XYLD review: ten years of S&P 500 covered calls vs SPY
XYLD has sold at-the-money calls on the S&P 500 every month for over ten years. Measured against SPY on the same days, it returned a little over half as much. Here is the record year by year.
What XYLD is
XYLD is the Global X S&P 500 Covered Call ETF. It holds the S&P 500 and sells an at-the-money call on the index every month against the whole portfolio, then pays the premium out monthly. Writing at the money collects the most premium and gives away nearly all of any rally.
Ten years against SPY
From the first close of 2016 to the November 11, 2026 close, XYLD returned about 8.4% a year with distributions reinvested. SPY returned about 14.9% a year on the same days. XYLD's share price was roughly flat over the decade (about -0.4% a year) while it paid out about 10% of its price a year.
Its worst drawdown, -33.5%, was almost the same as SPY's -33.7%. So the fund gave up about 6.5 points a year of return without a smaller worst fall.
Year by year
2017: +16.5% against SPY +21.7%. 2018: -6.1% against -4.6%. 2019: +21.4% against +31.2%. 2020: -0.6% against +18.3%. 2021: +19.6% against +28.7%. 2022: -12.1% against -18.2%. 2023: +11.1% against +26.2%. 2024: +19.5% against +24.9%. 2025: +8.0% against +17.7%. 2026 to mid November: +11.2% against +12.3%.
XYLD trailed in every year but 2022. 2020 is the clearest lesson: the March crash was followed by a fast rebound, the fund took the crash and capped the rebound, and the year ended near zero while SPY made 18%.
XYLD vs SPYI and JEPI
Newer S&P 500 income funds sell calls further out of the money or on part of the portfolio, so they keep more of a rally. On the common window from January 30, 2024: SPYI +15.5% a year, XYLD +13.0%, JEPI +9.6%, against SPY +18.0%. The SPYI review and JEPI vs JEPQ guide have their full histories.
How we measured
Daily closing prices from Yahoo Finance, split adjusted. Total return reinvests each distribution on its ex-date. Each fund is compared with what it tracks on exactly the same days, from the fund's first close. No taxes or trading costs are included, and past returns do not predict future ones. This is a measurement, not advice for anyone's account. Prices through the November 11, 2026 close.
Measured from daily closes and distributions, every payout reinvested, each fund against its index on the same days. Past returns do not predict future ones. This is education, not a recommendation to buy or sell anything.