# Income ETF methodology

> How ETFIQ computes every figure for 376 income ETFs as of Oct 21, 2026: scope, sources, nightly checks and what it cannot tell you.

Data as of Oct 21, 2026. Rebuilt every trading night.

This specification describes the data as published on Oct 21, 2026 , covering 376 funds. Rebuilt every trading night.

## Income ETF methodology

What is covered, where each figure comes from, how it is worked out, and what it cannot tell you. Check any of it yourself.

376 Funds covered

Oct 21, 2026 Figures as of

Nightly Rebuilt from the raw sources

### Scope

376 option-income ETFs. Each has a prospectus strategy of earning income by writing options: covered call, buy-write, put-write or synthetic exposure. A high yield alone does not put a fund here.

Each fund is measured against its benchmark: the index, fund or company its filings say its options are written on; else the broad index its shareholder report names; else its own holdings. Each page names it.

### Sources

| Source | What it provides | Read | Spec |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Tiingo end-of-day | Daily close, adjusted close, distributions and split factors | Every trading night | document |
| Rule 19a-1 notices | The issuer’s own estimate of how much of a distribution was return of capital | On publication | document |
| Nasdaq and issuer calendars | Declared ex-dividend and pay dates | Every trading night | · |
| SEC Form N-PORT | Filed holdings, used for the look-through and for net assets | On filing | document |
| Prospectus XBRL | Expense ratio | Weekly | · |

### Definitions and method

Total return (ETFIQ) Price change with every distribution reinvested on its ex-date, from Tiingo adjusted closes over the window. It shows what a holder ended up with, so ETFIQ leads with it, not yield. Cash paid (ETFIQ) Distributions with an ex-date inside the window, divided by the fund price at the window’s start. This is cash received, not return. A fund can pay a lot of cash and still lose money, and several income ETFs do. Ahead or behind (ETFIQ) The fund’s total return minus the benchmark’s over the same days, in percentage points. Both reinvest distributions. Payout rate, annualized (ETFIQ) The latest distribution times the fund’s payout frequency, divided by today’s price. Frequency comes from the spacing of past ex-dates, not the fund’s name. A wrong frequency would scale the figure wrongly. Return of capital (issuer) The issuer’s Rule 19a-1 estimate of how much of a distribution was return of capital, carried for 376 funds where a notice was published. It is an estimate made before the fund year closes, and a tax label. It does not measure erosion.

### Window conventions

Windows are 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 3 years and since launch. A window shows only when the fund has the full history. A fund a few days short of a year shows since launch, with its launch date. Both sides of a comparison cover the same days.

### What is checked every night

Independent code recomputes every window from the raw Tiingo rows. It re-derives payout frequency from ex-date spacing. It confirms each holdings book belongs to its fund by series id, not name.

### What this cannot tell you

- Past return does not predict future return. Option-income strategies behave differently as volatility changes.

- Return of capital figures are issuer estimates, published before the year closes and often revised.

- Total return assumes you reinvest each distribution on its ex-date, with no cost and no tax. A real holder pays tax and may not reinvest, so a real outcome is lower.

- An issuer’s own total return can differ from this one over the same days: ETFIQ measures market price and reinvests each distribution at the close on its ex-date, where an issuer may reinvest at net asset value or print a net asset value return.

- A benchmark marked as a proxy is the closest listed fund to the underlying, not the underlying.

### How to check any of this

Every published figure is free as JSON on the open data page . Use ETFIQ's figures with attribution and the as-of date. Issuer data stays under its owner's terms. Independent code recomputes every number nightly from the raw sources, and the statistics page shows the result. Errors are listed on the corrections page .

A figure marked ETFIQ is one ETFIQ computed. Every other figure is the issuer’s or the exchange’s, and is labeled that way.

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Source: ETFIQ, independent ETF data. Recomputed nightly from public filings and prices.
Cite: ETFIQ, Income ETF methodology, data as of Oct 21, 2026. https://etfiq.com/methodology/income
Licence: https://etfiq.com/license/ Figures ETFIQ computes are free to use with attribution: ETFIQ (etfiq.com). Issuer data stays under its owner's terms.
HTML: https://etfiq.com/methodology/income