Over the year to September 25, 2026, 41 of 174 index income ETFs finished ahead of the index they write options on, once every cash payment was counted and reinvested. The median fund lagged its benchmark by 4.1 points. That gap sits inside a wider pattern across issuers and payout sizes, one that shows up clearly once distributions and price moves are separated.
Among issuers with a full year of data, results varied widely. Overlay Shares had 6 of 7 funds ahead of benchmark, with a median gap of +3.2 points, a median price change of +10.2%, and median cash paid of 8.0%. NEOS had 5 of 10 funds ahead, with a +0.6 point median gap. State Street had 5 of 13 funds ahead, with a −0.8 point median gap despite median cash paid of 12.9%. At the other end, Innovator had 0 of 14 funds ahead of benchmark, with a median gap of −12.8 points, and GraniteShares, with only 2 of 12 funds carrying a full year, showed a median gap of −15.3 points alongside a median price change of −39.8% and a median total return of −17.8%. YieldMax, with 17 of 21 funds carrying a full year, had only 2 ahead of benchmark, a median gap of −6.7 points, median cash paid of 35.0%, and a median price change of −26.1%.
The distribution-rate table lays out the same relationship across the full 174-fund set. Funds paying under 8% a year had a median price change of +0.2% and a median total return of +7.7%, with a median gap of −6.0 points. Funds paying 8% to 15% did somewhat better on the gap, at −3.7 points, with a median price change of +0.7%. Once distribution rates crossed 15%, price changes turned negative: −19.6% for the 15%-to-30% group, −41.0% for 30%-to-60%, and −57.8% for the 60%-and-above group, where median total return itself was −15.4%. Median cash paid rose steadily across these bands, from 6.6% up to 46.5%, but total return did not rise with it.
The return-of-capital tables help explain where some of that cash was coming from. Across 61 YieldMax funds with 19a-1 notices, the median fund's latest distribution was 87% return of capital, with 26 of the 61 funds at 90% or more; the median one-year price change for this group was −39.5%. GraniteShares showed a median return of capital of 95% across 40 funds, with 28 of them at 90% or more, and a median price change of −52.7%. Global X, by contrast, showed a median return of capital of 99% across 15 funds but a median price change of +4.3%, and NEOS showed 93% return of capital across 15 funds with a median price change of −1.8%, indicating that a high return-of-capital estimate did not by itself track with a falling price in every case.
Readers can check any individual fund's current distribution rate, its latest 19a-1 return-of-capital estimate, and its trailing price and total-return numbers against its stated benchmark on the live desk.