GOLY vs YGLD

GOLYCStrategy Shares Gold Enhanced Yield ETF

YGLDCSimplify Gold Strategy PLUS Income ETF

In short

GOLY Most gold income funds sell calls on the metal. GOLY runs the other way: a corporate bond and Treasury sleeve stacked with roughly dollar-for-dollar notional gold exposure, with premiums harvested by writing puts on commodity futures.

YGLD Most gold-income ETFs sell calls on gold and cap its upside. YGLD flips it: up to roughly 150% gold exposure via futures, with the income coming from option spreads written on other ETFs. 0.62% a year, below the category norm.

Stated mandate

GOLY The fund seeks both income and long-term capital appreciation.

YGLD The Fund seeks income and capital appreciation through an actively managed gold futures strategy and an income-generating options strategy.

Why people hold it

• GOLY The gold leg is not written against. Income comes from the bond sleeve and from selling put options on commodity futures, so the metal exposure itself stays uncapped.sec.gov
• Two engines, one ticker: about 100% market-value exposure to corporate bonds and Treasuries plus roughly 100% notional gold exposure via futures and total return swaps.sec.govsec.gov 2
• Pays monthly by design. The board-adopted policy targets a management-set monthly rate and discloses each month how much came from income, gains or return of capital.sec.gov

• YGLD The income is not carved out of gold's upside. Rather than selling calls on gold, the fund writes put and call spreads on equity, bond and currency ETFs, and distributes monthly.sec.gov
• At 0.62% it undercuts every peer at the top of the gold-income group: IAUI at 0.79%, SLJY at 0.76%, IGLD at 0.85%, KGLD at 0.99%. Gross and net are the same figure, with no waiver holding it down.
• Futures carry the gold exposure, targeting about 150% per dollar at the start of each quarter and resetting quarterly, not daily. No daily compounding reset to track.sec.govsimplify.us

Worth knowing

• GOLY Costs 0.90%, no waiver, near the median of its 12-fund category, but several gold-income peers run cheaper (YGLD at 0.62%, IAUI at 0.79%).
• That stacked exposure is built with leverage through a Cayman subsidiary outside 1940 Act protections, and the filings state the fund could sustain significant losses.sec.govsec.gov 2
• Launched 2021 as a gold-hedged bond index fund; the active enhanced-yield strategy dates to January 5, 2025, and it trades thinly, so spreads can widen.sec.gov

• YGLD Leverage works in both directions. At roughly 150% exposure a drop in gold lands harder, and since the reset is quarterly, actual exposure drifts above or below that target in between.simplify.us
• The options sleeve carries its own separate risk: a written spread can lose up to the gap between its two strike prices, on ETFs that have nothing to do with gold.simplify.us
• Plumbing to know: up to 25% of assets sits in a wholly owned Cayman subsidiary outside 1940 Act protections, and this is one of the smaller, lighter-traded funds in its category.sec.gov

Full GOLY profile⁠

Full YGLD profile⁠