Mini Analysis: 12% vs 20% Yield (NAV + Total Returns)

High Yield Daily Tracker: 5/28/2026

May 29, 2026

The market are in blue-sky breakout and continue to achieve new all-time highs. For today's mini-analysis, I wanted to paint a clear picture of the performance difference between a high yield ETF with an 12% distribution rate vs one with a 20% distribution rate. To keep things apples-to-apples, we’ll compare:

SPYI 0.00%↑ from NEOS (12% distribution rate)
XPAY 0.00%↑ from Roundhill (20% distribution rate)

When it comes to NAV performance, the difference is expected considering that XPAY 0.00%↑ has nearly double the yield vs SPYI 0.00%↑. But let’s actually put this into perspective for how much NAV is impacted by extracted a portion of that value as income:

The underlying reference for both (S&P500) gained 30% since late 2025
SPYI increased NAV by 5% and XPAY saw a decrease in NAV by -4%

Keep in mind a 30% gain for the broader market in 19 months is a lot. So just imagine what the NAV performance of these income ETFs would be if gains were only in the 10-15% range (hint: likely negative), with even more risk at play for income ETFs referencing single-stocks across industries.

NAV Performance:

TradingView chart — Created with TradingView

When it comes to total returns, it’s not surprising that they are all within a similar ballpark range between 25-30% since late 2024.

However, what’s interesting to note is that XPAY 0.00%↑ beats out SPYI 0.00%↑ in total returns. Sometimes negative NAV will offset the higher yield, resulting in normalized total return performance, but in this case the favorable market conditions are favorable for XPAY too. Additionally, it appears XPAY is holding various S&P500 calls to capture upside and generate income. SPYI is holding underlying S&P500 stocks and a call spread, which can mean they are selling away some upside (but not as much as traditional covered calls).

Total Return: