- Pays: monthly.
- First paid: shortly after its February 24, 2026 launch — every payment since is charted below.
- The headline nobody prints: ~$1.6 billion in assets (issuer figure, Aug 2026) — ACYN quietly passed the Calamos pioneer to become the biggest autocallable ETF.
- The machine: 24 monthly autocallables replicated via swaps, laddered maturities (~18 months average), triple-barrier design (coupon / call / maturity barriers).
- Recent numbers: 10.95% distribution rate, 10.76% weighted average coupon, 0.75% expense ratio (issuer, Jul-Aug 2026).
First Trust's advisor distribution machine explains the silence: $1.6B gathered with almost zero retail coverage. Coupons remain contingent — 100% of the book was above its coupon barriers at last disclosure, which is calm-weather data, not a guarantee.
ACYN pays monthly. Each point below is one distribution since the fund launched in February 2026.
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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 ACYN'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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While Reddit argued about the newest launches, First Trust's FT Vest unit quietly gathered $1.6 billion into ACYN through financial advisors — more than the Calamos pioneer, with a fraction of the attention. The design is the category's steadiest blueprint: 24 monthly autocallables, maturities laddered ~18 months out, and a triple-barrier structure that separates coupon risk from principal risk.
Its sibling ACYS runs the same book at a defensive setting (“Resilient” — 8.5% coupons vs 10.8%), the same dial TrueShares exposes with PAYM/PAYH. The whole field: the census.
| 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 ACYN's Next Ex-Dividend Date?
ACYN 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 ACYN's actual payment rhythm. Remember: you must own shares before the ex-dividend date to receive that payout.
ACYN's Record So Far
ACYN launched February 24, 2026 and has paid monthly since — recent checks around $0.18-0.19 a share, annualizing near 11%. Its asset gathering is the real story: roughly $1.6 billion in six months, making it the category's largest fund — a fact that appears in almost no coverage because it happened through advisor channels rather than headlines.
The Triple-Barrier Ladder
Each of ACYN's 24 positions carries three thresholds: coupons flow above the coupon barrier, positions auto-redeem at the call barrier, and principal absorbs losses only through the maturity barrier. At last disclosure every position sat above its coupon barrier — the whole book earning. That is what calm weather looks like; the design's promise is that laddering spreads the storm, not that it prevents one.
Where ACYN Fits
As the biggest fund with the second-longest meaningful record, ACYN belongs next to CAIE in any serious comparison. Its defensive sibling ACYS shows the same machine dialed down. The census holds the full field, and the Cost Basis Calculator Crash Simulator shows what all these barriers mean.
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