---
title: "ULTY's 60% checks left holders down 1.7% for the year"
url: "https://etf.net/news/ulty-s-60-checks-left-holders-down-1-7-for-the-year-2026-09-06"
published_at: "2026-09-06T15:40:36.596Z"
updated_at: "2026-09-06T15:40:36.596Z"
byline: "ETF.net Research"
---

# 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.

By ETF.net Research. Published Sep 6, 2026.

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.

Table: Exposure, Check (ex September 2), vs prior week, Distribution rate, 30-day SEC yield

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.

Chart: **Share price** vs total return over the past year

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.

Source: etf.net, https://etf.net/news/ulty-s-60-checks-left-holders-down-1-7-for-the-year-2026-09-06. Please cite the page URL.