The market’s flooded with option-income ETFs promising double-digit yields. Most of them are synthetic, capped, and volatile. But some are pulling real numbers. Let’s walk through five of the most aggressive ones trading in July 2025: ULTY, YMAX, MSTY, QUSA, and OMAH.
ULTY is the wild card. It’s YieldMax’s Ultra Option Income Strategy ETF. Weekly distributions. Current yield is 119.4%. That’s not a typo. It trades around $6.29 with a 52-week high of $14.40. Assets under management sit at $673 million. Expense ratio is 1.3%. The fund writes synthetic covered calls on high-beta names like Upstart, Reddit, Palantir, and IonQ. It’s volatile. It’s bleeding NAV. But it pays. The latest distribution was $0.096 per share, paid July 11. That’s 80.35% annualized. Most of it is return of capital. If you’re chasing income and don’t care about capital erosion, ULTY is the gambler’s pick.
YMAX is the fund-of-funds version. It holds a basket of other YieldMax ETFs. Weekly distributions. Yield is 59.08%. It trades near $13.88 with $926 million in assets. Expense ratio is 1.28%. Top holdings include MSTY, NVDY, TSMY, GOOY, and YBIT. The latest payout was $0.1347 per share. Most of the yield is also return of capital. NAV erosion is slower than ULTY, but still real. If you want diversified exposure to synthetic covered calls without picking individual names, YMAX is the passive route.
MSTY is the MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF. It’s tied to MicroStrategy, which means it’s tied to Bitcoin. Monthly distributions. Yield is 125%. It trades at $22.60 with $5.14 billion in assets. Expense ratio is 0.99%. The latest payout was $1.2382 per share on July 7. That’s down from $1.4707 in June. The fund writes calls on MSTR and collects premiums. If Bitcoin stays volatile, MSTY pays. If MSTR crashes, MSTY bleeds. It’s a one-stock ETF with a leveraged income overlay. High risk, high payout.
QUSA is the conservative outlier. It’s VistaShares’ Target 15 USA Quality Income ETF. Monthly distributions. Yield is 2.5%. It trades at $20.25 with $12.19 million in assets. Expense ratio is 0.95%. It holds large-cap quality names like Microsoft, Visa, Procter & Gamble, and CME. It writes options on those holdings. The latest payout was $0.2505 per share. If you want income with low volatility and actual capital preservation, QUSA is the adult in the room.
OMAH is the Berkshire clone. VistaShares Target 15 Berkshire Select Income ETF. Monthly distributions. Yield is 14.85%. It trades at $19.52 with $356.88 million in assets. Expense ratio is 0.95%. It holds Buffett’s top picks: Apple, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, Chevron, Moody’s, and more. It writes options on those holdings. The latest payout was $0.23771 per share. If you want to mirror Berkshire and collect income, OMAH is the structured play.
Bottom line: ULTY and MSTY are for aggressive income chasers. YMAX is the diversified version. QUSA and OMAH are for conservative investors who want yield without blowing up their principal. Pick your poison.
Disclaimer: This is not financial advice
Sources:
https://stockanalysis.com/etf/ulty/
https://stockanalysis.com/etf/ymax/
https://stockanalysis.com/etf/msty/
https://stockanalysis.com/etf/qusa/
https://stockanalysis.com/etf/omah/
https://www.fool.com/investing/2025/07/03/microstrategy-mstr-is-interesting-but-msty-is-bett/
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/QUSA/
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/OMAH/