Which paid more, RYLD or ULTY?

Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, RYLD paid 12.4% of its starting price in cash and ULTY paid 48.3%, so ULTY paid more. Cash paid is not the same as money made: the price change matters too.

Which returned more once distributions are counted, RYLD or ULTY?

With every distribution reinvested, RYLD returned +21.0% and ULTY returned −2.9% over the year to Sep 4, 2026, so RYLD returned more.

Which is cheaper, RYLD or ULTY?

RYLD charges 0.60% a year and ULTY charges 1.30%, so RYLD 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.

RYLD vs ULTY

Name: ETFIQ comparison of RYLD and ULTY
Creator: ETFIQ

Global X Russell 2000 Covered Call ETF and YieldMax(R) Ultra Option Income Strategy ETF, side by side on the income desk.

Open the live comparison on ETFIQ

RYLD and ULTY on the income desk fields, as of Sep 4, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
	RYLD Global X Russell 2000 Covered Call ETF	ULTY YieldMax(R) Ultra Option Income Strategy ETF
Issuer	Global X	YieldMax
Strategy	covered call	synthetic covered call
Benchmark	Russell 2000 (IWM)	S&P 500 (SPY), used as a default proxy
Pays	monthly	weekly
Payout rate, annualised	12.2%	60.4%
Expense ratio	0.60%	1.30%
Cash paid, 1 year	12.4%	48.3%
Price change, 1 year	+7.3%	−52.1%
Total return, 1 year	+21.0%	−2.9%
Benchmark return, 1 year	+26.4%	+20.0%
Ahead or behind	−5.4 pts	−22.8 pts
Return of capital, latest estimate	100%	100%
Age	2692 days	918 days

RYLD in plain words

Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, RYLD paid 12.4% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 7.3%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +21.0%. Russell 2000 (IWM) returned +26.4% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 5.4 pts. At its price on Sep 4, 2026 the latest distribution annualises to 12.2%, paid monthly. Global X estimates that 100% of the distribution paid Aug 27, 2026 was a return of capital (19a-1 notice, estimated, a tax characterisation rather than a measure of erosion).

ULTY in plain words

Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, ULTY paid 48.3% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 52.1%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned −2.9%. S&P 500 (SPY), used as a default proxy returned +20.0% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 22.8 pts. At its price on Sep 4, 2026 the latest distribution annualises to 60.4%, paid weekly. YieldMax estimates that 100% 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, RYLD or ULTY?: Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, RYLD paid 12.4% of its starting price in cash and ULTY paid 48.3%, so ULTY paid more. Cash paid is not the same as money made: the price change matters too.
Which returned more once distributions are counted, RYLD or ULTY?: With every distribution reinvested, RYLD returned +21.0% and ULTY returned −2.9% over the year to Sep 4, 2026, so RYLD returned more.
Which is cheaper, RYLD or ULTY?: RYLD charges 0.60% a year and ULTY charges 1.30%, so RYLD is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Other comparisons

Cite this page. ETFIQ, RYLD against ULTY, data as of Sep 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/income/RYLD-ULTY.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