---
title: "The largest option-income fund beat the S&P 500 by selling calls on a quarter of its assets"
url: "https://etf.net/news/largest-option-income-fund-beats-index-2026-10-30"
published_at: "2026-10-30T15:01:01.160Z"
updated_at: "2026-10-30T15:01:01.160Z"
byline: "ETF.net Research"
---

# The largest option-income fund beat the S&P 500 by selling calls on a quarter of its assets

The median fund lagged by 4 percentage points, and YieldMax's high-payout funds, in the same category, lost money.

By ETF.net Research. Published Oct 30, 2026.

The largest fund in etf.net's Active Option Income category beat State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY over the year through Oct. 29, 2026. The calls it sold covered a quarter of the fund as of Sept. 30.

The median fund's total return was **9.1%**. SPY's was **13.1%**, a gap of 4 percentage points.

The median fund charges 0.95% a year, against 0.09% for SPY, so the extra charge is less than one percentage point of that gap. Fees are not why the median fund lagged. The 50 funds hold $12.6 billion, and the ones that hold most of it did not make the same trade.

Selling a call means taking cash now and giving up gains above a price the contract names. How much of a rally a fund gives up depends on how much of the fund those contracts cover.

The year finished higher, and not in a straight line. The S&P 500 dropped almost 5% from an early-June peak, then closed at a record on Aug. 4, [CNN reported](https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/04/investing/us-stock-market).

## The largest option-income funds

Three funds hold 61% of the category. They did not have the same year.

First Trust FT Vest Rising Dividend Achievers Target Income ETF RDVI is the largest, with $3.8 billion on Oct. 29. Its total return was 18.9%, ahead of SPY. The cash it paid over the past year came to 8.2% of its Oct. 29 share price.

It owns stocks in the Nasdaq US Rising Dividend Achievers Index and sells calls on the S&P 500, not on those stocks. As of Sept. 30 the calls covered 25% of the fund's net assets, [First Trust said](https://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/Etf/EtfSummary.aspx?Ticker=RDVI).

That is why a loss in one quarter can sit under a fund that beat the market. On the same page, First Trust's comparison runs through Sept. 30, a month before the Oct. 29 returns.

Over the year ending that day, the fund's net asset value returned 17.1% and the dividend-stock index returned 18.0%, a gap of 0.9 percentage points. The S&P 500 returned 15.7%.

In the quarter ending that day, the fund's net asset value lost 3.3% and the index lost 3.2%, while the S&P 500 rose 2.3%. The calls, written on the S&P 500 and covering a quarter of the fund, did not pull it off its stocks. The year through Sept. 30 was the stocks' year.

Aptus Collared Investment Opportunity ETF ACIO, the second largest, had $2.4 billion on Oct. 29. It sells calls on stocks it owns and buys puts on a market index, options that pay the fund if that index falls. [Aptus](https://aptusetfs.com/acio/) calls the combination a collar, and names limiting the downside as a goal alongside income.

Its total return was 6.3%, behind SPY. The cash it paid over the past four quarters came to 0.4% of its Oct. 29 share price. The [prospectus](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1540305/000089418925006683/aptuscollaredinvestmentopp.htm) says a portion of the cash from the calls is spent buying the puts, so that portion never arrives as a payout.

Main Management's Main BuyWrite ETF BUYW held $1.5 billion. It owns other exchange-traded funds and, its [prospectus](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1644419/000158064225001371/mainbuywrite497k.htm) says, may sell calls on anywhere from none to all of them.

Its total return was 8.7%, near the category median and behind SPY. The cash it paid over the past year came to 5.9% of its Oct. 29 share price.

Chart: Only **RDVI** beat SPY among the three largest

## YieldMax's 60.5% rate was one weekly payment

YieldMax Ultra Option Income Strategy ETF ULTY is one of the 50 funds.

[YieldMax](https://yieldmaxetfs.com/our-etfs/ulty/) put its distribution rate at 60.5% on Oct. 27. That rate is the new weekly payment, $0.265, annualized and divided by the fund's net asset value. It is not a stack of the past year's payments, and YieldMax says it is not a total return.

The $0.265 is already the cut, 69% below the weekly payment of a year earlier. YieldMax said that payment was 100% estimated return of capital, and none of it income.

Through Oct. 29 the fund's total return was **-11%**.

YieldMax Universe Fund of Option Income ETFs YMAX, also in the category, holds other YieldMax funds. It cut its weekly payment 71%, to $0.055. Its total return was -5.2%.

Chart: YieldMax funds **lost** money in a year SPY gained 13.1%

Source: etf.net, https://etf.net/news/largest-option-income-fund-beats-index-2026-10-30. Please cite the page URL.