YieldMax Ultra Option Income Strategy ETF

ULTY

Market cap $13.9B

YieldMax Ultra Option Income Strategy ETF (ULTY) has seen its NAV collapse 79% since inception. Its total return is now negative. ULTY's strategy of holding volatile stocks and writing call options has resulted in high yields, but these are unsustainable as both NAV and payouts decline. The fund's frequent rebalancing and focus on volatility over fundamentals have led to poor entries, compounding losses even during a favorable market environment.

YieldMax Ultra Option Income Strategy ETF is designed for income-focused investors, leveraging covered calls on large tech stocks to generate high yield. Criticism about NAV erosion is overstated; ULTY's purpose is income generation, not growth, and some NAV decline is an expected trade-off for high distributions. ULTY works best as part of a diversified portfolio, with income reinvested elsewhere to maximize returns and mitigate risk, rather than as a standalone holding.

It's tempting to think about throwing in the towel on an ETF that has so much negative momentum riding behind it.

YieldMax Ultra Option Income Strategy ETF offers an extremely high yield but employs an aggressive covered call strategy on risky, hype-driven stocks. ULTY's net asset value and share price have declined sharply, erasing most of the benefit from its high dividend payouts. The fund's aggressive option writing and volatile holdings cap upside while exposing investors to significant downside, resulting in poor total returns.

YieldMax has rapidly grown to $17 billion AUM, capitalizing on demand for leveraged and ultra-high yield ETFs. While single-stock ETFs like MSTY, NVDY, CONY, and TSLY dominate, the YieldMax Ultra Option Income Strategy ETF offers more diversification. YieldMax Ultra Option Income Strategy ETF boasts a striking 90% distribution yield, appealing strongly to income-focused investors.

One of the biggest challenges investors face on the road to building wealth is deciding how much risk in their portfolios to take on.

CHICAGO and MILWAUKEE and NEW YORK, Oct. 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- YieldMax® ETFs today announced distributions for the YieldMax® Group 1 weekly pay ETFs listed in the table below. Group 1 Distribution Announcement Ex.

As the market continues to grow, there is definite conversation happening online, especially on places like Reddit, about which stocks, funds, and ETFs are going to help drive the future.

Covered call ETFs like JEPI, JEPQ, ULTY, and XYLD have done well in the past few years, attracting billions of dollars in assets as investors embraced their high dividends.  JEPI, the biggest covered call ETF, has attracted over $41 billion in assets, thanks to its 8.

NEW YORK, Oct. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- YieldMax® ETFs today announced a significant enhancement to its distribution framework, moving all single stock option income ETFs to a weekly distribution schedule. This shift reflects investor demand for more frequent income opportunities and represents the natural evolution of the YieldMax® product line.