Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
RYLD vs SPYI: Dividend Yield & Total Return
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, RYLD paid 12.1% of its price in cash against SPYI’s 11.9%, though SPYI returned more with it reinvested.
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Net assets: $1.3bn on Oct 12, 2026 for Global X Russell 2000 Covered Call ETF, and $12.7bn on Oct 27, 2026 for NEOS S&P 500 High Income ETF.
2 pts behind IWM
RYLD over 1 year: paid 12.1%, price −0.6%, total +12.1%, IWM +14.1%, −2.0 pts. Data to Oct 28, 2026.
IWM
+14.1%
RYLD
+12.1%
12.1% of it arrived as cash
2 pts behind IWM
Total return, distributions reinvested
2 pts behind IWM
RYLD over 1 year: paid 12.1%, price −0.6%, total +12.1%, IWM +14.1%, −2.0 pts. Data to Oct 28, 2026.
IWM
+14.1%
RYLD
+12.1%
12.1% as cash
2 pts behind IWM
12.1% of it arrived as cash. Total return, distributions reinvested. RYLD over 1 year: paid 12.1%, price −0.6%, total +12.1%, IWM +14.1%, −2.0 pts. Data to Oct 28, 2026.
Data to Oct 28, 2026.About even with SPY
SPYI over 1 year: paid 11.9%, price +0.8%, total +13.6%, SPY +13.6%, 0.0 pts. Data to Oct 28, 2026.
SPY
+13.6%
SPYI
+13.6%
11.9% of it arrived as cash
about even with SPY
Total return, distributions reinvested
About even with SPY
SPYI over 1 year: paid 11.9%, price +0.8%, total +13.6%, SPY +13.6%, 0.0 pts. Data to Oct 28, 2026.
SPY
+13.6%
SPYI
+13.6%
11.9% as cash
about even with SPY
11.9% of it arrived as cash. Both charts share one scale, with zero at the line. SPYI over 1 year: paid 11.9%, price +0.8%, total +13.6%, SPY +13.6%, 0.0 pts. Data to Oct 28, 2026.
Data to Oct 28, 2026.Pair scorecard
RYLD costs 0.08 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 1.5 points; SPYI is 9.7 times larger.
Points (pts) are percentage points.
| Measure | RYLD | SPYI |
|---|---|---|
| Paid and earned | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +12.1% | +13.6% |
| Price change, 1 year | fell 0.6% | rose 0.8% |
| Return of capital, issuer estimate | 100% of the Sep 24, 2026 payment | 99% of the Oct 23, 2026 payment |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| Benchmark | Russell 2000, measured through IWM | S&P 500, measured through SPY |
| Against its benchmark, same days | behind by 2.0 pts | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.60% | 0.68% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 12, 2026 | $1.3bn | $12.6bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 0% | |
How much of its payouts the fund's total return covered, ranked against 164 income ETFs not writing on a single company. 100 is best. How it is computed
A percentile among the 164 income ETFs not writing on a single company. One year only, and a ratio of two published numbers: it says nothing about where a distribution came from. All income ETFs ranked by it →
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Sep 9, 2022 to Oct 23, 2026 · 215 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: RYLD against IWM, May 3, 2019 to Oct 23, 2026; SPYI against SPY, Sep 9, 2022 to Oct 23, 2026.
SPYI returned more: +74.4% to +22.6%. RYLD swung slightly less: 11.2% to 11.8%. SPYI fell slightly less at its worst: −14.8% to −15.3%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | RYLD | SPYI | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +22.6% | +74.4% | SPYI | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +5.1% | +14.4% | SPYI | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −25.7% | +5.4% | SPYI | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 11.2% | 11.8% | RYLD (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 8.8% | 8.1% | SPYI (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −15.3% | −14.8% | SPYI (slight) | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 33.1% | 68.0% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 62.8% | 80.6% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.54 | 0.78 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.73 | 0.96 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.09 | 0.81 | SPYI | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.11 | 1.19 | SPYI | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.063 | 0.123 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.33 | 0.97 | SPYI | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | IWM | SPY | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −1.3% a year | −0.6% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.43 | −0.53 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −7.0% to +4.5% | −2.8% to +1.6% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.38 | −0.87 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 13.9% | 4.0% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 215 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, RYLD and SPYI hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026.
half
0% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
As of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ. Cash paid: distributions over the window, as a share of the starting price. Payout rate: the latest payment, annualized, over today’s price.
Window by window
| Total return | Cash paid | Against the benchmark | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Window | RYLD | SPYI | RYLD | SPYI | RYLD | SPYI |
| 3 months | −0.3% | +6.4% | 2.9% | 3.1% | +1.9 pts | +0.3 pts |
| 6 months | +6.8% | +8.7% | 6.2% | 6.1% | +2.9 pts | −0.4 pts |
| 1 year | +12.1% | +13.6% | 12.1% | 11.9% | −2.1 pts | 0.0 pts |
| 3 years | +38.8% | +70.2% | 35.9% | 41.0% | −40.5 pts | −24.8 pts |
| Since launchNot the same days: RYLD Apr 2019 · SPYI Aug 2022 | +49.0% | +79.8% | 68.4% | 51.3% | −50.0 pts | −25.4 pts |
RYLD and SPYI are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?
- What each is measured against. RYLD is measured against Russell 2000 through IWM and SPYI against S&P 500 through SPY.
- Holdings in common. 0% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 28, 2026).
- Size. RYLD has $1.3bn in net assets and SPYI $12.6bn (net assets, as of Oct 12, 2026); SPYI is 9.7 times larger.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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RYLD
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, RYLD paid 12.1% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price fell 0.6%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +12.1%. Russell 2000 (IWM) returned +14.1% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 2.0 pts. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 11.5%, paid monthly. Global X estimates that 100% of the distribution paid Sep 24, 2026 was a return of capital (its 19a-1 notice). That is a tax label, not a measure of erosion.
SPYI
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, SPYI paid 11.9% of its starting value in cash distributions while its price rose 0.8%. With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +13.6%. S&P 500 (SPY) returned +13.6% over the same days, so a holder was about even. At its price on Oct 28, 2026 the latest distribution annualizes to 11.4%, paid monthly. NEOS estimates that 99% of the distribution paid Oct 23, 2026 was a return of capital (its 19a-1 notice).
Questions people ask
Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.
How this is computed
It is a place in a set, not a rating or a recommendation.
Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.
Every number is an ETFIQ calculation with distributions reinvested.
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ETFIQ, RYLD against SPYI, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/income/ryld-vs-spyi
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). RYLD against SPYI. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/income/ryld-vs-spyi
[RYLD against SPYI (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/income/ryld-vs-spyi)
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