Which paid more, ULTY or XYLD?

Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, ULTY paid 48.3% of its starting price in cash and XYLD paid 11.1%, 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, ULTY or XYLD?

With every distribution reinvested, ULTY returned −2.9% and XYLD returned +18.6% over the year to Sep 4, 2026, so XYLD returned more.

Which is cheaper, ULTY or XYLD?

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

ULTY vs XYLD

Name: ETFIQ comparison of ULTY and XYLD
Creator: ETFIQ

YieldMax(R) Ultra Option Income Strategy ETF and Global X S&P 500 Covered Call ETF, side by side on the income desk.

Open the live comparison on ETFIQ

ULTY and XYLD on the income desk fields, as of Sep 4, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
	ULTY YieldMax(R) Ultra Option Income Strategy ETF	XYLD Global X S&P 500 Covered Call ETF
Issuer	YieldMax	Global X
Strategy	synthetic covered call	covered call
Benchmark	S&P 500 (SPY), used as a default proxy	All-country world (ACWI)
Pays	weekly	monthly
Payout rate, annualised	60.4%	9.0%
Expense ratio	1.30%	0.60%
Cash paid, 1 year	48.3%	11.1%
Price change, 1 year	−52.1%	+6.5%
Total return, 1 year	−2.9%	+18.6%
Benchmark return, 1 year	+20.0%	+22.7%
Ahead or behind	−22.8 pts	−4.1 pts
Return of capital, latest estimate	100%	93%
Age	918 days	4820 days

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).

XYLD in plain words

Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, XYLD paid 11.1% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 6.5%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +18.6%. All-country world (ACWI) returned +22.7% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 4.1 pts. At its price on Sep 4, 2026 the latest distribution annualises to 9.0%, paid monthly. Global X estimates that 93% 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).

Questions people ask

Which paid more, ULTY or XYLD?: Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, ULTY paid 48.3% of its starting price in cash and XYLD paid 11.1%, 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, ULTY or XYLD?: With every distribution reinvested, ULTY returned −2.9% and XYLD returned +18.6% over the year to Sep 4, 2026, so XYLD returned more.
Which is cheaper, ULTY or XYLD?: ULTY charges 1.30% a year and XYLD charges 0.60%, so XYLD is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Other comparisons

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