YieldMax ETFs review: NVDY, TSLY, CONY and YMAX vs the stock

How these funds work

Each single-stock YieldMax fund holds a synthetic long position in one stock, built from options, and sells call options against it every few weeks. The premium is paid out, now weekly for most of them. YMAX is a fund that holds the other YieldMax funds. The yields are large because the stocks are volatile, and volatile stocks have expensive options.

The four funds, measured

NVDY (NVIDIA), from May 11, 2023: total return about 41.2% a year against NVDA's 63.4%. Its share price fell about 56% while it paid out about 209% of its launch price.

TSLY (Tesla), from November 23, 2022: about 9.0% a year against TSLA's 20.7%. Share price down about 90%; it paid out about 98% of its launch price.

CONY (Coinbase), from August 15, 2023: about 0.9% a year against COIN's 15.4%. Share price down about 93%; it paid out about 172% of its launch price, and the owner who reinvested everything is roughly back where they started.

YMAX (a fund of YieldMax funds), from January 17, 2024: about 10.0% a year against QQQ's 20.1%. Share price down about 67%. Its worst drawdown, -26.1%, was deeper than QQQ's -22.8%.

More of the fall than of the rise

On monthly returns each fund caught less of its stock's up months than its down months: NVDY 76% up and 81% down, TSLY 72% and 85%, CONY 69% and 84%, MSTY 77% and 81%. YMAX caught 90% of QQQ's up months and 131% of its down months, because the stocks under it are more volatile than the Nasdaq-100.

That asymmetry is the cost of selling calls on a stock that moves a lot: the rally above the strike is gone, the fall is kept in full, and the premium is not big enough to make up the difference over a full cycle. The funds did fall a few points less than their stocks in the February to April 2025 sell-off (NVDY -27.3% against NVDA -30.8%, TSLY -33.7% against TSLA -38.5%), which is the cushion working in a single drop.

Year by year

NVDY: 2024 +114.2% against NVDA +171.2%; 2025 +27.4% against +38.9%; 2026 to mid November -13.4% against -14.2%. TSLY: 2023 +50.7% against TSLA +101.7%; 2024 +27.9% against +62.5%; 2025 +13.6% against +11.4%. CONY: 2024 +23.6% against COIN +42.8%; 2025 -26.3% against -8.9%. YMAX: 2025 +6.0% against QQQ +20.8%; 2026 to mid November -2.2% against +10.0%.

The pattern holds across stocks: in strong years the fund keeps a half to two thirds of the gain, and in weak years it does not save much.

Who they suit, and who they don't

This is not advice for anyone's account. These funds turn a volatile stock into a weekly cash stream. Someone who wants that stream, understands that part of it is their own capital coming back, and accepts a share price that tends to fall, is buying what the fund does. Someone who wants the stock's growth, or who reinvests every payout, has done better holding the stock in this record.

For a calmer version of the same idea on an index, the QQQI review and GPIQ review measure the Nasdaq-100 funds, which kept 80% to 90% of the index's return rather than half. The MSTY review covers the biggest YieldMax fund.

How we measured

Daily closing prices from Yahoo Finance through midday November 13, 2026, 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.