# Do covered call ETFs lose value?

> Many do lose price while paying cash, which is not the same as losing money. Answered from ETFIQ data as of Oct 21, 2026.

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

Answered from ETFIQ data as of Oct 21, 2026 .

## Do covered call ETFs lose value?

Many do lose price while paying cash, which is not the same as losing money. Over the year to Oct 21, 2026, 49 of the 160 broad option income ETFs with a full year finished ahead of their benchmark once every distribution was counted and reinvested.

A covered call fund sells away part of the upside, so in a rising market it usually trails the index. The cash it pays can exceed what it earns. When it does, the price falls to cover the difference.

The fair test is total return with distributions reinvested, against the fund's own benchmark. ETFIQ publishes it for every fund over five windows.

A fund paying 40 percent a year while its price falls 30 percent has not necessarily hurt you. A fund paying 8 percent while flat has not necessarily helped. The gap to the benchmark settles it.

### On ETFIQ today

| Ticker | Fund | Cash paid 1Y | Price 1Y | Total return 1Y | vs benchmark |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| USOY | Defiance Oil Enhanced Options Income ETF | 52.5% | +7.6% | +77.5% | −56.6 pts |
| CHPY | YieldMax Semiconductor Portfolio Option Income ETF | 48.6% | +5.5% | +62.2% | +45.8 pts |
| GDXY | YieldMax Gold Miners Option Income Strategy ETF | 46.6% | −37.9% | +6.3% | −13.7 pts |
| ULTY | YieldMax Ultra Option Income Strategy ETF | 45.0% | −54.0% | −8.3% | +2.7 pts |
| XBTY | GraniteShares YieldBOOST Bitcoin ETF | 40.0% | −65.3% | −29.0% | −4.5 pts |
| YMAX | YieldMax Universe Fund of Option Income ETFs | 36.8% | −40.8% | −0.8% | −17.5 pts |
| ETCO | Grayscale Ethereum High Income ETF | 36.1% | −69.4% | −38.8% | −1.2 pts |
| LFGY | YieldMax Crypto Industry & Tech Portfolio Option Income ETF | 36.1% | −54.9% | −20.8% | −37.2 pts |

### Where to next

### Where these figures came from

ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure; a link is not an endorsement.

ETFIQ is an independent publisher and makes no recommendations. Standards and sources

---

Source: ETFIQ, independent ETF data. Recomputed nightly from public filings and prices.
Cite: ETFIQ, Do covered call ETFs lose value?, data as of Oct 21, 2026. https://etfiq.com/questions/do-covered-call-etfs-lose-value
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/questions/do-covered-call-etfs-lose-value