YieldMax ETFs: covered call spreads targeting 80% upside capture plus monthly income

YieldMax ETFs: covered call spreads targeting 80% upside capture plus monthly income

Mon, August 10, 2026 at 7:11 PM GMT+3

YieldMax ETFs chief strategist Mike Khouw explains how the firm's options-based ETFs use covered call spreads rather than traditional covered calls, targeting roughly 80% participation in outsized upside moves while still generating monthly income for investors. Speaking to Proactive's Stephen Gunnion, Khouw outlined the difference: by selling an upside call and buying a higher-strike call above it, YieldMax avoids capping gains entirely when a stock makes an unusually large move.

Khouw describes the range of ETFs launched with HanETF, including YMAG, a diversified fund-of-funds across YieldMax strategies; NATY, focused on defence; CHPY, targeting semiconductors and IT hardware; and MSTY, a single-stock strategy built around Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), which he describes as primarily a Bitcoin play run by Michael Saylor.

On who these products suit, Khouw said they are designed for investors seeking a balance between equity participation and income - a substitute for the dividend-paying stocks that are less common today. He described them as 'equity light': more equity exposure than a bond, less than a pure stock holding, with some downside volatility reduction built in through the spread structure.

Khouw noted that options-based income ETFs currently represent only about 1% of the entire US ETF market, and an even smaller share elsewhere, but expects that proportion to grow materially as ageing demographics push more investors to seek income from accumulated assets and as appetite for alternatives to conventional fixed income increases.

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