Of the 163 index income ETFs tracked over the year to October 19, 2026, 53 finished ahead of the index they write options on once every cash payment was counted and reinvested. The median fund lagged its benchmark by 0.8 points. The gap between issuers was wide. Among those with a full year of history, Overlay Shares funds beat their benchmark in 5 of 7 cases, with a median gap of +1.9 points and median total return of +8.8%. NEOS funds were ahead in 7 of 10 cases, gapping their benchmark by +1.1 points. At the other end, Innovator's 14 funds with a full year all fell short, by a median of 10.7 points, and Nicholas funds lagged by a median of 26.5 points across its 2 qualifying funds.
The distribution rate itself tracked closely with what happened to the share price. Funds paying under 8% of their starting price in cash over the year had a median price change of +0.3% and a median total return of +7.5%, trailing their benchmark by 4.2 points. Funds paying 30% to 60% saw a median price fall of 41.1% and a median total return of −3.2%, though the benchmark gap narrowed to 2.1 points. Funds paying 60% or more had a median price fall of 71.6% and a median total return of −36.4%. The pattern holds across the distribution bands: higher cash payouts coincided with larger price declines, though the gap to benchmark did not widen in lockstep with the payout rate.
Some of that cash did not come from the fund's income or gains. Across 61 YieldMax funds with Rule 19a-1 notices, the median latest distribution was estimated at 80% return of capital, meaning most of what was paid out was investor capital rather than income or realised gains. Of those 61 funds, 25 were estimated at 90% or more return of capital. YieldMax funds overall had a median price change of −40.8% over the year. GraniteShares, with 40 funds reporting, had a median return of capital estimate of 95%, with 27 of those 40 funds at 90% or more, and a median price change of −64.4%. Global X and NEOS, by contrast, posted median return of capital estimates of 99% and 93% respectively, but paired with median price changes near flat to down 3.5%, a reminder that a high return-of-capital estimate does not by itself say how the share price performed.
Looking at YieldMax specifically in the first table, its 20 listed funds included 16 with a full year of data, and 9 of those 16 ended ahead of benchmark, with a median gap of +1.0 points and median cash paid of 33.5%, against a median price change of −24.2%. This sits against the return-of-capital table showing the same issuer's median latest payout at 80% return of capital, illustrating how a fund's running yield numbers and its 19a-1 capital-return estimate describe different things.
Readers can look up any individual fund's cash distribution history, price change, total return against its benchmark, and its latest Rule 19a-1 return-of-capital estimate on ETFIQ's fund pages.