YieldMax Dividend Calculator

How YieldMax weekly distributions work

YieldMax ETFs are option-income funds. Most target a single, high-volatility underlying — Tesla, NVIDIA, Coinbase, MicroStrategy — and generate income by writing short-dated call options against synthetic long exposure. That premium, minus fund expenses, is what shows up in your account each week.

Because option premium is a function of implied volatility, strike distance and days-to-expiry, distributions move week to week. A quiet market compresses premium; a volatile one expands it. It is normal to see one week's payout differ meaningfully from the next, and short streaks of declining or rising distributions do not indicate a problem with the fund — they reflect how much the market is willing to pay for the options being sold.

The annualized yield printed on this page uses a simple, methodology-consistent formula: most recent weekly distribution × 52 ÷ current price. It is not a promise of forward income, because next week's premium is unknown. When shopping between YieldMax funds, look at both the annualized figure and the trailing pattern — a stable series of moderate weeks often out-earns a single spike that gets extrapolated to headline numbers.

Two more points that matter for realism. First, distributions include a mix of ordinary income, short-term gains and, in some quarters, return of capital. Actual tax character is reported after year end on Form 1099-DIV — use the after-tax calculator to model net income. Second, high distribution rates can coexist with NAV decline. Total return, not headline yield, is the honest scorecard; the methodology page walks through both.

Frequently asked questions