Over the year to October 22, 2026, 161 broad option income ETFs with a full year of trading were measured against their benchmarks, with every cash payment counted and reinvested. Half of them, 80, had less than a full year on record and fall outside this comparison. Of the 161, 50 finished ahead of their benchmark once distributions were reinvested. The median fund across the group trailed its benchmark by 0.9 points.
The pattern by issuer varies widely. Among issuers with several funds carrying a full year, Overlay Shares had 5 of 7 funds ahead of benchmark, with a median gap of +1.9 points and median cash paid of 6.9%. NEOS had 6 of 10 ahead, with a median gap of +0.7 points. YieldMax had 8 of 16 ahead, with a median gap of +0.6 points, but its median cash paid was 33.5% and its median price change was −23.3%, leaving a median total return of +6.1%. Innovator, by contrast, had none of its 13 full-year funds ahead of benchmark, a median gap of −10.2 points, against a median cash paid of only 5.3%. Defiance and GraniteShares also had no funds ahead, with median cash paid of 30.7% and 33.2% respectively, and price declines of −16.1% and −37.3%.
Return of capital, the share of a distribution that is not drawn from income but returned from the fund's own assets, adds another layer. Across 43 YieldMax funds with 19a-1 notices, the median fund's latest distribution was estimated at 88% return of capital, and 21 of those 43 funds were at 90% or more. Roundhill's 32 funds with notices had a median return of capital of 100%, all 32 at 90% or above, alongside a median one-year price change of −29.2%. GraniteShares showed a median of 95% return of capital across 40 funds, with a median price change of −65.4%. Not every issuer runs this high: Innovator's 15 funds with notices had a median return of capital of 50%, and Overlay Shares' 7 funds showed 44%, both paired with flat to positive median price changes.
The distribution-rate breakdown ties these threads together. Funds paying under 8% a year had a median price change of +0.0% and a median gap of −2.7 points. Funds in the 8% to 15% band also held flat on price, with the smallest median gap, −0.8 points. Once distribution rates climb past 15%, prices start to erode: the 15%-to-30% band shows a median price change of −13.6%, the 30%-to-60% band shows −45.6%, and the 60%-and-above band shows −66.2%. Total return follows the same slide, from +7.4% at the lowest payout tier down to −26.6% at the highest, with the gap to benchmark widening alongside it. As the summary puts it, a payout above thirty percent a year has mostly been paid out of the price.
Readers can check any individual fund's one-year price change, cash paid, total return and gap to benchmark, along with its issuer's latest 19a-1 return-of-capital estimate, on ETFIQ's fund pages.