Covered-call ETFs, with distribution rate, NAV and fee.

How to read this list

A covered-call ETF holds stocks or an index and sells call options against them. The option premium it collects is paid out as the distribution, which is why these funds yield more than the stocks they hold. The price of that income is the gain given up when the market rises past the option’s strike.

The distribution rate is the last twelve months of payments divided by today’s price. It is not a promise: each month’s payment is set by the premium the fund collected, and it changes. NAV is the value of the fund’s holdings a share. A fund whose NAV falls while its rate holds is paying part of its own capital out as income, and the rate alone will not show it.

The expense ratio comes out of the fund before anything is distributed. “Pays” is how often the payment arrives; most of these funds pay monthly, some weekly. The score is the Income Quality Score, a 0-to-10 reading of how well the payout is supported by what the fund earns, explained on the methodology page.

A few rows, read the way a member reads them

• MSTY (YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF) yields 64.14% on its trailing distributions at $12.68. The rate alone says nothing about what the fund kept: its record shows the net asset value over the same period and how much of each payment was return of capital.
• DIVO (Amplify CWP Enhanced Dividend Income ETF) yields 4.93% at $46.61. A lower rate usually means the fund writes options on part of the portfolio rather than all of it, and keeps more of the market’s move.
• GPIX (Goldman Sachs S&P 500 Premium Income ETF) charges 0.29% a year. The expense ratio comes out of the fund before any distribution is paid, so two funds with the same distribution rate and different fees do not pay the same.

What the list leaves out

The share of each payment that was return of capital, the fund’s Yield Sustainability reading, assets under management and the payment history are on each record. All 150+ funds, with filters, saved screens and the alerts, open with an account: the first 10 rows of each screener on Starter, every row on Plus.

The score describes income quality on a 0-to-10 scale and ranks nothing. Credit quality shows Investment grade, High yield or Not rated. Sources: SEC EDGAR, licensed market data, FRED. Nothing on this page is investment advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold.