great leverage products in my opinion and make up 40% of my portfolio (20% each). I am doing the same thing. Gonna use them till 45 and then shift to VT/VOO or a simple 3 fund portfolio. My logic is that my risk tolerance is high thanks to a fairly stable job and high income. Also, with the next 12-15 years being my accumulation phase, I have no debt and no dependents and can hold the positions as long as required to weather any drawdowns while constantly DCAing. If you’re in a similar boat, I don’t see any argument against doing this.
My 401k is the same way. I have an extremely small amount in QLD just to test it out. But the majority of my money is in growth funds like Schg, spmo, and igm.
So there are lots of leveraged funds out there such as $QLD. They are extremely dangerous...because they magnify the downside more than the upside...and they reset daily.. Let's use an extreme example with QLD. Say the sp500 is "100". It goes from 100 to 75 on day 1. Then 75 to 100 on day 2. QQQ is fine...and is back where it started. But QLD would be down 16%. This seems crazy that movements that in the long term are neutral result in a loss...but that just illustrates how problematic these leveraged funds are. If you are interested in learning more look up "volatility decay" or "leverage trap".
There is a small group of people who holds TQQQ long term. Note that leverage product aims to produce the leveraged results per market day, not per annum. This means that a 10% drawdown a day would be 30%. Also, note that a small drawdown will require a significantly higher climb to reach breakeven. For example, a 50% drawdown will need 100% gain to recover. This principle is true everywhere but especially important in a leveraged product that has big swings both ways. Do your own math and see what your risk tolerance is. This is a very high risk, high rewards path. The wise thing would be to spread your port out between QLD, QQQ, and VOO so you arent over leveraged.
Basically increase your income as much as possible, spend as little as possible, and invest as much as possible into ETFs like QQQ and VOO. Depending on your risk appetite, young investors can take advantage of leveraged ETFs such as QLD or SSO for 2x daily leverage on QQQ and SPY for the long term.
QLD because I don't have time to monitor 200 SMA during work and then be anxious about the fact that I missed it by 2% on the way down and then 2% more on the way up.
TQQQ 200SMA for long term with bull and bear runs. QLD buy and hold wins on the 2010+ bull market.
Using today’s prices — TQQQ ≈ $92.16 and QLD ≈ $126.62 — and assuming a perfectly smooth “on‑trend” path (no extra chop), the return factors are f² for QLD and f³ for TQQQ, where f = 1.4033. That puts QLD around $249 and TQQQ around $255 in two years. Factoring in volatility ≈ $241 (QLD) and $218 (TQQQ). These are price‑only, ignore fees/splits, and they’ll move if today’s starting prices change.
Start with a simpler safer stock. QLD. 2x leverage QQQ
Are they, though? Compare 100% SPY with 90-10 SPY-QLD since QLD's inception in 2006. Is that <3% difference in max drawdown an acceptable tradeoff for the upside? https://testfol.io/?s=eWD1X3aEfDL
Yes of course. Was only referring to SSO, QLD etc. with a strong underlying
Thanks very much. But just one thing, SPMO and AVUV have no overlap at all. Completely different. SSO and QLD are super long term bets with constant DCAing and injection during drawdowns. That’s should help me come out on top during a 15 year timeframe
You're mixing solid stuff with some weird junk. VT and AVUV are fine, but SPMO is a weird smart beta play and overlaps a lot with AVUV. SSO+QLD is double trouble - you're basically layering leverage on already volatile sectors. FBTC is fine if you’re cool with potential 80% drawdowns. Check this breakdown of your allocation: https://www.insightfol.io/en/portfolios/report/2423193b43/
Primarily VOO and QQQM, but I also have JEPQ, a few CEFs and also QLD and SSO. I may dump SSO in favor of SPMO.
“Experts” will always tell you to avoid these and they are only meant for short term trades but like you said, when you see the charts for something like QLD, you can do very well IF you can control your emotions and not freak the fuck out - see the chart from Nov to April 8 this year…could you have held or even added more? Hint, overlay with the VIX to get a better panic indicator.
I own a small amount of QLD holding long, and I am up a bit. Just testing the waters I guess.
yep. 3x is terrible long term. QLD does better than TQQQ at 2x leverage. SOXL is even worse.
There are many strategies you can use. You could buy 50% leveraged and rebalance quarterly,6month/yearly. Also watch QLD or TQQQ. Another strategy you can use is when the market drops 25% or more Swap from SPY to TQQQ. If you got 100k -25% drop is 75k left, swap to 3x like TQQQ, the market needs 34% up to be back at previous ath. But if you are in a 3x you get 102% return(minus the decay) but this would turn your 75k in 150k when you would have normally 100k back. Then after ath is reached swap back to 2x or unleveraged. Visit LETF or TQQQ for more info
I don't know man... you may feel right because the market is up and you are looking from the top of the world, but how do you justify COST with a PE of 53, WMT of 41, SBUX of 38. People are also buying TQQQ, QLD on every dip. The presence of so many leveraged ETF just on one stock: ROBN, PLTG... and more. Just close your eyes and buy the dip is not correct. This just feel like the dotcom bubble again. Except I don't know when that big correction will come.
I trade so I’ve only held this position for like 2-3 months. I would not leverage crypto to hold long term, just for general movement during a bull run. Stuff like QLD TQQQ SSO and UPRO are much better long term holds due to less volatility
QLD. You put 100 or even a few grand and the market takes a dump your out a couple hundred bucks. Take bigger risks since you are early on.
WTF ?!?! - AUS QLD LNG goes to South Korea - there are 3 huge LNG plants off the central coast that supports them. This is BS that they are going to drag shit from US when its just around the corner in AUS.
Blown away by the variety of combos here, some of you are going full tilt with IBIT and QLD, others sticking to the classics like VTI and VYM. I’ve actually been curating Top 10 ETF lists by theme (dividend, growth, international, etc.) to make it easier to build combos like this. If anyone’s looking for mix and match ideas, I’ve got the lists up at impartoo dot com — ranked, clean, no clutter. Always open to ETF combo debates if anyone wants to swap thoughts.
This aged like milk already with a HUGE MSFT beat and new 52 week ATH for QLD after hours
For medium volatility: SHCG, VTI, QQQM For high volatility (and higher reward): QLD, GOVZ, BTAL rebalanced every 1-3 months.
It seems value investing and stock picking was a complete waste of time. I would've made the same amount of money just holding QQQs or made a ton more buying the 2x leverage ETF QLD.
Take a look at VUG - it's the market growth index fund. With a slightly higher risk than VOO it recovers nicely from dips and grows faster. I have about 50/50 VOO/VUG. allocation for 80% of my investment. Rest is funny money, like 2x leveraged SSO QLD USD and some single stocks like NVDA
SPY QQQ psst, did you know about TSLL and QLD?
I agree with the VOO and chill method. If you want to allocate into a bit more risk for whatever reason, you can add a bit of QLD (2x QQQ) or SSO (2x SPY) for a bit of leverage.
SSO or QLD and chill. This is not financial advice.
Happens to everyone. Just buy QLD and forget it. Selling and buying back is the biggest mistake. Common
QLD, HOOD, NADL , MSTU : Keeping my position heavy—no plans to reduce yet
You're definitely leaning into US growth and momentum, which fits the "aggressive" bill, but it’s also pretty one-sided: 100% US equities, no international, no bonds, no sector balance. QLD adds extra risk on top of already risky bets. If you're chasing FI by 40, adding more diversification might save you if growth underperforms. Here's a breakdown of your portfolio: [https://www.insightfol.io/en/portfolios/report/39d90779dd/](https://www.insightfol.io/en/portfolios/report/39d90779dd/)
You’re already pretty growth-tilted VUG + QLD gives you serious upside. If you want to go more aggressive, maybe dial up QLD slightly or add some EM like VWO for non-US exposure.
QLD, HOOD, NADL , MSTU : Keeping my position heavy—no plans to reduce yet
Yes, but drawdowns are brutal, both financially and psychologically. I was in the LETF sub during the April drawdown and many people who thought they can withstand a 20% drawdown (\~60% for them), panicked and sold low, only to rebuy higher. Don't overestimate your psychological resiliency until you have gone through it yourself. I think the sweet spot for leveraged ETFs is 2x, I hold QLD. The 3x ETFs I do like to trade, but don't hold long-term.
QLD is xlnt. The reason the triple leverage is tough is the drawdowns. Best for those who don’t check their accounts
Needs some QLD and some NVDL
QQQ and QLD are ETFs, so they rarely pass out capital‑gain distributions thanks to the in‑kind creation/redemption mechanism. You typically owe tax only on the quarterly dividends (qualified for the most part) plus whatever capital gain you realise when you eventually sell. By contrast, FXAIX is an open‑end mutual fund that must distribute any realised gains each December, so an otherwise identical holding in a taxable brokerage can create an annual tax bill even if you never sell.
Compare your return to QQQ and QLD.
I bought some QLD down -120 pts on Nasdaq 100 futures. Sold the shares a coupke hours later.
I haven’t touched any leveraged ETFs, though you’ve certainly got my attention and I will be looking into QLD. Thanks for taking the time to respond, lots of bits of info for me to look further into.
Why QLD can make a compelling “best‑ETF” argument QLD gives you a clean, daily‑reset 2× exposure to the Nasdaq‑100, meaning every 1 % move in the index aims for roughly a 2 % move in your favor without the hassle (or interest cost) of margin borrowing. Because it is only 2×, it avoids much of the volatility drag that plagues 3× products while still delivering meaningful torque to big secular themes like AI, cloud, and semiconductor growth.   Over time that balanced leverage has paid off: QLD’s 10‑year compound annual return sits near 29 %, dwarfing the S&P 500’s ~11 % over the same span, and it has roughly $9 billion in assets with a tight 0.95 % expense ratio, keeping trading spreads thin and liquidity abundant for both shares and options.   Put differently, QLD offers a “sweet‑spot” blend of outsized upside, deep liquidity, and manageable day‑to‑day swings compared with 3× funds like TQQQ, making it a powerful single‑ticket choice for investors who already have high conviction in the tech‑heavy Nasdaq‑100 and are willing to monitor a leveraged position. Just remember that any geared ETF magnifies losses as well as gains, so position sizing and periodic rebalancing remain essential. 
Thanks for the tip, will look into this! What gives you this confidence in QLD? Would love to discover some information that made me feel the same :)
Added to the list for afternoon reading - thank you! What makes QLD your one main recommendation? Love the confidence, inspire me to feel the same way!
It’s so cute when bears short my QLD. Awww, maybe next time, buddy! That’ll be 10¢
Your age? Ratio of assets to income? You’re not diversified at all, you’re essentially 100% equities. This is not an issue if you are young and you have a small portfolio, but if you are older then this isn’t looking great. If you want a high risk exposure, you can do it more intelligently using leveraged ETFs such as QLD or SSO (2x). An equivalent portfolio could be 50% SSO, 4% IBIT, and 46% bonds, gold, HYSA, whatever you want. Far more diversified.
QLD? Not sure you have actually left hell yet.
All in? Absolutely not, but I do hold some QLD and SSO. Combined, they're about 15%.
VOO VT QQQM and SCHD basically all overlap with each other. You can condense into just VOO pretty much or QQQM for NASDAQ. Diversify into multiple asset classes such as gold, long dated US bonds, and managed futures. They should be a small percent of the portfolio. If your equity exposure is too low for your risk appetite you can use LETFs such as SSO/QLD (2x) or even UPRO/TQQQ (3x)
I was looking into something similar to improve my existing strategy but seeing SSO trails SMH (safer for buynhold, nonleverage) so I wasn't exactly impressed with holding leveraged etfs. If you want to try, and it is the best I have found so far is using a spy signal instead of qqq signal, and exactly close above or below 200 day moving average, and not 5% or 3%. Also, you want to trade with QLD instead of TQQQ. I found this to be tolerable. I'm still thinking about it.
I like the levered ETFs UDOW, SPXL, and QLD.
I would do this if I was 70 years old...... If I wanted growth I would go QQQ/QLD.
The real question that should be asked to all the people saying "the decay is going to kill you, don't do it!!!", is the following: If the decay is the reason you don't do the leverage 3x for TQQQ/SPXL, why would you not take advantage of that decay and play the 3x LETF inverted fund pf SQQQ? Easy money....but they still don't do it because..... decay! It's a buzzword. Leverage yourself properly, do some studies, and you'll find that 1x leverage can readily be outperformed on a YoY basis using an optimized (based on years of data and study) leverage factory of about 2.2. QLD
SSO and QLD, buy and hold
Any portfolio without leverage or leveraged ETFs is not aggressive. 100% VOO or QQQ is inefficient and dumb, take 60% QLD or SSO with 40% CTA for example. 120% stock exposure with 40% hedge for better CAGR and less volatility at the same time.
I would argue any investment without leverage is NOT aggressive. 120%+ stocks minimum is where it’s aggressive, so minimum 60% QLD or SSO. This still leaves you with 40% to hedge with and is much smarter than 100% VOO or QQQ. Better CAGR and less volatility.
Hi, I'm early in my tech career (<1 yr) and would like to start investing for my future. I consider myself to be high risk tolerant as I still have a lot of time until I retire, and would like to focus on high growth rather than trying to be too conservative in bearish market. I'm thinking of spreading it like below: QLD 40% SCHD 40% MMF 10% (for emergency fund/easy withdrawal) VGT 10% I have no intention of pulling out QLD as its long term performance is great despite it being a leveraged etf, but am little worried that QLD and VGT has a lot of overlap.. Thought of replacing VGT with something else (e.g. vxus) but that brought the volatility down by less than 1% in trade of losing more than 1% of annualized growth. What do you think of my portfolio? Any suggestions?
For high risk tolerance and long timeframes usually 100% equities isn’t the best you can do. Put a portion into QLD or SSO and go beyond 100% equity. This DOES NOT mean you have ONLY equities and nothing else. It just means you’re beyond 100% equity exposure but you should have other things in your portfolio such as gold or managed futures to hedge out risk and allow you to still rebalance and purchase equities during downturns.
Long hold on QLD is not using leverage....the ETF uses leverage. I wouldn't own these on borrowed money, but feel it is a decent hold.
Since 2010 TQQQ is +16000%. QLD is +7350%. I trade TQQQ.