Which paid more, APLY or YMAX?

Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, APLY paid 30.9% of its starting price in cash and YMAX paid 40.0%, so YMAX paid more. Cash paid is not the same as money made: the price change matters too.

Which returned more once distributions are counted, APLY or YMAX?

With every distribution reinvested, APLY returned +18.6% and YMAX returned +3.5% over the year to Sep 4, 2026, so APLY returned more.

Which is cheaper, APLY or YMAX?

APLY charges 1.04% a year and YMAX charges 1.33%, so APLY is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Data as of Sep 4, 2026. Every figure is the income desk's own, on published data.

APLY vs YMAX

Name: ETFIQ comparison of APLY and YMAX
Creator: ETFIQ

YieldMax(R) AAPL Option Income Strategy ETF and YieldMax(R) Universe Fund of Option Income ETFs, side by side on the income desk.

Open the live comparison on ETFIQ

APLY and YMAX on the income desk fields, as of Sep 4, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
	APLY YieldMax(R) AAPL Option Income Strategy ETF	YMAX YieldMax(R) Universe Fund of Option Income ETFs
Issuer	YieldMax	YieldMax
Strategy	synthetic covered call	synthetic covered call
Benchmark	Apple (AAPL)	S&P 500 (SPY), used as a default proxy
Pays	weekly	weekly
Payout rate, annualised	26.2%	40.6%
Expense ratio	1.04%	1.33%
Cash paid, 1 year	30.9%	40.0%
Price change, 1 year	−14.8%	−38.7%
Total return, 1 year	+18.6%	+3.5%
Benchmark return, 1 year	+33.9%	+20.0%
Ahead or behind	−15.3 pts	−16.5 pts
Return of capital, latest estimate	92%	43%
Age	1235 days	961 days

APLY in plain words

Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, APLY paid 30.9% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 14.8%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +18.6%. Apple (AAPL) returned +33.9% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 15.3 pts. At its price on Sep 4, 2026 the latest distribution annualises to 26.2%, paid weekly. YieldMax estimates that 92% of the distribution paid Sep 4, 2026 was a return of capital (19a-1 notice, estimated, a tax characterisation rather than a measure of erosion).

YMAX in plain words

Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, YMAX paid 40.0% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 38.7%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +3.5%. S&P 500 (SPY), used as a default proxy returned +20.0% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 16.5 pts. At its price on Sep 4, 2026 the latest distribution annualises to 40.6%, paid weekly. YieldMax estimates that 43% of the distribution paid Sep 3, 2026 was a return of capital (19a-1 notice, estimated, a tax characterisation rather than a measure of erosion).

Questions people ask

Which paid more, APLY or YMAX?: Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, APLY paid 30.9% of its starting price in cash and YMAX paid 40.0%, so YMAX paid more. Cash paid is not the same as money made: the price change matters too.
Which returned more once distributions are counted, APLY or YMAX?: With every distribution reinvested, APLY returned +18.6% and YMAX returned +3.5% over the year to Sep 4, 2026, so APLY returned more.
Which is cheaper, APLY or YMAX?: APLY charges 1.04% a year and YMAX charges 1.33%, so APLY is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Other comparisons

Cite this page. ETFIQ, APLY against YMAX, data as of Sep 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/income/APLY-YMAX.html Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.

ETFIQ is an independent publisher of exchange-traded fund data. It is not a fund issuer, broker-dealer or investment adviser, and it makes no recommendations; every figure here is stated arithmetic on published data. Standards and sources