In the year to October 20, 2026, 160 broad option income ETFs had a full year of history to measure against their benchmarks, once every cash payment was counted and put back into the fund. Of those, 52 finished ahead of their benchmark on that basis, while the median fund across the group was 0.8 points behind. The picture varies widely by issuer. Overlay Shares, with 7 of 7 funds ahead, and Aptus, with 3 of 3 ahead, sit at one end; Innovator, with 0 of 13 ahead, and Defiance and GraniteShares, each with none of their funds ahead, sit at the other. YieldMax funds carried the highest median cash paid among the larger issuers, at 32.8%, alongside a median price change of −24.3% and a median total return of +7.0%, landing at +0.4 points versus benchmark. First Trust funds, by contrast, paid a median 8.5% in cash with a flat median price change and a +6.5% median total return.
The source of that cash is distinct from the size of the payment. Rule 19a-1 notices, which issuers file to estimate how much of a distribution is return of capital rather than income or gains, show the median YieldMax fund's latest distribution was 86% return of capital, across 61 funds with notices. Other issuers reporting notices ran higher: GraniteShares at a median 95% return of capital, Global X at 99%, NEOS at 93%, Defiance at 100%, and REX at 93%, with Kurv lower at 84%. Return of capital does not by itself say whether a fund gained or lost value; it only says the distribution was not backed by income or realized gains for that period. Across these same issuers, the median one-year price change ranged from +0.1% at Global X to −65.1% at GraniteShares.
The clearest pattern sits in the distribution-rate table, which groups all funds regardless of issuer by how much cash they paid out over the year. Funds paying under 8% had a median price change of +0.1% and a median total return of +7.0%, finishing 4.0 points behind benchmark. Funds paying 8% to 15% had a median total return of +12.0% and were 0.4 points behind. From there the pattern turns: the 15%-to-30% group had a median price change of −13.3%; the 30%-to-60% group a median price change of −41.9% and a median total return of −3.8%; and the 60%-and-above group a median price change of −72.0% and a median total return of −36.8%. In plain terms, the higher the posted distribution rate, the larger the price decline alongside it, with the heaviest payers also showing the deepest losses in both price and total return. A payout rate above thirty percent a year has, in this data, mostly come from a falling share price rather than from income the fund generated.
Readers can look up any individual fund's cash distributions, price history, total return, and its issuer's return-of-capital estimate on ETFIQ's fund pages.