Covered-call ETF

Global X - Russell 2000 Covered Call ETF (RYLD)

Global X - Russell 2000 Covered Call ETF trades as RYLD on AMEX. This page collects what it has actually paid — every recorded payment, the calendar-year totals, the forward and trailing 12-month yields side by side against the last price, and the dates already declared.

$16.26 $0.05 (+0.31%)
52-week range $14.61 – $16.47
Covered-call ETF AMEXFinancial ServicesAsset Management - Income

Price as of Aug 25, 2026 (9 hours ago) · supplied by fmp. Quotes may be delayed. Verify with your broker before acting on anything here.

Forward yield 12.20% Last regular payment annualised, divided by the last price. An estimate of the next twelve months — not money that has been paid.
Trailing 12-month yield 11.53% Cash actually paid per share over the last 365 days ($1.88) divided by the last price. Backward-looking, and not comparable with a bond's yield to maturity or an index yield.
Forward annual payment $1.98 Forward estimate: the last regular payment multiplied by the number of payments a year. It is an estimate of the next twelve months, not cash that has been paid.
Pays Monthly Cadence of the regular payment, accepted only after three consecutive payments were reported at the same frequency.
Next ex-date First day the shares trade without the next payment attached.
Next pay date When the declared payment reaches holders.
Growth streak 1 yr 1 consecutive complete years in which the highest regular payment was above the year before. Our stored payment history for this security begins in 2019. The run ends inside that history, so it is measured rather than a floor.
Years paying 7 Complete calendar years with a payment in our stored history, which begins in 2019. The issuer may have paid for longer than we hold.
Payout ratio Not meaningful for this structure — GAAP earnings do not describe what it pays out.
Income score 40 0-100 research screen, not a recommendation.

The two yields above are different measurements and are not interchangeable. The forward yield annualises the last regular payment; the trailing 12-month yield counts the cash actually paid over the last 365 days. Neither is an interest rate, a bond's yield to maturity or an index effective yield, and none of those may be compared with these as like for like. See how we compute these numbers.

Our stored payment history for RYLD begins in 2019. The run of increases above ends inside that history rather than at its edge, so the figure is measured within what we hold and is not a floor. A streak is counted on the split-adjusted payment, so a share split does not read as a cut.

A yield is just a payment divided by a price, so it moves every day even when the payment does not. The forward number is an estimate of the next twelve months; the trailing number is what was actually paid over the last twelve. Ex-date is the cut-off: own the shares before it and the next payment is yours, buy on or after it and the seller keeps it.

The Global X Russell 2000 Covered Call ETF, identified by its ticker RYLD, aims to replicate the total return—encompassing both price appreciation and income generation—of the Cboe Russell 2000 BuyWrite Index. This objective is measured before accounting for the ETF's own associated fees and operational expenses.

Company description supplied by the issuer and relayed by our market-data provider, not written by Income Investing. See data sources.

RYLD is a covered-call etf. What it pays is a distribution, not interest, and that distinction matters. A distribution is whatever the fund passes through for the period — dividends and interest received from the holdings, realised capital gains, option premium where the strategy writes options, and sometimes return of capital. Only the year-end tax form breaks the payment into its parts.

Return of capital is your own money coming back. It is not taxed on receipt, but it reduces your cost basis, so the tax arrives later as a larger capital gain. A fund can therefore publish a steady-looking distribution rate while the net asset value drifts down underneath it. The distribution is set by the fund and can be changed at any time; it is never a coupon. Call-writing funds fund part of the payment by selling away upside: the premium is collected today, and the gains above the strike belong to the option buyer.

Figures on this page are computed by Income Investing from the payment history and last price stored in our own database; the payment records come from fmp and the price from fmp, last recomputed Aug 25, 2026. They describe what has been paid, not what will be paid. Yield, payout ratio, our data sources and our methodology are explained elsewhere on the site.

Payment history

Each row is one payment as recorded by our data provider, newest first. The final column compares it with the nearest payment about a year earlier.

The table lists the 24 most recent recorded distributions for RYLD, newest first, with ex-dates running from Sep 23, 2024 to Aug 24, 2026. The latest is $0.1653 per share in USD, ex-date Aug 24, 2026, pay date Aug 27, 2026. Measured against the nearest payment about a year earlier, 7 are higher, 17 lower and 0 unchanged; the remaining 0 have no comparable payment in the record. None is flagged as a special or one-off payment. Payment records supplied by fmp.

How to read this table: one row is one payment, newest at the top, and the amount is what a single share received on that one date. It is not an annual figure — the yearly ones are in the tiles above and in the totals further down. A row marked Special is a one-off the issuer chose to make rather than part of the regular schedule, which is why it is left out of the year-on-year comparison and out of those yearly totals. Whether the amount repeats for several rows or moves every time is a fact about the structure rather than a sign of health: a company usually resets its dividend once a year, while a fund's distribution can change with every payment.

Recorded payments for RYLD. Amounts are per share as declared, in USD.
Ex-dateOwn it before this day and this payment is yours. Pay date Amount per shareWhat one share received on that date, before tax. Cadence tagged by provider Type vs. a year earlier
Aug 24, 2026 Aug 27, 2026 $0.1653 Monthly Regular +9.76%
Jul 20, 2026 Jul 23, 2026 $0.1605 Monthly Regular +7.14%
Jun 22, 2026 Jun 25, 2026 $0.1618 Monthly Regular +8.96%
May 18, 2026 May 21, 2026 $0.1568 Monthly Regular +5.87%
Apr 20, 2026 Apr 23, 2026 $0.1566 Monthly Regular +9.43%
Mar 23, 2026 Mar 26, 2026 $0.1475 Monthly Regular -4.03%
Feb 23, 2026 Feb 26, 2026 $0.1584 Monthly Regular -2.64%
Jan 20, 2026 Jan 23, 2026 $0.1573 Monthly Regular -6.48%
Dec 22, 2025 Dec 30, 2025 $0.1551 Monthly Regular -6.79%
Nov 24, 2025 Dec 02, 2025 $0.1518 Monthly Regular -8.44%
Oct 20, 2025 Oct 27, 2025 $0.1525 Monthly Regular -7.85%
Sep 22, 2025 Sep 29, 2025 $0.1517 Monthly Regular -6.18%
Aug 18, 2025 Aug 25, 2025 $0.1506 Monthly Regular -6.34%
Jul 21, 2025 Jul 28, 2025 $0.1498 Monthly Regular -6.67%
Jun 23, 2025 Jun 30, 2025 $0.1485 Monthly Regular -7.65%
May 19, 2025 May 27, 2025 $0.1481 Monthly Regular -10.46%
Apr 21, 2025 Apr 28, 2025 $0.1431 Monthly Regular -12.10%
Mar 24, 2025 Mar 31, 2025 $0.1537 Monthly Regular -8.18%
Feb 24, 2025 Mar 03, 2025 $0.1627 Monthly Regular -0.31%
Jan 21, 2025 Jan 28, 2025 $0.1682 Monthly Regular +1.69%
Dec 30, 2024 Jan 07, 2025 $0.1664 Monthly Regular -0.18%
Nov 18, 2024 Nov 25, 2024 $0.1658 Monthly Regular -1.19%
Oct 21, 2024 Oct 28, 2024 $0.1655 Monthly Regular +2.41%
Sep 23, 2024 Sep 30, 2024 $0.1617 Monthly Regular -6.33%

The cadence column is the tag our provider attached to that individual payment (fmp), not the security's established schedule. The two can disagree, which is why the cadence shown in the tiles above is only accepted after three consecutive payments were tagged the same way.

A blank comparison means there was no comparable payment within sixty days of the same point a year earlier — a new payer, a changed cadence, or a gap in the record. Special and one-off payments are labelled and are excluded from the comparison.

Distributions by calendar year

Calendar-year totals, bucketed by ex-dividend date: every regular distribution whose ex-dividend date fell in that year, for the last ten complete years on record. These are amounts actually paid, never a forward estimate, and they are not the issuer's own annual distribution figure.

The chart covers 7 complete calendar years for RYLD, 2019 to 2025, per share, in USD. Each bar totals the regular distributions with an ex-dividend date in that calendar year. The year is assigned by ex-dividend date, which is not necessarily the issuer's own distribution year. Our stored payment history for RYLD begins in 2019. The total went from $1.64 in 2019 to $1.84 in 2025 — 12% higher. Within that span 2 years were higher than the year before and 4 lower. The three most recent years shown are 2023 $2.12, 2024 $1.97 and 2025 $1.84. The current year is still in progress and is left out, and special or one-off payments are excluded. This is a record of what was paid, not a projection. 1 of the years shown does not hold the 12 distributions the recorded cadence implies: 2019 (8 payments). Those years are marked on the chart and named in the table. A year with one more or one fewer payment than the cadence implies is usually a payment whose ex-dividend date moved across a year end rather than a change in the payment itself: the payment lands in the neighbouring calendar year, so one year reads high and the next reads low while the rate never moved. The change-on-the-year-before column carries the same distortion, because it compares two totals rather than two payment rates. 2019 is the first year of payments we hold for RYLD, so it is short because our record starts there, not because anything moved. These totals are arithmetically right for what they measure — regular distributions bucketed by ex-dividend date — but they are not the annual distribution the issuer reports for that year, and where the two disagree the issuer's own published distribution history is the authority.

Each bar, and each row underneath it, is one calendar year of regular payments added together for a single share. Read left to right and you are reading whether the payment has grown, held or been cut — a record of what was paid, never a forecast of what will be. One thing to watch for: a year here is decided by the date the payment went ex, so when that date slips across a year end one year holds an extra payment and its neighbour is one short while the payment itself never moved. Any year where that has happened is drawn as a dashed bar and marked with an asterisk, and it is the usual reason these totals differ from the annual figure the issuer itself publishes.

2019: $1.6403 per share from 8 payments — the recorded cadence implies 12 a year, so this year does not match. 1.64 2019* 2020: $2.4308 per share from 12 payments, matching the 12 a year the recorded cadence implies. 2.43 2020 2021: $3.0148 per share from 12 payments, matching the 12 a year the recorded cadence implies. 3.01 2021 2022: $2.5396 per share from 12 payments, matching the 12 a year the recorded cadence implies. 2.54 2022 2023: $2.1162 per share from 12 payments, matching the 12 a year the recorded cadence implies. 2.12 2023 2024: $1.9657 per share from 12 payments, matching the 12 a year the recorded cadence implies. 1.97 2024 2025: $1.8358 per share from 12 payments, matching the 12 a year the recorded cadence implies. 1.84 2025
Payment count matches the recorded cadence * Count does not match — 2019
Bar height is the total per share of the regular distributions whose ex-dividend date fell in that calendar year, in USD. The year is assigned by ex-dividend date, not by the issuer's own distribution year and not by the date the cash arrived. The dashed bars marked * hold more or fewer payments than the cadence on record implies: that is usually one payment whose ex-dividend date shifted across a year end, which leaves one year high and its neighbour low without the distribution itself changing. Where these totals disagree with the issuer's published annual figure, the issuer's own distribution history is the authority. These are a trailing record — never the forward estimate shown in the tiles above.
Complete calendar years only, bucketed by ex-dividend date — the current year is still in progress and is left out.
Year Paid per share that yearEvery regular payment dated in that year, added up, for one share. Payments in the yearA count that differs from the usual one means a payment moved across a year end. Change on the year before
2019 $1.64 8 — cadence implies 12
2020 $2.43 12 +48.19%
2021 $3.01 12 +24.02%
2022 $2.54 12 -15.76%
2023 $2.12 12 -16.67%
2024 $1.97 12 -7.11%
2025 $1.84 12 -6.61%
What can go wrong
Selling calls converts uncertain upside into cash today, and the trade is not free. The fund keeps the premium but gives away the gains above the strike, so in a strong rally it lags the index it writes on, while in a fall it takes close to the full loss with only the premium as cushion. Headline distribution rates on these funds often include option premium and return of capital, which is not the same thing as portfolio income.

Similar securities

The eight closest covered-call etf entries by trailing 12-month yield, in the same sector. A research screen, not a recommendation.

Open Options Income →

These are not the best-paying securities of this kind, and no ranking is meant by the order. They are the ones whose trailing 12-month yield sits nearest to this one, in the same structure and usually the same sector, so that this security can be seen in company rather than on its own. Every figure here is backward-looking cash that has already been paid. A row that sits well away from the rest is a question to take to that security's own page, not an answer.

Ticker Name Price Trailing 12m yieldCash paid out over the last year, over today's price. Paid over 12 months Pays
QYLD Global X - Nasdaq 100 Covered Call ETF $18.13 11.72% $2.12 Monthly
SPYI Neos S&P 500(R) High Income ETF $53.53 11.83% $6.33 Monthly
JEPQ JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF $59.75 10.92% $6.52 Monthly
TLTW iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond BuyWrite Strategy ETF $21.49 10.85% $2.33 Monthly
XYLD Global X - S&P 500 Covered Call ETF $41.36 10.47% $4.33 Monthly
PBP Invesco S&P 500 BuyWrite ETF $23.20 10.39% $2.41 Monthly
GPIQ Goldman Sachs Nasdaq-100 Premium Income ETF $56.50 10.02% $5.66 Monthly
QQQI NEOS Nasdaq-100 High Income ETF $54.12 14.13% $7.65 Monthly

Every row in this table is on the same basis — cash actually paid per share over the last 365 days, divided by that security's last price — so the column can be read down. Forward estimates are deliberately not used here, because they exist for some securities and not others and a mixed column would invite a comparison that does not hold. A dash means no payment was recorded in the last 365 days, or no price is on file. Open a security to see both of its yields.

Where these are traded

The Options Industry Council

The education arm funded by the US options exchanges and OCC, with free courses and calculators covering covered calls, cash-secured puts, assignment and exercise.

Free; run by the exchanges and the clearing house rather than a broker

Visit The Options Industry Council ↗
Options Clearing Corporation

The clearing house that stands as counterparty to every listed US equity and index option and publishes the assignment, exercise and adjustment rules.

Publishes 'Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options', the disclosure document brokers must supply

Visit Options Clearing Corporation ↗
Cboe Global Markets

Operates options exchanges where much US index and equity option volume trades, and publishes the methodology for its buy-write and put-write benchmark indices.

Index methodology and historical index values are published free

Visit Cboe Global Markets ↗
tastytrade

A US brokerage built around options order entry, with per-contract pricing and position-level risk and probability displays.

Visit tastytrade ↗

Listed because they offer access to this kind of security, not as an endorsement of it.

Questions about RYLD

Does RYLD pay a distribution, and how often?
Yes. The regular payment cadence recorded for RYLD is monthly. The annual figure works out at $1.98 per share. Forward estimate: the last regular payment multiplied by the number of payments a year. It is an estimate of the next twelve months, not cash that has been paid. The last ex-date in our history is Aug 24, 2026.
What is the yield on RYLD, and is it forward or trailing?
There are two, and they measure different things. The forward yield is 12.20%: the last regular payment annualised to $1.98 a year and divided by the last price of $16.26. That is an estimate of the next twelve months. The trailing 12-month yield is 11.53%: the $1.88 per share actually paid over the last 365 days, divided by the same price. Neither number is a bond's yield to maturity, an index effective yield or an interest rate, and none of those should be compared with these as like for like. Yield also moves inversely with price, so it rises when the market marks the security down — a high number is a question, not an answer.
When is the next RYLD ex-dividend date?
No future ex-date has been declared or collected for RYLD yet. The last one on record was Aug 24, 2026.
Why is there no meaningful payout ratio for RYLD?
A payout ratio compares a dividend to accounting earnings. For a covered-call etf the payment is not funded out of GAAP net income — REITs and BDCs pay out of taxable income under distribution rules, funds pass through whatever the portfolio produced, and partnerships distribute cash flow. Analysts use structure-specific measures instead, such as funds from operations for REITs or net investment income for BDCs.
Is the RYLD distribution the same as interest?
No. A distribution is whatever the vehicle chooses or is required to pass through in that period. It can contain dividends, interest, realised gains, option premium and return of capital, and only the year-end tax form shows the split. Return of capital is your own money coming back: it is not taxed on receipt, but it lowers your cost basis and therefore raises the gain you are taxed on later.
Why do the RYLD calendar-year totals differ from the annual distribution the issuer reports?
Because this page buckets every regular distribution into the calendar year of its ex-dividend date, and the issuer reports its own distribution year. At the recorded cadence a full year holds 12 payments, and in our record 2019 holds 8 payments. That is almost always a payment whose ex-dividend date moved across a year end — the payment falls into the neighbouring year, leaving one year high and the other low while the distribution rate itself did not change. The totals here are arithmetically right for what they measure and are not a restatement of the issuer's annual figure; RYLD's own published distribution history is the authority on that.
How to read this page
Nothing on this page is investment advice or a recommendation to buy, hold or sell RYLD. Figures are drawn from third-party market data and our own calculations, may be delayed or wrong, and can change without notice. Confirm every number with the issuer and with your own broker, tax adviser and financial adviser before acting.

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