- Pays: twice a week — the fastest cadence on this site.
- First paid: October 2025 — every payment since is charted below.
- What it is: Defiance's LightningSpread strategy — synthetic Nasdaq-100 exposure via deep in-the-money call options, plus daily income from systematically selling 0DTE put spreads.
- Fee: 1.04% gross expense ratio (issuer fund page).
- The twist: unlike the call-spread siblings (QQQY/WDTE), the income leg here sells put spreads — paid for carrying downside risk rather than selling upside.
Selling put spreads flips the failure mode: QLDY keeps more of the Nasdaq's rallies than a call-seller, but sharp down days hit twice — once through the index exposure, once through the sold puts. A young fund (late 2025) with a short record; the chart shows exactly how short.
QLDY pays twice a week. Each point below is one distribution since the fund began paying in October 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 QLDY'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.
Defiance's original daily-options funds (QQQY, WDTE, IWMY) sell call spreads — trading rallies for premium. QLDY inverts the income leg: deep-ITM calls carry the Nasdaq exposure with upside intact, while daily 0DTE put spreads harvest premium from the downside-insurance market.
The result should shine in up-markets and hurt double in sharp drops — a young record so far, best read against QQQY on the compare tool as the two sides of the same daily-options coin.
| 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 QLDY's Next Ex-Dividend Date?
QLDY pays twice a week. 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 QLDY's actual payment rhythm. Remember: you must own shares before the ex-dividend date to receive that payout.
QLDY's Record So Far
QLDY — the Defiance Nasdaq 100 LightningSpread Income ETF — launched September 2025 and began paying in October 2025 on a twice-a-week schedule. The chart above shows every declared distribution of its young record.
Income From the Other Side of the Book
Every 0DTE income fund before QLDY was a call-seller — paid for surrendering rallies. QLDY is paid for absorbing dips: daily put spreads collect the premium nervous markets pay for same-day downside insurance, while deep-ITM calls keep the fund exposed to the Nasdaq's gains. In trending bull markets that combination should beat the call-sellers; in a fast correction it takes the index's loss and the insurance payout.
Reading the Chart Honestly
Twice-weekly checks pile up data points quickly, but the strategy's true cost only shows in drawdowns the record hasn't met yet. Watch the payment line against the share price, and overlay QLDY with QQQY on the compare tool — the cleanest live experiment in call-side vs put-side income.
Compare It Against Anything
Same chart, two tickers, one honest overlay — payouts and price erosion side by side.
Compare Any Two Funds