What does the future hold for the YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF (NYSEARCA:MSTY). Using history as your guide, you might get an idea of the enormous profit potential of YieldMax’s MSTY ETF, which is based on Microstrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) stock.
With its ambitious covered call strategy, the YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF delivered sizable cash distributions once per month during the past year. If you’re considering investing now, though, you’re probably wondering if MSTY’s total profit-and-loss profile has been positive or negative.
As it turns out, the YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF’s shareholders did turn a profit over the past 12 months. You’ll be surprised, however, to discover MSTY’s total returns as they’re probably not what you think.
A Year of Dazzling Distributions
To sum it up, the YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF generates monthly income partially from U.S. Treasury bonds, but mainly from synthetic covered call strategies and/or synthetic covered call spread strategies based on Microstrategy stock. These are sophisticated, aggressive options-trading strategies that allow the MSTY ETF to deliver supersized monthly cash distributions.
I dusted off the old calculator added up all of MSTY’s per-share distributions from the payable dates of Sept. 9, 2024, through Aug. 1, 2025. (You would have missed out on the payment on Aug. 8, 2024, if you had purchased MSTY exactly a year ago.) The total for that one-year period was $26.8353 per share in paid monthly distributions to the shareholders.
On Aug. 19, 2024 (a year ago), the YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF cost $23.89 per share. Therefore, you could have bought the MSTY ETF for $23.89 and collected $26.8353 in cash distributions, representing returns of 112%.
Granted, the YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF automatically deducts 0.99% worth of operating expenses from the fund’s share price. That seems like a small price to pay, however, to apparently double your money with MSTY.
It’s Not as Simple as That
Yet, that’s not the end of the story. It’s not as simple as collecting 112% worth of cash distributions, paying 0.99% in operating expenses, and laughing all the way to the bank.
As we alluded to earlier, the YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF uses covered call and/or covered call spread strategies to generate much of its monthly income. A major drawback is that these options-trading strategies tend to limit MSTY’s potential share-price upside.
Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) could shoot to the moon and Microstrategy stock could surge higher, but the YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF’s share might only go up slightly. (Microstrategy is a software company that holds large amounts of Bitcoin.) In some instances, the MSTY share price may actually decline even if you expected it to go up.
The past year provides a perfect example of this. The Bitcoin price rose during the past 12 months, and Microstrategy stock (which doesn’t pay any dividends/distributions) gained a whopping 173.3%.
Meanwhile, the share price of the YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF fell 23.98%. Just maybe, you would have been better off holding Microstrategy stock instead of chasing yield with the MSTY ETF.
Again pulling out the calculator, we can determine that over the past 12 months, the YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF declined from $23.89 to its approximate price on Aug. 19, 2025, of $17.85. That’s per-share loss of $6.04.
But then, the shareholders would have collected the $26.8353 worth of cash distributions during that year. Consequently, holding the YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF for a year would have netted you $26.8353 – $6.04, or $20.7953 per share.
So, having purchased MSTY for $23.89 per share a year ago, your net percentage gain would have been $20.7953 divided by $23.89, or 87%. That’s impressive, but it falls short of the 173.3% gains you could have achieved simply by holding Microstrategy stock shares.
Think of the Opportunity Costs
I always say that lessons learned are more important than money earned. Over a one-year period, trying to chase eye-catching yields with the YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF instead of just buying Microstrategy stock would have incurred substantial opportunity costs.
Currently, the YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF advertises an expected annualized distribution rate of 86.29%. Before you load up on MSTY shares, though, it’s a good idea to conduct your full due diligence.
There’s no guarantee that the YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF’s expected yield will stay at 86.29%. Besides, depending on a variety of factors, it may end up being more profitable to simply buy and hold Microstrategy stock or even Bitcoin. Just keep that if you’re thinking about taking an oversized share position in the MSTY ETF.
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