- Pays: monthly.
- First paid: shortly after its September 2025 launch — every payment since is charted below.
- What it is: a laddered portfolio of autocallable swaps referencing individual US large-cap stocks — single names carry more volatility than indexes, so their crash insurance pays richer coupons.
- Recent rate: dividend yield around 13% (per the issuer, August 2026).
- Where it fits: one of the first two funds to follow Calamos into the category, launched September 2025 alongside its index-based sibling ACII.
ACEI's coupons are contingent on individual stocks staying above their barriers — a single-name blowup (an earnings collapse, a scandal) can breach a barrier even in a calm market. That's the extra toll behind the extra yield versus index-based autocall funds.
ACEI pays monthly. Each point below is one distribution since the fund launched in September 2025.
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Each point is one payment; the line ends at the most recent payout. The table below totals them by year.
| Recent Ex-Dividend Dates | Distribution / Share |
|---|
"Next expected" is estimated from ACEI's recent payment rhythm — the fund announces exact dates shortly before each payout, and the data feed can lag a few days. You must own shares before the ex-dividend date to receive that payout; the cash typically arrives days later. See every fund's upcoming date on the live dividend calendar.
A real total-return estimate, assuming every payout was reinvested — including what happened to the share price. Before taxes and fees. Past performance does not predict the future.
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These are assumptions, not a prediction. Want the full chart and tax options? Open the full calculator →
Most autocallable ETFs reference an index. Innovator's ACEI references individual stocks — and that changes the math on both sides. Single names are more volatile than the index they belong to, so the market pays more for insurance against their crashes: richer coupons. But a barrier tied to one company can be breached by one bad earnings call, in a market that never flinched.
The ladder spreads that risk across many names and start dates, which is why the monthly checks below look steadier than any single position would. Compare the index approach: CAIE (the category's $1.3B pioneer) and ACEI's own sibling ACII. Mechanics in plain English in our autocallable ETF explainer.
| Year | Total Distributions / Share | Payments | Change vs Prior Year |
|---|
Data source: Yahoo Finance. Figures are per share; the current year may be partial and figures should be verified against official sources.
Calculated from complete calendar years in the data above. Past results don't guarantee future payments.
When Is ACEI's Next Ex-Dividend Date?
ACEI pays monthly. The exact date of each payout is announced by the fund only shortly beforehand, so no site can promise the next date — but the live schedule box above shows the most recent ex-dividend date and the expected window for the next one, computed from ACEI's actual payment rhythm. Remember: you must own shares before the ex-dividend date to receive that payout.
ACEI's Record So Far
ACEI — the Innovator Equity Autocallable Income Strategy ETF — launched in September 2025, making Innovator the first issuer to follow Calamos into the autocallable category, months before most of the market noticed the category existed. It has paid monthly since, with checks in the $0.24-0.30 range recently and a distribution rate that has run in the low teens.
The Single-Name Trade
Under the hood sit autocallable swaps on individual large-cap names, laddered across start dates. Each position earns its coupon while its stock holds above a deep barrier, auto-redeems when the stock sits at or above its start on observation dates, and eats stock-like losses only through a barrier breach. The blended result smooths dozens of separate bets into one monthly check — steadier than any single note, but still built from company-specific risk that an index fund doesn't carry.
Where ACEI Fits
For calibration, read this chart against CAIE (index-based, $1.3B, the category reference) and ACII (Innovator's own index flavor). The five newest autocall funds — the August 2026 wave — have no payment history yet; ACEI is part of the small group that does. The category map lives in our explainer.
New to Autocallable ETFs?
Coupon barriers, autocall dates, crash insurance — the whole machine in plain English.
Read the Autocallable ETF Explainer