Fidelity files for a gold version of its call-writing fund

Fidelity Greenwood Street Trust filed a preliminary prospectus on Friday, September 25 for a gold version of the call-writing fund it already runs. The proposed fund is the Fidelity Yield Enhanced Gold ETF. The ticker, the exchange and the management fee are blank, which is normal at this stage of a preliminary prospectus.

What the draft proposes

The fund would seek "current income while maintaining prospects for capital appreciation." The adviser normally intends to put at least 80% of assets into investments that provide exposure to gold.

That exposure can come through a gold exchange-traded product, meaning a fund or note tied to gold, or through futures, options and swaps. Those derivatives count toward the 80%, and so do gold products the fund holds outright. The paper sets no minimum that has to sit in a physical gold fund.

Income would come from selling calls on gold products. Selling a call means giving someone else the right to buy at a set price, and keeping the premium. Gains above that price would be given up.

Those calls would normally cover a majority of the gold products in the portfolio, and would generally be out of the money, so the set price sits above today's price. The draft also says the fund would hold a substantial amount of short-term U.S. Treasuries, both to invest and to back the derivatives.

The trust asked for the amendment to become effective 80 days after filing, at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Eighty days after Friday is Monday, December 14.

The funds already in the trade

The same trust already lists the Fidelity Yield Enhanced Equity ETF, AFYEE, which holds large U.S. stocks and sells covered calls. It uses the same objective line, and it holds $255 million. It has been listed since April 2024.

Its prospectus dated May 30, 2026 lists a gross expense ratio of 0.31% and a net expense ratio of 0.28% after a waiver through August 31, 2026. The 0.28% is the equity fund's own charge.

Twelve funds already sell options for income on gold or other metals.

The NEOS Gold High Income ETF, AIAUI, charges 0.79% a year and launched on June 4, 2025.

NEOS limits gold-fund holdings to 25% of assets and seeks more of its gold price exposure through options.

Calls are sold on SPDR Gold Shares, BGLD, the fund that holds physical gold.

First Trust's FT Vest Gold Strategy Target Income ETF, BIGLD, charges 0.85%. It keeps most of its assets in Treasuries and gets gold exposure through options on BGLD.

Gold is well off its highs. Gold futures traded at $4,183 Monday morning, about a quarter below the past year's high of $5,627. BGLD closed Friday down 6.6% over the past month, and 23% below its 52-week high.

The share price of AIAUI is down 11% this year. Counting the cash already paid, and assuming it was reinvested, the total return is down 2.4%. The September payment was $0.501 a share, below August's $0.518 and below the $0.543 paid a year earlier.

The last 12 monthly payments equaled a 13.6% trailing distribution yield on Friday's share price of $49.82. That is cash already paid out, not a rate promised from here.

The funds already trading have shown what this pays when gold falls: the premiums cushion the drop, and the drop remains. What Fidelity has not set is the fee, or how it will split that gold sleeve between a gold fund and derivatives.