ULTY paid $21.50 a share in a year. The shares closed at $20.57

YieldMax Ultra Option Income Strategy ETF, ULTY, has paid out more per share over the past year than the shares are now worth.

YieldMax ran a 1-for-10 reverse split after the close on Nov. 28, 2025. Restated for that split, the payments in the year through the Nov. 4 ex-date came to $21.50 a share, and the shares closed Friday, Nov. 6, at $20.57. Through Oct. 31, the fund's one-year net asset value return was down 16%.

ULTY paid $0.2469 a share on Nov. 5, the latest weekly distribution. YieldMax estimates that the payment was entirely return of capital, and that none of it was income.

The distribution rate on that page was 60.25% as of Nov. 4, an annualized figure: that weekly payment, multiplied out over a year and divided by net asset value. YieldMax says it is not a total return. The 30-day SEC yield, which leaves out option income, was -1.71% as of Oct. 31.

YieldMax says a return of investor capital can decrease the fund's net asset value and its trading price, and that an investor may suffer significant losses. It says the net asset value typically drops by the amount of the distribution on the ex-date.

iShares BALQ and Allspring ERH

Two other checks that week were estimated as almost all the holder's own money.

iShares estimated that 97% of the $0.373894 a share paid Nov. 5 by the iShares Nasdaq Premium Income Active ETF, BALQ, was return of capital, up from 86% in October.

"When distributions exceed total return performance, the difference will reduce the Fund's net asset value per share," iShares said in its Nov. 2 notice.

Allspring Utilities and High Income Fund, ERH, paid $0.08757 a share on Nov. 2. Allspring estimated that 99.1% of it was paid-in capital, its table's name for a return of capital, the shareholder's own money paid back.

Allspring said a return of capital should not be confused with yield or income, and that the figures are estimates, not for tax reporting.

Cornerstone's 21% rate

Cornerstone, on Friday, told holders of two closed-end funds that the monthly distribution is not a yield, and set the 2027 monthly amount 13% below the monthly amount due in November and December.

"These distributions are not tied to each Fund's investment income or capital gains and do not represent yield or investment return on each Fund's portfolio," the firm said in its Nov. 6 release.

The annual rate did not change. Each board left it at 21% a year, applied to net asset value on the last business day of October, so a lower October net asset value produces a smaller check. Cornerstone Strategic Investment Fund, CLM, is set at $0.1053 a share, 13% below the $0.1215 payable on Nov. 30 and Dec. 31. Cornerstone Total Return Fund, CRF, is set at $0.1022, 13% below the $0.1176 payable those same days.

Each fund has declared only January, February and March at those amounts. The first of them is payable Jan. 29, to holders of record Jan. 15. Those amounts are the level set for calendar 2027.

Cornerstone expects part of this year's distributions to be a return of capital. It defines that as a return of part of the stockholder's original investment, says the portion is not taxed as an ordinary dividend, and says it reduces the cost basis of the shares. The firm said the final mix for 2026 will not be known until after year-end, with tax information expected by the middle of February 2027.

SOXY's November payment

YieldMax Target 12 Semiconductor Option Income ETF, SOXY, paid $0.773 a share on Nov. 5. YieldMax estimated that payment as all income, and estimated the September payment at 94.77% return of capital.

The November check is 22.6% below October's $0.9992. The fund's prospectus says it seeks monthly distributions of roughly 1% of net asset value, and that if net asset value declines, later distributions get smaller in dollars. The one-month net asset value return through Oct. 31 was down 16.4%.

The distribution rate on YieldMax's page was 12% as of Nov. 4, the target the dollar amount is set against. YieldMax says that target is not a guarantee, not a 12% yield, and not a 12% total return.

Through Oct. 31, SOXY's one-year net asset value return was 46%. Over that window, ULTY's was down 16%.

A return of capital, as these funds describe it, is the holder being paid back money that was invested. Cornerstone says that portion is not a dividend now, and that it lowers the cost basis of the shares. That is not a loss by itself.

Over the year through October, ULTY holders were behind and SOXY holders were ahead. One month's estimate does not say whether a holder made money.