WDTE · Defiance S&P 500 Weekly Distribution ETF
Over the past year WDTE paid 28.3% in cash and still finished 1.4 points behind SPY.
What a holder got
Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, WDTE returned +18.6% with distributions reinvested and S&P 500 (SPY) returned +20.0%, so a holder came out behind it by 1.4 points. The lighter segment is the 28.3% that arrived as cash rather than as price.
Period by period
| Window | Cash paid | Price | Total return | SPY | Ahead or behind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 months | 7.4% | −2.9% | +4.7% | +4.7% | +0.0 pts |
| 6 months | 15.0% | −1.9% | +14.0% | +15.2% | −1.2 pts |
| 1 year | 28.3% | −12.6% | +18.6% | +20.0% | −1.4 pts |
| Since launch | 77.3% | −51.2% | +49.7% | +79.9% | −30.3 pts |
In plain words
With every distribution reinvested, the fund returned +18.6%. S&P 500 (SPY) returned +20.0% over the same days, so a holder was behind by 1.4 pts. At its price on Sep 4, 2026 the latest distribution annualises to 29.9%, paid weekly. Defiance estimates that 100% 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).
| Strategy | option income |
|---|---|
| Benchmark | S&P 500 (SPY) |
| Pays | weekly |
| Latest payout, annualised (ETFIQ) | 29.9% |
| Expense ratio (prospectus XBRL) | 1.03% |
| Cash paid, trailing 12 months (ETFIQ) | 32.4% |
| Launched | Sep 19, 2023 |
| Return of capital, latest distribution (Defiance 19a-1 estimate) | 100.0% |
Every figure is an ETFIQ calculation from exchange prices and cash distributions (Tiingo end-of-day), total return with distributions reinvested. Return of capital is the issuer’s estimate. How this desk computes every figure
Questions people ask
- How much has WDTE paid over the last year?
- Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, WDTE paid 28.3% of its starting price in cash distributions, while the price fell 12.6%.
- Is WDTE ahead of SPY?
- Over the year to Sep 4, 2026, with every distribution reinvested, WDTE returned +18.6% against +20.0% for S&P 500 (SPY), so a holder was behind it by 1.4 points.
- How often does WDTE pay, and how much?
- WDTE pays weekly. The latest distribution annualises to 29.9% at its price on Sep 4, 2026, which is not a promise; the next one can differ.
- Is the WDTE distribution return of capital?
- Defiance estimates 100% of the distribution paid Sep 4, 2026 was return of capital. That is a tax characterisation from the fund's own 19a-1 notice, not a measure of erosion.
- What does WDTE cost?
- The prospectus expense ratio is 1.03% a year.
The words on this page
- Total return
- What a holder actually ended up with: price change plus every distribution, reinvested. The only figure that answers whether you came out ahead.
- Cash paid
- Distributions over the window as a share of what the fund cost at the start. A measure of cash delivered, not of return: a fund can pay a great deal and still lose money.
- Ahead or behind
- The fund’s total return minus the benchmark’s over exactly the same days, in percentage points. Both sides reinvest.
- Return of capital
- The issuer’s own estimate, in a Rule 19a-1 notice, of how much of a distribution was your own money returned. An estimate and a tax characterisation, not a measure of erosion.
- Covered call
- Selling call options on shares the fund holds. It collects a premium and gives up the gains above the strike, which is why these funds pay well and lag a rising market.
Every term this desk uses, defined in full on the income desk vocabulary page.
Where these figures came from
ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure. It is not affiliated with any issuer, and a link is not an endorsement.
Funds near this one
Put this on your own page
The payout bar for WDTE, redrawn every trading night. Free to use with the credit link; paste these two lines into any page or newsletter.
<a href="https://etfiq.com/funds/WDTE.html"><img src="https://etfiq.com/embed/income/WDTE.svg" alt="WDTE payout bar, ETFIQ" width="640"></a>
<p><a href="https://etfiq.com/funds/WDTE.html">WDTE payout bar, updated daily by ETFIQ</a></p>Use this data, or open the live card
Open WDTE on the live ETFIQ desk, where the figures update as the desk refreshes.
Cite this page. ETFIQ, WDTE on the income desk, data as of Sep 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/funds/WDTE.html Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.