With the federal funds rate sitting at 3.75% and the 10-year Treasury yielding 4.13%, investors hunting for meaningful income have to venture well beyond government bonds. Three ETFs currently delivering above 10% yields do so through mechanisms that have almost nothing in common with each other, which makes them worth understanding on their own terms rather than as interchangeable income vehicles.
JEPQ: Options Overlay on a Nasdaq Core
The JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF is the most established of the three, having launched in May 2022 and grown to $34.6 billion in assets. That scale matters because it reflects sustained investor demand through multiple market cycles, not just a yield-chasing moment.
The fund holds a portfolio closely resembling the Nasdaq 100, with NVIDIA, Apple, Alphabet, and Microsoft among its top positions, and then systematically sells call options against that portfolio through equity-linked notes. The premium collected from those options is what funds the monthly distributions. The most recent payment was $0.509 per share in March 2026, translating to roughly 10.7% annualized at the current share price.
The distributions have not been static. Monthly payments ranged from $0.44 to $0.62 over the past year, reflecting how option premiums fluctuate with market volatility. Higher volatility generally means richer premiums and larger distributions. The tradeoff is that selling calls caps the upside when the underlying Nasdaq stocks surge, so JEPQ will lag a straight Nasdaq index fund in a strong bull run. The 0.35% expense ratio is competitive for an actively managed options strategy.
The fund is 41.8% allocated to Information Technology with another 12.7% in Communication Services, so investors are taking on concentrated tech sector risk alongside the income strategy. Price has been roughly flat year-to-date in 2026, down about 0.7%, while the one-year return sits at nearly 18% including distributions.
BIGY: Options Income Spread Across 50 Mega-Caps
The YieldMax Target 12 Big 50 Option Income ETF takes a similar options-premium approach but applies it across a broader basket of 50 large-cap names rather than concentrating on Nasdaq-listed companies. The portfolio includes the usual mega-cap tech names but adds JPMorgan, Walmart, Caterpillar, Chevron, and Johnson & Johnson, spreading the income engine across sectors that JEPQ largely ignores.
The yield generation works through covered calls and put spreads written against individual equity positions, with the current options cycle expiring March 20, 2026. Monthly distributions have been consistent, running between $0.46 and $0.54 per share since the fund launched. At the current price of roughly $49.60, that monthly cadence works out to approximately 12% annualized.
The critical caveat here is track record. BIGY launched in November 2024 and has $24.2 million in assets, making it a small, young fund by any measure. Investors have no data on how this specific strategy performed through a genuine market stress event. The 1.09% expense ratio is also meaningfully higher than JEPQ’s, which compounds over time. Year-to-date the price is down about 3.7%, though that figure covers only a short window.
MORT: Yield From Mortgage Spreads, Not Options
The VanEck Mortgage REIT Income ETF generates its income through a structurally different mechanism entirely. Mortgage REITs borrow money at short-term rates and invest in mortgage-backed securities or originate loans at longer-term rates. The spread between those two rates is the source of income, and MORT packages 25 of these companies into a single fund.
The two largest positions, Annaly Capital Management and AGNC Investment, together represent about 31% of the portfolio. The fund pays quarterly rather than monthly, with 2025 distributions ranging from $0.26 to $0.38 per quarter. The current yield of 12.6% reflects the income embedded in the underlying mREIT portfolios, not premium from options activity.
This distinction matters a great deal in different rate environments. The current yield curve spread between 10-year and 2-year Treasuries sits at roughly 59 basis points, which is the margin mREITs are working with between their borrowing costs and lending returns. That spread compressed about 18% over the past month, a trend that puts direct pressure on net interest margins.
MORT’s price has been essentially flat over one year, up 0.5%, but has dropped 4.6% in just the past week, reflecting sensitivity to rate movements.
The fund has been operating since August 2011, giving it a 15-year history that includes the 2013 taper tantrum, the 2020 pandemic shock, and the 2022 rate surge. That track record is the clearest differentiator from BIGY. The 0.42% expense ratio sits between the other two funds.
Three Mechanisms, Three Different Risks
Each of these funds earns its yield through a different process, and the risks that come with each yield are equally distinct. JEPQ’s income fluctuates with Nasdaq volatility and its upside is capped in strong tech rallies, but it carries the credibility of a $34 billion fund managed by JPMorgan with nearly four years of history. For investors who want tech equity exposure with a meaningful income cushion, it is the most battle-tested option here.
MORT suits investors who want income tied to the real economy rather than options mechanics, and who understand that rising rates or a flattening yield curve will compress distributions. Its long operating history provides genuine context for how the strategy behaves under stress. The quarterly distribution cadence is less convenient for income-dependent investors than the monthly payments from the other two.
BIGY offers the broadest equity diversification of the three and a competitive yield, but its short track record and smaller asset base represent higher uncertainty compared to the other two funds. Researchers interested in the YieldMax options-income structure applied beyond Nasdaq names may find it worth examining alongside JEPQ for comparison purposes.
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