YieldMax ETFs paid out 25% to 60% a year, and six of the seven lost 24% to 77% of their share price

YieldMax runs a family of option-income ETFs, each built on one heavily traded stock: MSTY on Strategy (MSTR), TSLY on Tesla, CONY on Coinbase, NVDY on Nvidia, PLTY on Palantir and AMDY on AMD, plus YMAX, a fund that holds the others. In October 2026 they were quoting distribution rates of 25% to 60%. Their share prices went the other way: MSTY's fell 77% in the year to September 30, and its total return, with every payment counted, was -47%.

In the communities we track, the talk is about the stocks under the funds. Nvidia and Tesla drew about 200 mentions each in the week of October 19, and the two crowds leaned opposite ways. That split matters to a fund that gives away a stock's upside and keeps its downside.

YieldMax ETFs compared

All seven pay weekly, charge about 1% a year, and quoted rates that were one week's payment times 52. What a holder earned over the year is in the total return table.

Distribution rates are YieldMax's, as of October 21, 2026 (October 27 for YMAX). Net assets are as of October 26. YMAX's 1.33% includes the fees of the funds it holds.

How YieldMax option income ETFs work

A YieldMax single-stock fund does not own the stock it is named after. It holds mostly US Treasury bills and notes, and gets its exposure to the stock through options. On October 27, Treasuries and cash made up nearly all of MSTY's top holdings.

On top of that synthetic position, the fund sells call options on the stock every week and pays the premium out. The funds now write call spreads: they sell a call near the price and buy one further above it. The mechanics match our JEPI vs JEPQ guide, on one stock instead of an index, so the premiums and payouts run far higher.

For a holder, that means:

• Upside capped. If the stock jumps past the strike it sold in a week, the fund gives up the gain between the two strikes.
• Downside kept. If the stock falls, the fund takes the loss, cushioned only by the premium.
• Volatility pays. Premiums are bigger on stocks that swing a lot, which is why the funds on bitcoin-linked Strategy and Coinbase quoted higher rates than the one on Nvidia.

Return of capital and NAV erosion

Every payment comes out of the fund's net asset value (NAV), so the share price drops by about the payment on each ex-dividend date. When premiums and gains don't cover the payout, the fund pays out part of its own capital. YieldMax labels that portion return of capital (ROC) on each payment.

Weighting each payment's estimate by its size, YieldMax estimated that return of capital made up about 68% of what MSTY paid from December 11, 2025 to October 22, 2026, 55% for PLTY and AMDY, 49% for TSLY and CONY, and 44% for NVDY. Return of capital is generally not taxed when you receive it. It lowers your cost basis instead, so more tax is due when you sell. The final split comes on Form 1099-DIV.

As the share prices fell, YieldMax ran reverse splits on four funds in December 2025: TSLY one-for-five on December 1, CONY one-for-ten on December 2, and MSTY and AMDY one-for-five on December 8. A reverse split does not change what a holding is worth. The prices and returns on this page are adjusted for it.

YieldMax dividend history: the last four payments

The single-stock funds declare on Wednesday, go ex-dividend on Thursday and pay on Friday. The amount changes every week with the premiums the options bring in.

Columns are ex-dividend dates; each paid the next day. YMAX runs a day earlier: it went ex-dividend on October 7, 14, 21 and 28 at $0.0603, $0.0594, $0.0563 and $0.0554, and paid $0.77 over the 13 weeks to October 28.

Five of the six paid less on October 22 than on October 1. AMDY's payment fell by two thirds in three weeks.

MSTY, TSLY, CONY, NVDY, PLTY, AMDY and YMAX, fund by fund

MSTY dividend history and stock price

MSTY is built on Strategy (MSTR), the bitcoin-holding company. It paid $0.1671 a share on October 23, with a distribution rate of 60.41% as of October 21, the highest of the group. The MSTY stock price closed at $14.08 on October 27, 2026. In the year to September 30 its price fell 77.0% and its total return was -47.1%, against -52.5% for MSTR.

TSLY dividend history

TSLY, launched in November 2022, is the oldest fund in the group. It paid $0.1909 a share on October 23 and quoted a 45.63% rate. The TSLY stock price closed at $23.21 on October 27. More on the stock in our Tesla pre-earnings read.

CONY dividend and stock price

CONY is built on Coinbase. It paid $0.1931 a share on October 23, a 55.26% rate, and the CONY stock price closed at $17.05 on October 27, 70.8% lower than a year before on a split-adjusted basis.

NVDY dividend history and stock price

NVDY is built on Nvidia and quoted the lowest rate of the group, 25.04%, because Nvidia's options pay less than those of the smaller, jumpier names. It paid $0.0570 a share on October 23 and closed at $11.87 on October 27. More in our Nvidia scorecard.

PLTY stock and dividend history

PLTY is built on Palantir and is the youngest fund here, launched in October 2024. Its weekly payment moved the most: $0.7253 on September 3, then $0.2238 two weeks later. It paid $0.2554 on October 23 and closed at $36.43 on October 27.

AMDY stock and dividend history

AMDY shows the cap at work, because AMD ran. AMD rose 278% in the year to September 30. AMDY returned 192% with every payment counted, and its price rose 33%. The accounts with a graded track record were 19 bullish to 0 bearish on AMD in March, before most of that run, as covered in our JEPI vs JEPQ receipts. AMDY paid $0.3387 a share on October 23 and closed at $44.60 on October 27.

YMAX dividend history

YMAX is a fund of funds: it holds other YieldMax ETFs and shifts toward the ones with stronger recent performance, per YieldMax. PLTY was its largest holding on October 27, at 5.18%. It paid $0.0554 a share on October 29 and quoted a 40.37% rate as of October 27.

Total return vs price return

Price return is what the share price did. Total return adds back every payment, as if each one had been reinvested. For these funds the two numbers sat 30 to 159 percentage points apart over the year.

Total returns are YieldMax's NAV figures. Price changes are split-adjusted closes. Stock columns are price changes; the S&P 500 figure is YieldMax's total return.

On five of the six stocks, the fund did a little better than the stock once payments are counted: it lost less on Strategy, Tesla and Coinbase, and gained a little more on Palantir and Nvidia. On AMD, the one big rally, AMDY kept about two thirds of the move. And on every fund but AMDY, a holder who spent the payments was left with a position worth 24% to 77% less than a year earlier.

QYLD: the index covered-call comparison

QYLD is not a YieldMax fund. It is Global X's Nasdaq-100 Covered Call ETF, launched in December 2013, which sells calls on the whole index every month for a 0.60% fee. It held $8.41 billion on October 27.

QYLD pays monthly. Its trailing 12-month distribution was 12.29% and its distribution rate 11.70% as of October 27. Global X has set the next ex-dividend dates for November 23 and December 21.

QYLD's NAV total return was 22.9% in the year to September 30, against 23.8% for QQQ, and its price rose 9.1%. Spread over a whole index, the same trade held its price, which none of the single-stock funds except AMDY did. For the lower-payout index funds, see JEPI vs JEPQ vs QQQI vs SPYI.

Weekly dividend ETFs: XDTE and QDTE

Roundhill's XDTE and QDTE pay weekly, like YieldMax, but sell options on an index. XDTE writes same-day-expiry (0DTE) calls on the S&P 500 and QDTE on the Nasdaq-100. Both launched on March 7, 2024.

QDTE's 26.89% rate was one week's payment, $0.1462, times 52. Both funds' prices fell over the year while their total returns stayed close to the S&P 500's 15.7% and QQQ's 23.8%.

What the crowd says about the stocks behind the funds

The funds rarely come up in the communities we track: four posts named a YieldMax fund, all between May and August 2026. One June commenter pointed out that MSTY had beaten MSTR over the past year with payments reinvested, and another joked about the MSTY forums. The rest of the conversation is about the stocks. In the week of October 19 to 25 (New York dates):

The 30-day window runs September 26 to October 25. Palantir, Strategy and Coinbase each drew fewer than 20 mentions that week across the accounts we track, under the floor we use for a crowd read.

Nvidia's crowd leaned bullish about five to one. That is the upside NVDY sells each week. If the bulls are right and Nvidia breaks out, NVDY holders get the premiums and give up the stretch above the strike.

Tesla's crowd leaned bearish, 108 to 79 in the week and 314 to 231 over 30 days. TSLY keeps that side in full. The premiums cushion a drop but don't stop it: TSLY's total return was -12.6% in the year Tesla fell 20.2%. Whether Tesla's bulls or bears are worth listening to depends on who they are, and the Quantral app grades each account on its past calls.

Common questions

What is MSTY's dividend?

MSTY paid $0.1671 a share on October 23, 2026 (ex-dividend October 22). Its distribution rate was 60.41% as of October 21, per YieldMax. It pays weekly.

What is TSLY's dividend history?

TSLY paid $0.2300, $0.2187, $0.2063 and $0.1909 a share on the four ex-dividend dates from October 1 to October 22, 2026, and $2.73 over the 13 weeks to October 22. It pays weekly.

How often do YieldMax ETFs pay dividends?

Weekly: ex-dividend on Thursday and paid on Friday, a day earlier for YMAX.

Why does MSTY's stock price keep falling?

Each payment comes out of the fund's NAV, and when premiums and gains fall short, the fund pays out part of its capital. Strategy itself fell 52.5% in the year to September 30, while MSTY's price fell 77.0%.

Is QYLD a YieldMax ETF?

No. QYLD is Global X's Nasdaq-100 covered-call fund. It pays monthly and sells calls on the whole index, not one stock.

What are the weekly dividend ETFs?

All the YieldMax funds on this page pay weekly, and so do Roundhill's XDTE (S&P 500) and QDTE (Nasdaq-100). Weekly payers split a year's payouts into 52 payments instead of 12 or 4.

Are YieldMax ETFs a good investment?

We don't give buy or sell advice. These funds pay out a large share of their value every year, cap the stock's upside each week, and keep its downside. Compare the total return, the price change and the tax treatment before comparing rates.

Try it

Open Tesla, Nvidia, AMD or any stock behind these funds in the app, on the web at app.quantral.com, on iOS or on Android, to see its score and who made each call behind it. Start with a 7-day free trial on the yearly plan.

Fund facts, holdings and distributions are from the YieldMax, Global X and Roundhill fund pages, checked on October 28, 2026. Total returns are the issuers' month-end figures to September 30. Price changes and closes are from the Yahoo chart API. Mentions are New York dates.

---

Quantral surfaces signals and context from public sources to support your own research. Nothing here is financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell. Past signals are not indicative of future results.