YMAX NAV Erosion
Heavy erosionYieldMax Universe Fund of Option Income ETFs: share price against distributions paid since Jan 2024. Data as of Nov 6, 2026.
YMAX closed at $6.64 on Nov 6, 2026, down 66.6% from $19.90 in Jan 2024. That works out to -32.4% a year. Over the same stretch the fund paid $18.58 per share in 119 distributions, so a holder since Jan 2024 is ahead by $5.32 per share before tax, counting price and payouts together with nothing reinvested.
A price decline of 32.4% a year against a 62.5% trailing distribution yield is heavy NAV erosion. A large part of the payout has been the fund handing back its own asset base, and because each distribution is a percentage of a shrinking price, the dollar payouts fall with it. Even so, the cash paid out has exceeded the price lost so far.
Key numbers
Price since Jan 2024
-66.6%
$19.90 to $6.64
Price change per year
-32.4%
2.8 years of history
Distributions paid
$18.58
119 payouts per share
Net per share
$5.32
+26.7% of the starting price, before tax
Trailing yield
62.5%
$4.15 a share over 12 months, weekly
- YMAX share price
- Share price + distributions paid
Month-end closing prices from 2024-01-17 to 2026-11-06, split-adjusted but not dividend-adjusted. The dashed line is the starting price. The upper line adds every distribution paid per share, with nothing reinvested and before tax.
Fitted to the trailing 12mo window the calculator uses, the price is falling at 33.0% a year compared with -32.4% a year since Jan 2024, so the erosion is close to its long-run pace. The fit explains 37% of the moves, which makes this a noisy trend.
Over the past twelve months alone the price is down 41.5% while the fund paid $4.15 per share on a weekly schedule, which is 62.5% of today's price.
| Year | Start | End | Price change | Distributions | Distribution % | Net |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026* | $9.98 | $6.64 | -33.5% | $3.34 | 33.5% | 0.0% |
| 2025 | $16.95 | $9.98 | -41.1% | $7.75 | 45.7% | +4.6% |
| 2024* | $19.90 | $16.95 | -14.8% | $7.49 | 37.6% | +22.8% |
* Partial year: the fund's first year on file or the current year to date.
- Prices are closing prices adjusted for share splits, not for dividends. Dividend-adjusted series net the distributions out of the price and make erosion disappear; this page keeps the two apart on purpose.
- After a reverse split, earlier prices and payouts are restated in today's share units, so a fund that launched at $20 and later did a 1-for-5 reverse split shows a $100 starting price and five times its original payouts. Price and distributions stay in the same units, so the net figure is unaffected.
- Distributions are counted as cash received per share, never reinvested, and before tax. Net per share is simply the price change plus that cash.
- Part of an option-income fund's payout can be return of capital, which lowers your cost basis instead of being taxed as income in the year paid. The fund's 19a notices say how much.
- A falling price shrinks every future payout, because each distribution is set as a percentage of the current price. That is why the trend matters more than the quoted yield.
Does YMAX have NAV erosion?
Yes. YMAX's share price is down 66.6% since Jan 2024, about -32.4% a year, while it paid $18.58 per share in distributions. That is heavy erosion: part of each payout has been the fund's own asset base.
How much has YMAX's share price changed since Jan 2024?
From $19.90 on Jan 17, 2024 to $6.64 on Nov 6, 2026, a change of -66.6% (-32.4% a year). These are closing prices adjusted for share splits but not for dividends, so the decline from distributions stays visible instead of being netted out. For a fund that has done a reverse split, early prices and payouts are stated in today's share units.
Has YMAX paid out more than it lost in price?
Yes. Distributions of $18.58 per share outweigh the $13.26 price decline, leaving a holder since Jan 2024 ahead by $5.32 per share before tax (+26.7% of the starting price), with nothing reinvested.
What is YMAX's distribution yield?
$4.15 per share over the trailing twelve months, paid weekly, which is 62.5% of the $6.64 share price. A high yield on a falling price is the signature of NAV erosion, so read the yield together with the price change above.
Is YMAX's NAV erosion getting worse?
The trailing twelve-month fit has the price falling at 33.0% a year, about the same as the 32.4% a year pace since Jan 2024. The pace is steady.
Model YMAX at your tax rate
The calculator loads YMAX's live price and yield, fits the decay, and shows the year your after-tax income stops covering the price loss.
More on YMAX
Educational, not investment advice. Prices and distributions come from Dividend Wealth's market data and can lag the fund's own figures by a day. Past price behaviour does not predict future distributions.