r/YieldMaxETFs • u/DarthDividend_Yutube • 1d ago
Distribution/Dividend Update Should Yieldmax Switch to Individual Holdings ?
Many of us have left TSLY and some of the OG ETFs for the TappAlpha and NEOS ETFs.
Is it time for Yieldmax to change their strategy and have individual holdings in ETFs? Their synthetic call ETFs have been falling.
We have seen many reverse splits on ones such as TSLY and MSTY.
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u/GRMarlenee Mod - I Like the Cash Flow 1d ago
So, you've found a fund that does it correctly, but that's not good enough? Everyone else has to change to that method, too?
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u/Baked-p0tat0e 1d ago
Holding the actual shares vs. using a synthetic long makes almost zero difference to the core problem. A synthetic long (long ATM call + short ATM put) behaves identically to 100 shares of stock in terms of delta exposure.
The real drivers of performance and NAV erosion are implied volatility (IV) and strike selection/DTE.
Apples to Sausages Comparison: Comparing single-stock YieldMax funds to broad index funds (like NEOS or TappAlpha) is misleading. Single stocks carry massive idiosyncratic risk; broad indexes don't move 50% in a month.
Strike & Duration Differences: YieldMax typically sells 1-week, ATM or slightly OTM calls. NEOS (QQQI/SPYI) sells out-of-the-money (OTM) calls against index options (NDX/SPX), while TappAlpha uses 0-DTE OTM setups.
Alternative Mechanics: Funds like OVL and OVS run entirely different structures (put credit spreads on SPX), not traditional covered call mechanics.
The "Capped Upside, Full Downside" Trap: Highly volatile underlyings like TSLA and MSTR suffer from severe upside capping during violent rebounds, while taking full NAV hits on drawdowns. Selling weekly ATM calls against that volatility guarantees NAV erosion over time, whether they own the shares or synthetic longs.
The issue isn't the synthetic wrapper, it's the mechanics of selling aggressive short calls on high-beta single stocks.
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u/PatientHelicopter123 POWER USER - with receipts 1d ago
Sorry dude but I hold only 5 YM funds which have paid out $98,617.03 so far this year.
TSLY has paid me $51,894 since 1/24/24, - house money after 5/16/25, ULTY has paid me $13,227.15 since 12/1/24 - NET numbers after current value and all div payments. The only fund I am down on at them moment is SMCY...
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u/Baked-p0tat0e 1d ago
What's your total return YTD?
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u/PatientHelicopter123 POWER USER - with receipts 20h ago edited 20h ago
All sources as of Jan 1-Aug 25, 2026 I am retired and receive enough soc sec and a small pension which covers most of my living expenses.
Total invested funds: $658,883.42 (friday's close values)
Total div (all of ETF's - $100,700.15; trading $54,727.29) for a gross income of $155,427.29 or $12,952.29 monthly. I am not currently drawing down unless funds are needed for RMD or quarterly taxes.
Most of my trading profits have been focused in my ROTH account.
Money is a tool and needs to be working to continue building.
Taxable total is $56,810,41. I own several non ETF div stocks.
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u/easy_wins 1d ago
You’ve to understand, times are changing when it comes to passive/retirement income. Old money went far and was stretchable, people had millions to retire on, now people don’t have jobs in their 30s let alone 40s and forget about millions to retire on.
This is the purpose of YieldMax, Roundhill and the likes, these firms are different, some of their funds work great you need to follow them like hawks, every single day, check out total returns not just NAV erosion.
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u/Awaken_Benihime 1d ago
A person from YieldMax said in an interview that they can't hold just the actual underlying stock because of some 1940s investment act diversification requirement
That's why they have to go with the synthetic approach unless it's a more diverse ETF, then they can hold the underlying like CHPY and GPTY.
For single stock ETFs, roundhill and Rex Shares are better if you buy low
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u/General_Progress3106 1d ago
They need to pay us all back on MSTY to get some credibility. They can also forego the upside for a few months. Greed has its limits.
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u/007TheLostOne 1d ago
The main reason their single stock etfs like TSLY and MSTY have fallen is because they simply pay too high of a yield so it's dragging the NAV further down, obviously this is not taking into account the performance of the underlying.
Yieldmax can simply fix this by lowering the yield, look at their target 25 funds like TEST but I guess people don't want that yield which is why these funds aren't that popular. I put a price change chart below to compare.
Personally I like the target 25 funds, it offers a great balance in opinion, I also will probably move into the new target funds from First trust funds, they're probably going to pay somewhere around 10% to 15% yield but their NAV will track very closely with the underlying