QYLD Dividend Calculator

QYLD paid $2.5787 per share in 2014, its first full year, and $2.0407 in 2025. In between, the yearly total has swung between $1.7746 (2017) and $2.8502 (2021) without a lasting trend up. The December payments in 2021 ($0.499) and 2024 ($0.33863) were much larger than a normal month.

Recent months have been steady. Each 2026 payment has been between $0.1715 and $0.1854 per share, and the first nine add up to $1.6071, which is 5.9% more than the first nine of 2025 ($1.5169).

QYLD owns the stocks in the Nasdaq-100 and sells call options on the whole index, following the Cboe Nasdaq-100 BuyWrite V2 Index. Each month it sells one-month at-the-money calls, meaning the strike is close to the index level, and it collects a premium for them.

Selling at the money brings in a large premium, but it also means QYLD keeps little or none of a monthly rise in the index. On September 25, 2026, Global X showed its short call at a strike of 29,475 with the Nasdaq-100 at 30,608.13, and 0.00% of upside left before the cap. When the index falls, QYLD takes most of the loss, softened only by the premium.

Recently, almost all of it, by Global X’s own estimate. For the $0.1767 paid on September 24, 2026, it estimated 98.76% was return of capital. For the fund’s fiscal year to date, November 2025 to September 2026, it estimated 99.28% of the $1.9578 paid was return of capital.

Return of capital is not taxed when you receive it, but it lowers your cost basis, so more of the gain is taxed when you sell. Global X says the final breakdown comes on Form 1099-DIV in early 2027.

The last ex-dividend date was Sep 21, 2026, for $0.1767 per share.

QYLD’s ex-dividend date tracks the monthly options cycle. In 2026, every ex-date so far has been the first business day after the third Friday of the month. That is usually a Monday, and the cash arrived three days later. The amount changes each month and is not known until Global X announces it.

QYLD paid $2.13 per share over the 12 months to Oct 13, 2026, a trailing yield of about 11.41%.

Global X listed a trailing 12-month distribution of 12.12% and a distribution rate of 11.60% on September 25, 2026. Its 30-day SEC yield was just 0.02%. That measure counts only dividend and interest income after costs, and QYLD’s payout comes almost entirely from option premiums.

To August 31, 2026, QYLD returned 23.91% over one year and 14.73% a year over three years, says Global X. Over five years it was 8.04% a year, and over ten years 10.00%. These are at net asset value with payouts reinvested.

For comparison, J.P. Morgan lists the Nasdaq-100 Index at 26.61% over one year and 24.77% a year over three years to the same date. Giving up the upside each month is the price of QYLD’s steady payout.

All three sell call options for income, but in different ways. QYLD sells at-the-money calls on the whole Nasdaq-100. JEPQ sells out-of-the-money Nasdaq-100 calls through equity-linked notes, which leaves more room for gains. JEPI does the same on the S&P 500, with a more defensive mix of stocks. As of Oct 13, 2026, their trailing yields were about 11.41% for QYLD, 11.30% for JEPQ and 8.01% for JEPI.

Over the three years to August 31, 2026, QYLD returned 14.73% a year, JEPQ 19.34% and JEPI 9.51%, each at net asset value from its own issuer.

On the trailing 11.41% yield, $12,000 over a year would have taken about $105,171 in QYLD, around 5,634 shares near $18.67.

Because most of the payout is return of capital and the share price has not kept up with the index, check the total return, not only the income, before relying on it.

The Global X Nasdaq 100 Covered Call ETF began on December 11, 2013, as the Horizons NASDAQ 100 Covered Call ETF. It moved to Global X on December 24, 2018. It trades on Nasdaq and charges 0.60% a year, or $60 per $10,000. Net assets were $8.51 billion on September 25, 2026, and the largest holdings that day were Nvidia (8.58%), Apple (7.87%) and Microsoft (6.06%).

As of Oct 13, 2026, QYLD yields about 11.41%, having distributed $2.13 per share over the trailing twelve months.

Its most recent payment was $0.1767 per share, which went ex-dividend on Sep 21, 2026 and paid on Sep 24, 2026.

Because QYLD pays a variable monthly distribution, the amount changes every period — its recent payments have ranged from $0.1767 to $0.1854 per share. Treat the headline yield as a record of what was paid, not a promise of future income.

As a covered-call income ETF, QYLD pairs an above-average yield with limited share-price upside, because option premium is exchanged for capped growth — so set the price-growth input in the calculator above conservatively rather than assuming the yield compounds untouched.

QYLD owns the Nasdaq-100 and systematically sells at-the-money call options on the whole index, distributing the premium monthly. This produces a very high yield but caps upside, so its share price has historically been flat to declining — a classic case for checking total return, not just yield.

QYLD is a covered-call income etf from Global X that distributes monthly. Because dividend investing is about both income and the growth of that income, the calculator above lets you model three things independently for QYLD: the starting yield, how fast the dividend grows each year, and how fast the share price appreciates. That separation matters most for covered-call funds, where a high headline yield often pairs with little or no price growth — so the "stock price growth" input should usually be modest.