MSTY shed 68% and slashed distributions from $4.42 to $0.22, while BIGY delivered 18% price gains targeting the same 12% yield. NVIDIA and Apple headline BIGY's 50-stock basket, where implied volatility generates steady call premium without concentrating blow-up risk in one name. It sounds nuts, but SoFi1 is giving new Active Invest users up to $3,000 in stock for a limited time, and all it takes is a $50 deposit to get started.2 See for yourself (Sponsor) Holders of the YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF (NASDAQ:MSTY) bought into a story about triple-digit headline yields funded by option premiums on MicroStrategy.
The appeal is real: MSTY sends cash every week, and at one point, the trailing yield printed around 222.83%. The problem is the payout has followed the underlying down. MSTY's weekly distribution has slid from a historical $4.42 to $0.22, and the share price is $12.61 after a 68.38% one-year decline.
The same covered-call structure exists in a version built on 50 blue chips instead of one volatile stock, and it has behaved very differently. A single equity is what MSTY writes calls against, using synthetic exposure. When MicroStrategy fell roughly 74% to 75%, the fund captured all of the downside and then capped the rebound on the way back up.
The 1.03% expense ratio and ordinary income tax treatment on distributions only compound the drag. Distributions look large in percentage terms largely because the denominator, net asset value, has collapsed. Year-to-date, MSTY is down 30.88% in price.
The YieldMax Target 12 Big 50 Option Income ETF (NYSEARCA:BIGY) uses the same YieldMax option-income playbook but spreads it across the 50 largest U.S. companies, combining synthetic long exposure, covered-call writing, and Treasuries as collateral. The stated annual income target is 12%, with monthly distributions and a current yield near 11.99%. The expense ratio is 0.99%, four basis points below MSTY.
SoFi Active Invest is offering a limited-time promotion. Open an account, fund it with $50 or more, and you could receive up to $3,000 in complimentary stock for Active Invest accounts. See for yourself by clicking here now.
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