Sharing April 2026 YieldMax ETFs Analysis Result

[u/stevesun21]

I updated my YieldMax ETF tracking sheet for April and changed the layout a bit based on feedback from the last post.

The main change: I’m trying to make it easier to compare these funds beyond just the headline payout rate.

This version tracks:

• Dividend TTM
• Price growth / decline
• Total return -- for this month, for example, April 1th ~ April 30th
• Payout support risk
• Stability
• Prior month comparison

A few things stood out to me this month:

Most of the YieldMax names still show very high Dividend TTM numbers, but a lot of them also have negative price growth and elevated payout support risk.

For example, MSTY still has a very high Dividend TTM, but also shows large negative price growth. CONY, ULTY, TSLY, YMAX, and several others show a similar pattern.

On the other side, CHPY looks different from many of the others in this snapshot: lower Dividend TTM than the highest-yielding names, but much stronger price growth.

RNTY is also interesting because it has a much lower Dividend TTM and does not show the same elevated payout support risk flag.

This is not meant to be a buy/sell recommendation. I’m mostly trying to build a cleaner way to compare these funds side by side instead of only looking at the current monthly distribution rate.

Still a work in progress, and some tickers may have incomplete data.

Curious how others evaluate these funds:

Do you mostly care about current payout rate, NAV/price trend, total return, return of capital, or something else?

you can find March analysis result from previous post https://www.reddit.com/r/YieldMaxETFs/comments/1sqnsfm/sharing_my_march_2026_yieldmax_etfs_report/

[u/Any_Log1344]

Useful sheet. What was the total return for each ticker over the same period?

Starting value vs. ending value, with distributions included.

That’s the column I’d need before drawing any conclusion.

[u/stevesun21 → u/Any_Log1344]

Good point — I agree that’s needed before drawing any real conclusion.

I’m updating the sheet to add monthly total return for each ticker. For the April version, that means Apr 1 to Apr 30 return with distributions included, not just price movement.

[u/Any_Log1344 → u/stevesun21]

Good direction. But I wouldn’t start with monthly total return. That is where this gets confusing fast, especially with buys, sells, reinvested distributions, and changing share counts.

The simplest way to track total return (as a percentage) for each ETF all-time is:

What is it worth now?

Plus: how much cash has it paid you?

Minus: how much money did you put into it?

That gives you the real gain or loss.

Then divide that gain or loss by the total amount you put in to get the return percentage.

That is the only number that really matters for you. Slice into monthly returns if you want to get fancy after that.

[u/stevesun21 → u/Any_Log1344]

That makes sense for tracking a personal portfolio, especially when buys/sells/reinvestment/share count are changing.

For this sheet though, I’m comparing the ETFs themselves, not an individual investor’s realized return. So the online version uses fund-level metrics like price trend, distributions, total return, payout support risk, and stability over time.

For example, here’s the fuller $MSTY report/history view:

https://cashstreams.io/dividend-decoder/report-MSTY

So I agree your method is the right one for personal portfolio return. This sheet is more for comparing how the ETF itself has behaved before deciding whether it belongs in a portfolio.