iShares Russell 2000 BuyWrite ETF
$38.17−0.35 (−0.91%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.39%
- Fund size
- $59M
- 1Y return
- +15.1%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 20.09%
- Volume · 30D
- 0M sh
- NAV per share
- $38.55
- 52W range
The ETF.net IWMW Grade
Score 75 of 100 sits in the A band. Bands: A ≥ 70, B ≥ 55, C ≥ 40, D ≥ 25, F < 25; the scale skips E.
Cost
What you pay to own it — the expense ratio plus trading frictions, ranked within its category.AScore 83Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.AScore 95Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.CScore 45Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.CScore 51Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.AScore 87Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.BScore 64Category rank
Our read on IWMW
ASmall-cap income, stripped down: IWMW owns a Russell 2000 index fund and writes monthly covered calls against it, at 0.39% a year when most Russell 2000 call-writers charge more.
The fund seeks to track an index holding the iShares Russell 2000 ETF and writes monthly covered calls to generate income.
Why people hold it
- 0.39% a year undercuts most Russell 2000 covered call peers, including RYLD at 0.60% and IWMI at 0.76%.
- Rules-based plumbing: the index holds the iShares Russell 2000 ETF and writes monthly covered calls. Nobody is guessing strikes month to month.ishares.com
- Cash goes out monthly, funded by the premium from the call writing rather than by small-cap dividends alone.
- One of the stronger builds in the Russell 2000 options-income group: low fee, plain-vanilla holdings, a mandate it sticks to.
Worth knowing
- Covered calls swap upside for premium. In a sharp small-cap rally, the gains above the strike belong to the call buyer, not to you.
- Still a small, thinly traded fund, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than on the household-name small-cap ETFs.
- Launched in 2024, so there is no track record through a full small-cap drawdown and recovery.
IWMW Holdings
- Stocks
- —
- 3%
- TWST
Sectors
- Health Care20.3%
- Financials18.7%
- Technology13.6%
- Industrials13.5%
- Consumer Discr.8.7%
- Real Estate6.5%
- Energy6.4%
- Materials4.8%
- Utilities2.7%
- Cons. Staples2.6%
- Communication2.1%
Geography
- United States95.22%
- Bermuda1.29%
- United Kingdom0.72%
- Switzerland0.53%
- Canada0.49%
- Ireland0.46%
- Cayman Islands0.20%
- Singapore0.19%
- 0.89%
IWMW Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
Returns run to the Sep 22, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | IWMW |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +13.1% |
| 1 month | −3.3% |
| 3 months | +0.7% |
| 1 year | +15.1% |
| 3 years | — |
| 5 years | — |
| 10 years | — |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | IWMW |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +13.1% | |
| 2025 | +7.7% | |
| 2024 | +6.1% |
IWMW in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on IWMW yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
IWMW Dividends
- 20.09%
- $7.75
- $0.24 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2, 2026 | Sep 8, 2026 | $0.24 |
| Aug 4, 2026 | Aug 7, 2026 | $0.56 |
| Jul 2, 2026 | Jul 8, 2026 | $0.62 |
| Jun 2, 2026 | Jun 5, 2026 | $0.78 |
| May 4, 2026 | May 7, 2026 | $0.62 |
| Apr 2, 2026 | Apr 8, 2026 | $0.75 |
| Mar 3, 2026 | Mar 6, 2026 | $0.69 |
| Feb 3, 2026 | Feb 6, 2026 | $0.72 |
| Dec 23, 2025 | Dec 29, 2025 | $0.69 |
| Dec 2, 2025 | Dec 5, 2025 | $0.56 |
| Nov 4, 2025 | Nov 7, 2025 | $0.71 |
| Oct 2, 2025 | Oct 7, 2025 | $0.82 |
IWMW Risk
- 12.4%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- 0.54
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −21.9%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 0.74
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
IWMW Cost
- The middle half of Russell 2000 Option Income funds
- Median 0.76%
1 of the 9 Russell 2000 Option Income funds charge less.