Skip to content
etf.net

In Markets

ULTY's 60% checks left holders down 1.7% for the year

As of Friday, September 4, 2026, YieldMax Ultra ULTY paid $0.3048 a share, estimated as 100% return of capital.

Close-up of hands counting twenty-dollar bills over financial documents and a smartphone on a desk.
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels

· 3 min read · ETF.net Research

ULTYCHPYYMAXPLTYSCHD

YieldMax on Tuesday posted a 60.19% distribution rate for the high-volatility call-selling fund ULTY and a 40.21% rate for its semiconductor option-income fund CHPY, each against a 30-day SEC yield below zero. ULTY returned -1.7% over the past year, distributions reinvested. The semiconductor fund returned 96%. The payout label did not sort them. The stocks under the calls did.

The $733 million ULTY declared a $0.3048 weekly dividend for the Wednesday, September 2 ex-date. The same table put the 30-day SEC yield, for the period ended July 31, at -0.78%. The fund's product page estimated that distribution as 100% return of capital and 0% income. A distribution rate is one week's check, stretched across a year; YieldMax says it may include option income, gains, and return of capital. The 30-day SEC yield is net investment income and excludes option income. Seven of the eleven Group 1 funds in Tuesday's release posted a 30-day yield below zero.

ULTY closed Friday at $26.26. Over the past year the shares are down 52%. The latest check is 66% smaller than the split-adjusted payment a year earlier. Over that year the fund paid $27.85 a share, split-adjusted, more than Friday's price. Return of capital is not taxed as a dividend now. It lowers your cost basis, so a later sale can produce a larger capital gain. If this week's estimate holds, the $0.3048 is not income. It comes off the $26.26. A U.S. dividend-stock fund, SCHD, yields 3.0% on its last four payments and returned 30% over the same year.

Those return-of-capital labels are estimates. Final tax character arrives on Form 1099-DIV. YieldMax's Tuesday release said the distribution rate does not represent total return, and that distributions may include return of capital, which may decrease net asset value.

What Tuesday's table actually said

ULTY posted the highest distribution rate in Tuesday's eleven-fund Group 1 table.

ExposureCheck (ex September 2)vs prior weekDistribution rate30-day SEC yield
High-volatility covered calls ULTY$0.3048-0.9%60.19%-0.78%
Semiconductor option income CHPY$0.5132-0.9%40.21%-0.49%

CHPY paid $0.5132, down 0.9% from the prior week but 34% above the year-earlier check. The product page estimated 84% return of capital on that distribution. Total return over the past year is 96%, and the shares themselves are up 29%. The profit did not come from a coupon. It came from the semiconductor stocks underneath the calls. A negative SEC yield sat under both years.

The YieldMax Universe Fund of Option Income ETFs YMAX, a fund of the firm's single-name products, paid $0.0601, up 1.9% from the prior week and 45% below the year-earlier check. One-year total return is 2.7%. The share price is down 39%.

The Palantir call-selling fund PLTY is on a different weekly cycle. It declared $0.7253 for the Thursday, September 3 ex-date, 13% above the prior week, a 100.99% distribution rate against a 1.97% 30-day SEC yield. Total return for the week was -5.6%. Over the past year the shares are down 42%; total return is 14.5%. The payout label did not describe the week, and it did not describe the year.

Price change and total return, year to Friday, September 4, 2026

Share price vs total return over the past year

  • Share price
  • Total return
  • CHPY
    • Share price +29%
    • Total return +96%
  • PLTY
    • Share price −42%
    • Total return +15%
  • YMAX
    • Share price −39%
    • Total return +2.7%
  • ULTY
    • Share price −52%
    • Total return −1.7%

Only CHPY's shares rose. Checks left ULTY negative.

A 60% rate is last week's check, annualized. The year is what remained after the calls. They are not two ways of reading the same payment.

Frequently asked

What does a 60% distribution rate actually mean?

It is one week's check stretched across a year, and YieldMax says it may include option income, gains, and return of capital rather than representing total return.

Why is the 30-day SEC yield negative?

The SEC yield measures net investment income and excludes option income, and seven of the eleven Group 1 funds in Tuesday's release posted a figure below zero.

Is return of capital taxed?

It is not taxed as a dividend now, but it lowers your cost basis, so a later sale can produce a larger capital gain.

Are the return-of-capital estimates final?

No — they are estimates, and the final tax character arrives on Form 1099-DIV.