- Pays: weekly — typically going ex-dividend on Thursdays (monthly during its first two years).
- First paid: June 2023, weeks after Nvidia became the AI trade.
- What it is: the YieldMax fund pointed at NVIDIA — it sells call options on NVDA exposure, converting the stock's famous volatility into cash distributions.
- The peak: 2024 paid about $19.50 per share — more than the fund's entire share price today (split-adjusted).
- The fade: as Nvidia matured from moonshot to mega-cap, its volatility cooled — and NVDY's payouts followed: roughly $12 in 2025, and 2026 running well below that pace.
NVDY makes no promise to pay any particular amount; each payout depends on the option income earned that period.
NVDY pays weekly (monthly until the family's schedule change). Each point below is one distribution since June 2023. The table further down totals each year — the shape of the AI boom, drawn in payout checks.
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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 NVDY'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.
NVDY's chart is a history of Nvidia's drama. In 2023–24, NVDA was the most-watched stock on earth, option buyers paid fortunes for exposure to its swings, and NVDY passed those premiums through in checks that totaled more per share than the fund costs today. Then the stock settled into mega-cap respectability, volatility cooled, and the checks shrank — not because anything broke, but because the product works exactly as designed: it sells excitement, and there's less to sell.
The trailing yield still looks spectacular; the slope matters more. Judge NVDY by total return in the backtest above — price change plus payouts — and read What Are YieldMax ETFs? for the machinery: capped upside, kept downside, and return-of-capital components in the checks.
| 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 NVDY's Next Ex-Dividend Date?
NVDY pays weekly — typically going ex-dividend on Thursdays. 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 NVDY's actual payment rhythm. Remember: you must own shares before the ex-dividend date to receive that payout.
NVDY's Record: Riding the AI Trade
NVDY — the YieldMax NVDA Option Income Strategy ETF — launched in June 2023, almost perfectly timed to the moment Nvidia became the center of the investing universe. The payouts tell the story better than any headline: about $5 per share in its 2023 half-year, then a staggering ~$19.50 in 2024 — more than today's entire share price — then roughly $12 in 2025, and 2026 tracking materially lower. Every one of those payments is on the chart above.
Why the Checks Shrank
Nothing malfunctioned. NVDY's income comes from selling call options on Nvidia exposure, and option prices are a direct bet on volatility. 2024-era NVDA — tripling, crashing, tripling again — commanded the richest premiums in the market. The 2025–26 version, a settled multi-trillion-dollar company, simply swings less. Less swing, cheaper options, smaller checks. That same mechanism will cut the other way if NVDA ever turns wild again — but you can't collect 2024's premiums from 2026's stock.
Where NVDY Fits — and What to Watch
NVDY suits an investor who already wants Nvidia exposure and prefers harvesting its volatility as weekly cash over riding it for capital gains — accepting capped rallies, full drawdowns, and return-of-capital mechanics (explained here). For the family's diversified take, see ULTY; for the longest cautionary record, TSLY. And whatever you do, size positions from the current payment pace, not the trailing year.
Understand These Funds Before You Buy
Our plain-English guide explains option income, return of capital, and NAV erosion — the three things every YieldMax buyer should understand.
Read: What Are YieldMax ETFs?