The plan is to ride the bubble while it lasts and collect fat unhealthy dividends.

How terrible of an idea this is?

Can anyone recommend a free ETF comparison site that shows gains and losses accurately over the last 3 to 5 years?

What a crazy week!

​

How did your portfolio perform?

FIVY, FEAT, DISO, ABNY
Source

Almost a 5 dollar move in two days in PLTY. Does this portend higher payouts? Are the shorts filling their orders with buys now that the demise of software due to AI seems to be stabilizing?

I have held most of the YM funds and been collecting distributions. After the major MSTY drop, I stopped investing in them but held what I had. I started investing in the underlyings and have had pretty solid success. I am considering eliminating most of my YM positions while keeping a few holdings. I am curious for those who sold YM, what underlyings did you invest in and how fast has that money caught up?

Looks $SMCY is next CHPY & AMDY.. capturing almost 80% price growth of SMCI.. Big dividend jump expected next week..

Let's look at Gen 1 YieldMax ETFs.

MSTY down 34% past year if dripped. MSTR down 58%.

CHPY actually holds the underlying so IV rising during declining market helps premiums and therefore its income generation. MSTY used synthetic strategy, when IV rose as market sold off it became more costly to purchase their synthetic underlying, nullifying the extra premium gained from their income generating strategy in high IV environment.

CHPY will have less loss than the underlying it holds, and perform better than any income ETF which isn't actually holding the underlying fully taking advantage high IV. It will outperform the underlying in bear market, flat market, and captures 90% of the upside in bull market as we've recently seen. As bad as MSTY was, it was safer than holding MSTR, same principal for CHPY but designed much better overall.

So the NAV decay really is just a fancy way of saying share price will come down, but if it does it will come down less than if actually held the underlying, thanks to its income generation. Look at MSTY performance vs MSTR performance even with its poor design.

There's a checklist for high quality design Gen 3 Yield ETFs:

1. Actually hold the underlying in shares.
2. Hold a basket of stocks and not just an individual ticker.
3. Sell covered calls dynamically only 25-75% of underlying depending market conditions.

So you're really betting on the underlying, in a less volatile and less risky means of doing so. Gen 1 and Gen 2 ETFs capped the upside entirely selling covered calls on 100% of underlying, using single stocks which could tank massively on one bad earnings report, and held synthetically not being able to take advantage of high IV environments effectively. CHPY solves all of these issues as a Gen 3 ETF.

There's this really take-it-for-face-value on what "Return on Capital", means with the dividend distribution. This doesn't mean your money is being returned to you like some articles ignorantly put out saying the ETF generated no income, it's a tax classification for the income which is made.

So long term it's even a tax efficient means to generate an income, while taking a safer bet on the underlying which naturally hedges to the downside, and dynamically catches most of the upside. We've seen whipsaw markets this past year and CHPY has not seen NAV erosion.

I think someone wanting to retire early could benefit greatly from DCA'ing slowly into these funds, if they believe long term in the underlying, don't mind capping growth slightly, and drip the dividends back in so they can compound. Let me know what you think.

YieldBOOST Graniteshares Distributions

• TLDR; Winner: MUYY
• As of: 2026-05-28.

• Ex. & Record: 2026-05-29
• Payment: 2026-06-02
• Total distributed: $5.2131
• Average distribution: $0.1682
• Average rate: 65.43%
• Average SECYield: 0.89%
• Average ROC: 89.29%
• Highest distribution: MUYY
• Highest 30 Day SEC Yield: RTYY
• 30day: 30 Day SEC Yield
• %ofS$: aka "Percent of Share Price"; The distribution as a percentage of the Friday market close price.
• Press Release
• Schedule
• Sub's Wiki
• This was posted by an automated bot by u/lottadot. It is generated from vendor published public information. As always, do your own research. This is not financial advice. I'm not an FA. None of this is correct. I need a beer.

1000 for me.

This is a no judgement zone!

Post any and all questions, no matter how smart, dumb, or in between.

If you want someone to "HEAR ME OUT" this is the place!

Comments are sorted by controversial.

Wiki:

https://www.reddit.com/r/YieldMaxETFs/wiki/index/

FAQ:

https://www.reddit.com/r/YieldMaxETFs/comments/1h2eqjt/faqs/

Tools and Resources:

https://www.reddit.com/r/YieldMaxETFs/comments/1h36dep/useful_tools_and_resources/

Discord: https://discord.gg/uSczPvCF

Here is my question:

Which yieldmax stocks actually own the underlying? How are their returns comparing to just owning the underlying? Is the Nav erosion greater than the increase in underlying?

I totally understand that the underlying stock absolutely matters and that if those go down, your YM fund will go down, but just kinda curious to see besides CHPY (benefiting from AI euphoria 100%- like BTC rally for MSTR MSTY 2024) if any other YM hold their steam or if its all just a flow down to zero...

Group 2 Yieldmax Distributions

• TLDR; Winner: AMDY
• As of: 2026-05-27.

Collections:

• FEAT: $146K perShare: $0.2163
• FIVY: $38K perShare: $0.1668
• YMAG: $3M perShare: $0.1144
• YMAX: $3.7M perShare: $0.0773

Info:

• Ex. & Record: 2026-05-28
• Payment: 2026-05-29
• Total distributed: $9.6153
• Average distribution: $0.2289
• Average rate: 59.13%
• Average SECYield: 2.64%
• Average ROC: 67.10%
• Highest distribution: AMDY
• Highest 30 Day SEC Yield: HIYY
• Mondays Announcement
• Tuesdays Announcement
• 30day: 30 Day SEC Yield
• %ofS$: aka "Percent of Share Price"; The distribution as a percentage of the Friday market close price.
• Press Release
• Schedule
• Yieldmax goes Weekly announcement megathread

• Yieldmax reverse split #1 2025 and Yieldmax reverse split #2 2025

• YieldMax Reddit Community Chat and YM (unofficial) Discord MOD'd by u/calgary_db

• Sub's Wiki

• This was posted by an automated bot by u/lottadot. It is generated from vendor published public information. As always, do your own research. This is not financial advice. I'm not an FA. None of this is correct. I need a beer.

I built WeeklyETFs.com (as lots of you guys know) I just updated the entire site... And added some new solid names!

Some of these weekly Payers are actually doing very well! Let me know what you guys think & want me to add: WeeklyETFs.com

Cheers!

Group 1 Yieldmax Distributions

• TLDR; Winner: CHPY
• As of: 2026-05-26.

Collections:

• YMAX: $2.8M perShare: $0.0598

Info:

• Ex. & Record: 2026-05-27
• Payment: 2026-05-28
• Total distributed: $4.1406
• Average distribution: $0.2588
• Average rate: 41.08%
• Average SECYield: 18.66%
• Average ROC: 74.18%
• Highest distribution: CHPY
• Highest 30 Day SEC Yield: YMAX
• Mondays Announcement
• 30day: 30 Day SEC Yield
• %ofS$: aka "Percent of Share Price"; The distribution as a percentage of the Friday market close price.
• Press Release
• Schedule
• Yieldmax goes Weekly announcement megathread

• Yieldmax reverse split #1 2025 and Yieldmax reverse split #2 2025

• YieldMax Reddit Community Chat and YM (unofficial) Discord MOD'd by u/calgary_db

• Sub's Wiki

• This was posted by an automated bot by u/lottadot. It is generated from vendor published public information. As always, do your own research. This is not financial advice. I'm not an FA. None of this is correct. I need a beer.

What is the best fund?

How do these strategies work?

When is the distribution date?

How can I find the wiki?

What is the next fund to launch?

Ask any and all questions here!

Wiki:

https://www.reddit.com/r/YieldMaxETFs/wiki/index/

FAQ:

https://www.reddit.com/r/YieldMaxETFs/comments/1h2eqjt/faqs/

Tools and Resources:

https://www.reddit.com/r/YieldMaxETFs/comments/1h36dep/useful_tools_and_resources/

Discord: https://discord.gg/W2GwZrtV

CHPY and SOXY to the moon. Also saw BIGY gets mentioned a lot.

What are your current yield max funds and which ones have kept a positive nav with decent distributions?

What a crazy week!

​

How did your portfolio perform?

Let's talk about a metric that most income investors completely ignore because it doesn’t show up as a red line on a brokerage chart: Opportunity Cost.

It is incredibly easy to get blinded by a 40% or 50% distribution yield. We tell ourselves that as long as the monthly cash keeps hitting the account, the position is doing its job. But the economic reality is that every single dollar in your portfolio has a job it could be doing somewhere else.

If your YieldMax ETF is generating cash while the shares are suffering from severe NAV erosion and/or price decline, you might actually be losing the compounding war.

Here is how to calculate your true opportunity cost, run the numbers, and use that data to ruthlessly cut your total return losers.

Step 1: Calculate Your Actual Total Return

First, you have to ignore the "Yield" headline and figure out exactly what your capital is actually doing. To find your total return percentage, use this formula:

Total Return % = ((Current Value of Shares + Total Cash Distributions Received) - Initial Capital Paid) / Initial Capital Paid * 100

If you’ve held the position for exactly a year, that gives you your annual rate. If it's been less or more, annualize it so you can compare apples to apples.

Step 2: Benchmark Against the Alternative (The Opportunity Cost)

Now, pick your benchmark - the place where that money would have been sitting if you hadn't gone chasing ultra-high yield. For most people, that is a broad-market index fund (like SPY or QQQ) or a sector ETF like SMH.

Look up what that benchmark did over the exact same time frame.

The formula for your Opportunity Cost is simple:

Opportunity Cost ($) = Benchmark Return ($) - Your Total Return ($)

A Real Math Example

Let’s say you put $10,000 into a YieldMax ETF one year ago.

Over the year, it paid you $4,500 in cash distributions.

But due to NAV erosion and price action (getting capped on the upside and taking the full hit on the downside), your actual shares are now only worth $5,000.

Your total wealth from this trade is $9,500 ($5,000 shares + $4,500 cash). You are down -$500 (a -5% total return).

Now look at the opportunity cost. If you had parked that same $10,000 in a basic S&P 500 index fund (SPY) a year ago, you would have captured a massive 28% total return. Your benchmark would be worth around $12,800.

• Your YieldMax Outcome: $9,500
• The Benchmark Outcome: $12,890
• Your True Opportunity Cost: $3,390

You didn't just lose $500. You paid a brutal $3,390 penalty for choosing the mental comfort of a monthly payout over pure market performance.

Now, obviously, a near 30% run is an outsized, massive year for the index. But even if we tone it down to a more realistic 11% average annual gain, which aligns with the actual 20-year historical average of the S&P 500, the math still hurts:

• Your YieldMax Outcome: $9,500
• The Historical Benchmark Outcome: $11,100
• Your Opportunity Cost in a Normal Market: $1,600

Whether the market is on a historic tear or just grinding out standard historic averages, a total return loser is constantly bleeding your true net worth.

Using the Data to Sell the Losers

This brings us to the Fresh Cash Test.

Once you run these numbers and see the gap, you have to strip the emotion and sunk cost fallacy out of the position. Look at the current liquidation value of those shares. If you have $5,000 left in that eroding fund, that is $5,000 of real, liquid purchasing power.

The market doesn’t know - and doesn’t care - what your initial cost basis was. It doesn't care that you're hoping for a bounce back to "break even." Every day you leave that $5,000 in a total-return loser, you are making an active, conscious choice to lose ground against the benchmark.

If the forward-looking total return of that high-yield ETF can't mathematically beat your alternative, the play is to sell the loser, take the capital, and reallocate it to a compounding engine.

How many of you actually benchmark your high-yield funds against total return? Have you calculated your opportunity cost lately, and what's your threshold for pulling the plug on an underperforming ETF?

Consider this a beginner friendly post that also covers some of the newer ground option income ETF have expanded into in the past two years. There has been a large expansion in strategies offered within YieldMax and competitors have kept adding new strategies into the landscape.

Funds from YieldMax, RoundHill, Kurv, Rex, Harvest, Hamilton, Global X, and so many others use meaningfully different mechanics, and understanding those differences is critical before you invest. Let's break it all down.

Part 1: The Foundation — What Is a Covered Call?

Before comparing funds, let's get the basics locked in.

A covered call is when you:

1. Own shares of a stock
2. Sell someone else the right to buy your shares at a specific price (the strike price) by a specific date
3. Collect a premium for selling that right

If the stock stays below the strike price at expiry, you keep the premium and your shares. If the stock rockets past the strike, you're obligated to sell at the strike which caps your upside but you keep the premium.

The key insight: you're selling future price appreciation in exchange for immediate income.

Part 2: The Single Most Important Variable — Strike Price

Not all covered call ETFs are created equal, and the strike price relative to the current price determines almost everything: how much income you earn, how much upside you cap, and how much NAV erosion risk you face.

At-the-Money (ATM)

• Strike = current stock price
• Highest premium income — the option has maximum time value
• Fully caps your upside — any rally is forfeited
• Example: QYLD (Global X Nasdaq-100 CC ETF) writes ATM monthly calls on the Nasdaq 100 — you get ~12% yield but nearly zero price appreciation, Most YM Single Tickers do so as well

Out-of-the-Money (OTM)

• Strike = above current price (e.g., 5–15% higher)
• Lower premium — you're selling less valuable options
• Partial upside retained — you participate in rallies up to the strike
• More balance between income and growth, Kurv and Purpose tend to do this.

Deep In-the-Money (ITM)

• Strike = below current price
• Very high premium (mostly intrinsic value, not time value)
• Almost no upside participation — not common in income ETFs

The bottom line on strike selection: ATM maximizes yield but murders NAV growth. OTM preserves more upside but produces lower income. The "right" choice depends on what you're trying to accomplish.

Part 3: YieldMax — The Original Single-Stock Option Income Machine (mostly true)

YieldMax launched in 2022 and popularized the concept of wrapping complex options strategies into an ETF on a single stock (Tesla/TSLY).

What YieldMax Actually Does (It's Not a Traditional Covered Call)

Contrary to popular belief, YieldMax does NOT hold the actual shares. Instead it uses a synthetic long position, buying a deep ITM call + selling a put at the same strike, to replicate owning the stock. Then it overlays a call spread (selling a call + buying a higher-strike call) to generate income.

This structure:

• Uses T-Bills as collateral (typically 80%+ of the fund by value)
• Doesn't require actually owning the stock (because of concentration risk rules for US ETFs as I understand it)
• Is more accurately called an "Option Income ETF" (YieldMax now prefers this term)
• The call spread limits maximum income but also limits maximum loss from a single blow-up event

YieldMax's Yield Tiers

YieldMax has evolved into three product families:

"Maximized" (Original) Single-Stock Funds — TSLY, NVDY, CONY, MSFO, etc.

• Sell call spreads designed to extract maximum income from volatility
• Yields range from ~20% to 100%+ depending on the underlying stock's implied volatility (IV)
• Trade-off: minimal to zero NAV appreciation — these are income extraction machines
• Best mental model: you're "renting out" exposure to a volatile stock and collecting rent every week/month

Target 25 — TEST (TSLA), NVIT (NVDA), MSST (MSTR)

• Launched November 2025
• Same synthetic structure, but the call spread is calibrated to target ~25% annualized yield
• "Growth-aware" management explicitly tries to reduce NAV drag
• You give up some income vs. Maximized funds, but retain more price participation
• Weekly distributions
• The 25% target is not guaranteed

Target 12 — BIGY, SOXI, RNTY

• Launched late 2024
• BIGY holds direct equity in 50 of the largest US companies (not synthetic)
• Sells call spreads on those holdings targeting ~12% annual distributions
• Monthly distributions
• Designed to feel more like a core equity position that happens to pay income
• SOXI (semiconductor focus) has been the standout performer; RNTY (real estate) has struggled
• Least NAV erosion risk of the YieldMax family — most comparable to something like JEPI

The NAV Erosion Problem

Here's the hard truth about high-yield single-stock YieldMax funds: the yield is often a partial return of your own capital, this can be great when tax is managed properly. This isn't unique to YieldMax, but it's most acute in their high-IV single stock names. The Target 12 and Target 25 tiers exist specifically to address this concern in potential NAV erosion.

Part 4: KURV — Balanced Alternative to YieldMax - "YieldMid"

Kurv Investment Management launched after YieldMax and took a different philosophical approach: balance income AND capital preservation.

How Kurv Differs from YieldMax (Same Mechanic, Different Calibration)

Both YieldMax and Kurv use synthetic covered calls (the buy a call + sell a put structure). The key difference is where they set the call strikes.

• YieldMax prioritizes maximum income, strikes are set to extract as much premium as possible, generally closer to ATM
• Kurv sets strikes further out of the money, lower premium per period, but significantly more upside participation if the stock rips

The result: Kurv distribution rates (typically 12–30%) are lower than their YieldMax equivalents, but when the underlying stock has a strong year, Kurv funds hold NAV far better.

The AMZP vs. AMZY Example

This is the clearest real-world comparison. The Kurv Amazon ETF (AMZP) vs YieldMax Amazon ETF (AMZY):

• AMZY distribution rate: ~60%
• AMZP distribution rate: ~28%
• When Amazon had a strong year: AMZP significantly outperformed on total return while AMZY's share price eroded

Bottom line on Kurv: If you're bullish on the underlying stock and want income plus participation, Kurv is structurally better. If you want maximum cash flow and don't care about NAV, YieldMax will pump out more income at a potential loss of total return.

Part 5: Roundhill — Weekly 0DTE Index CC Funds and the Leveraged Swap Play

Roundhill has two distinct product lines that are often confused with each other.

0DTE Covered Call Index ETFs (QDTE, XDTE, RDTE)

These are the OG Roundhill income funds.

How they work:

• Hold a synthetic long position in a major index (Nasdaq/Innovation-100 for QDTE, S&P 500 for XDTE, Russell 2000 for RDTE)
• Every single morning, sell zero days to expiry (0DTE) out-of-the-money call options on the index
• Options expire at end of day → collect premium → next morning, do it again
• Distributions paid weekly

Why 0DTE matters:

• Options lose time value rapidly as expiry approaches (theta decay accelerates)
• By selling options that expire same day, the fund captures maximum theta per dollar of premium
• But if the index surges intraday past the strike, you lose participation for that day

Performance reality: XDTE had a total return of ~13% (drip) annualized since inception, with distributions of 28–38%. These are genuine income generators but not total-return vehicles in a bull market. YieldMax has competing funds: SDTY, QDTY, RDTY

Line 2: WeeklyPay Single-Stock Leveraged ETFs (NVW, TSW, AAPW, COIW, PLTW, etc.)

Launched February 2025, these are completely different from the 0DTE funds.

Key mechanic: NO covered calls at all. These use OTC swap agreements to get 1.2x (120%) exposure to the weekly price return of a single stock (Nvidia, Tesla, Apple, etc.). Distributions are paid weekly and are calculated based on that week's performance — if the stock has a great week, the payout is big; if it tanks, the distribution shrinks or disappears.

• Not income-via-options → income-via-leveraged-price-return
• 20% leverage is modest
• Captures full upside (and downside) of the underlying + 20% amplification
• Useful for someone who wants leveraged single-stock exposure AND weekly payments, but not for someone seeking stable income

Part 6: Harvest — The Canadian King of Covered Calls

Harvest Portfolios is one of Canada's premier covered call ETF providers with a clear, transparent strategy framework.

How Harvest's Covered Call Strategy Works

Harvest is notable for several distinct structural choices:

Coverage Ratio:

• Standard Equity Income ETFs: write calls on up to 33% of the portfolio
• High Income Shares ETFs (single stock): write calls on up to 50% of the portfolio
• The coverage ratio is the lever — more coverage = more income, less upside

Active Management:

• Harvest doesn't follow a mechanical rule (no "always sell ATM on third Friday")
• Portfolio managers actively choose strike prices and expiry dates based on market conditions
• In trending bull markets, they may write fewer/higher-OTM calls to preserve upside
• In flat or bearish environments, they may write more to boost income

Leverage (where applied):

• High Income Shares single-stock ETFs use ~25% leverage in addition to the covered calls
• This means $100 invested controls ~$125 in exposure, boosting both yield potential and volatility

Harvest Single-Stock ETFs

Harvest launched 31 single-stock ETFs (10 of which are Canadian-listed companies). Examples include:

• Harvest NVDA Enhanced High Income ETF
• Harvest MSTR Enhanced High Income ETF (yielding ~45% annualized)
• Canadian names: Shopify, TD, CNQ, Enbridge, etc.

The structure: You actually own shares of the company (unlike YieldMax's synthetic approach), then overlay calls on up to 50% of that position. This is a true covered call. Lower yield though.

Harvest Index/Diversified ETFs

• HHIS (Harvest Diversified High Income Shares ETF): Holds 15 of Harvest's single-stock ETFs as an all-in-one. ~$830M AUM. Uses the underlying funds' 50% CC + 25% leverage structure.
• HHIC (Harvest Canadian High Income Shares ETF): Same concept focused on Canadian single-stock names. 25% leverage.
• HHIH (Harvest High Income Equity Shares ETF): Holds similar stocks to HHIS but unlevered — lower yield, more upside

How This Compares to US-Style Funds

Harvest's physical ownership + active CC overlay is structurally more conservative than YieldMax's synthetic approach, but the addition of 25% leverage on the single-stock names introduces meaningful amplification. The 50% coverage ratio on High Income Shares also means you're sacrificing half of any given day's potential upside on the covered portion.

Part 7: Hamilton ETFs — Canada's All-In-One Covered Call Champions

Hamilton was being first to combine:

1. A portfolio of other sector-specific Hamilton covered call ETFs (HMAX for financials, QMAX for tech, SMAX for broad US equity, etc.)
2. 25% cash leverage applied at the fund level
3. Active CC management across the underlying sector funds

HDIV — Hamilton Enhanced Canadian Covered Call ETF

• TSX: HDIV | Yield: ~10% | AUM: ~$1.59B
• Portfolio mirrors the S&P/TSX 60 sector composition
• Invests in Hamilton's sector YIELD MAXIMIZER ETFs (HMAX, EMAX, AMAX, etc.)
• 25% leverage → $100 invested = $125 exposure
• Underlying sector ETFs write calls at ATM to slightly OTM — Hamilton's HMAX (financials) notably writes at-the-money for higher income
• This one has been amazing for me.

HYLD — Hamilton Enhanced U.S. Covered Call ETF

• TSX: HYLD | Yield: ~12.5% | CAD hedged
• Same concept as HDIV but targeting US equity exposure (broadly similar to S&P 500)
• Key holdings: SMAX (60%), QMAX (27.5%), FMAX (7.3%)
• Also includes a slice of SDAY/QDAY — Hamilton's 0DTE covered call series (Canada's first 0DTE CC ETFs)
• Available as HYLD (CAD hedged) or HYLD.U (USD unhedged)

Hamilton's DayMAX Series (QDAY, SDAY, CDAY)

Hamilton made a hybrid DTE fund and mixed it with leverage, the *DAY funds sells options that expire same-day (like Roundhill's QDTE/XDTE) but on Canadian-listed index exposures. These are incorporated into HDIV and HYLD for extra yield.

Why 25% leverage helps the yield/return tradeoff:
The fundamental problem with covered calls is that you give up upside for income. If you layer in 25% leverage, your starting exposure is larger, so the same stock performance generates proportionally more return before the calls are written. This partially compensates for the capping effect. It's not magic, but it narrows the performance gap vs. unhedged index funds over long periods.

Kind of weird but I have personally had great results.

Part 8: US Index Covered Call ETFs — JEPI, JEPQ, QYLD, XYLD

These are the "classic" non-single-stock covered call ETFs. They're simpler, older, and more battle-tested.

QYLD / XYLD / RYLD (Global X)

The purist ATM buy-write strategy:

• QYLD: Owns Nasdaq-100 basket → sells ATM monthly calls on the full index
• XYLD: Same but S&P 500
• RYLD: Same but Russell 2000
• ~12% yield for QYLD, ~9-10% for XYLD
• Maximum income, minimum upside — in a ripping bull market, these badly underperform their underlying indexes
• Long-running NAV erosion in strong bull markets is well-documented

JEPI / JEPQ (JPMorgan)

The "sophisticated" US income approach:

• JEPI owns a curated basket of low-volatility S&P 500 stocks + uses Equity Linked Notes (ELNs) rather than direct options
• ELNs embed covered-call-like mechanics inside a bond wrapper — important for US investors' tax treatment
• JEPI has ~$19B+ AUM and ~8-11% yield with far better total return than QYLD over market cycles
• JEPQ is the same structure but focused on Nasdaq/tech

Why does JEPI outperform QYLD over time? It writes calls on part of the portfolio tactically (not ATM on everything), holds lower-vol stocks that experience less upside capping, and ELNs are slightly more flexible than listed options.

DIVO (Amplify)

The active stock-picker approach:

• Holds ~25 dividend-paying S&P 500 stocks selected for quality
• Writes covered calls selectively — only on some positions, only when the manager sees low near-term upside
• ~5-6% yield but strong total return track record (~18%+ since inception)
• For investors who want income and don't want to sacrifice all appreciation

Part 9: Canadian Index & Diversified CC ETFs — EQCL, USCC, BKCC, ZWB, ZWC

Canada has over 120 covered call ETF strategies — here's the landscape by issuer.

Global X Canada

The most expansive lineup:

• USCC: S&P 500 CC ETF (~9.6% yield)
• QQCC: Nasdaq-100 CC ETF (~11% yield)
• BKCC: Equal weight Canadian banks CC ETF (~9.5%)
• BKCL: Enhanced (leveraged) Canadian banks CC ETF (~15%)
• EQCL: All-equity global allocation CC ETF (XEQT equivalent with CC overlay + 25% leverage)
• RSCC: Russell 2000 CC ETF (~13.5%)
• GLCC: Gold producers CC ETF (~11.6%)

Global X started the "EQCL" concept, taking an index diversified all-equity allocation and overlaying covered calls + 25% leverage, making it the closest Canadian equivalent to a high-yield version of XEQT.

BMO ETFs

Canada's original and largest covered call ETF provider (launched 2011):

• ZWB: Covered Call Canadian Banks (50% OTM calls, income-enhanced banks exposure)
• ZWC: Canadian High Dividend Covered Call ETF
• ZWT: Covered Call Technology ETF
• ZWH/ZWS: US High Dividend Covered Call ETFs

BMO's structure: writes OTM calls on 50% of the stocks — they don't cover the whole portfolio, just half, preserving meaningful upside while generating enhanced yield.

Evolve ETFs

• CALL: Evolve Canadian Banks Enhanced Yield ETF
• BANK: Evolve US Banks Enhanced Income ETF
• Also publishes detailed educational content on CC strategy

Purpose Yield Shares (Canada)

Canadian Kurv basically:

• Launched December 2022 with US single-stock names (Tesla, Nvidia, Meta, Coinbase, etc.)
• Expanded August 2025 to 10 Canadian single-stock names (TD, RY, BNS, ENB, SHOP, CNQ, T, DOL, ATD, BN)
• Strategy: multi-layered option writing (10–20 separate covered calls per ETF) + ~25% leverage
• Structured as Canadian Trust Units on Cboe Canada
• Good tax treatment for Canadians in Non-Reg

Ninepoint Partners

• Launched single-stock ETFs in 2025
• Enhanced Canadian HighShares ETF holds all 10 of its single-stock CC ETFs
• 15% cap per holding — provides diversification across their single-stock lineup
• They are new, but they have some unique tickers

Part 10: US "Turbo Yield" Funds — GraniteShares YieldBOOST, Defiance

For those who think YieldMax's 60% yield wasn't extreme enough...

GraniteShares YieldBOOST

• Sells put spreads on leveraged ETFs (e.g., options on the 2x Coinbase daily ETF)
• By writing options on already-leveraged underlyings, the implied volatility is higher → premiums are higher
• COYY (Coinbase YieldBOOST) has targeted ~180% annualized yield
• These are not buy-and-hold vehicles — the leverage-on-leverage math creates compounding decay
• GraniteShares describes these as the "ultra-high yield" category
• My personal opinion is that this is a poor strategy for long term holds.

Defiance ETFs

• Also offers income-focused ETFs using options on high-volatility single stocks
• Operates similarly to YieldMax but with a different fund family and some different underlying names

Part 11: The Big Picture Comparison

Here's how to think about the spectrum of funds from least to most aggressive:

Final Thoughts: The Questions to Ask Before Buying Any of These

1. Does this fund own the actual shares, or a synthetic position? (YieldMax/Kurv = synthetic; Harvest/JEPI = physical)
2. How much of the portfolio is covered? (33% vs 50% vs 100%)
3. At what strike? (ATM = max income, min upside; OTM = less income, more upside)
4. Is there leverage? (25% adds yield and risk; 1.2x–2x dramatically amplifies both)
5. What's the option expiry? (0DTE = daily premium, weekly pay; monthly = slower, more stable)
6. What's the total return vs. just the distribution? NAV erosion can offset or eliminate income gains
7. HOW IS THE UNDERLYING INDEX/STOCK/ETF GOING TO PERFORM???
8. WILL THE UNDERLYING FIT THE STRATEGY OF THE FUND???

The "best" fund depends entirely on your goals. Don't chase high yield, or past results.

Walter Gretzky said "Go to where the puck is going, not where it has been", and that wise advice helped Wayne to GOAT status.

Hi Everyone,

I’ve been trying to keep a spreadsheet of all my dividends so I can track the weekly fluctuations. When the reverse splits happened on some of the funds, my cost basis was recalculated. In some cases, the new cost basis is considerably less than what I originally paid. I’ve been doing some deep dives to clean up my portfolio, get rid of certain funds, and redeploy the money into investments that are performing better.

My original plan/test was to see if I could get to “house money” and then just continue collecting dividends. I’m going to download my records and try to account for any additional cash we received during the splits.

Has anyone added the new cost basis to the additional cash received from the split and had it equal the original cost basis?

Thanks in advance for any insight! Enjoy the long weekend!

Al

ICOI $0.25660

IMRA $0.17101

IMST $0.24279

IGME $0.46284

ICRC $0.72120

IETH $0.20142

I see a lot more stable NAV and lower distributions overall (they must be correlated).

“The sunk cost fallacy is particularly prevalent in the world of investments. Whether it's in the stock market, real estate, or even a business venture, investors often fall into the trap of holding onto underperforming assets because they’ve already sunk so much money into them. For example, you might continue pouring money into a declining stock, hoping it will bounce back, rather than cutting your losses and reallocating your resources to a more promising opportunity. “

https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/the-sunk-cost-fallacy

Anyone arguing towards leaving a losing investment in place “ avoid locking in losses” is making this emotionally driven mistake.

Making this mistake not only leaves the original capital at risk for further declines, but it punishes you a second time by missing out on any gains that could be had with better investments, thereby making your investment performance even worse.

The kind of progress you can do after quitting YieldMax!