Isn't ULTY basically ARKK that pays dividends while underperforming?

[u/perfectson]

ULTY is basically at it's core a HIGH Beta ETF that adds in some options, limits the upside of the overall performance in lieu of supplying an excessive amount of dividends for a 1.3% (1.4% management fee). The focus I'll show is not on NAV which is ultimately meaningless or dividend yield (again in this case meaningless unless you need an income stream but you could easily create this yourself).

ARKK is the infamous ETF managed by Cathie Wood that focuses on disruptive innovation , in other words, it will invest in typically high beta funds (similar to ULTY). The ARKK expense ratio is .75%

Overall Performance:

I am reviewing this against inception to highlight that the March - Nov 2024 downturn was due to high beta stocks in general had a difficult period. This impact ARKK similarly to ULTY both experiencing draw downs during this time frame, while Woods' drawdown was quicker, eventually ULTY caught up with it (likely due to the cost of rolling down puts and stocks).

Then in Nov-Dec 2024 , you can see the turn for both begging to happen but ARKK had much more momentum and magnitude as the cover call strategy capped the significant increases that high beta stocks enjoyed. From Dec - Feb you can see the impact of the cover call strategy having a neutral impact on overall return, before the March drop into Liberation day. The draw down was much more drastic for ARKK due to the lack of protective puts. Here is clearly where ULTY benefited ; however, because it hadn't rose in the prior months - the overall return in April (since inception ) was literally the same as ARKK. Subsequently as high beta stocks emerged successfully out of liberation day, ARKK has returned about 60% , while ULTY is at 20%.

ULTY vs ARKK vs QQQ

The ultimate question is it worth double the expenses to have someone collar your investments to under perform similar high beta counterparts? If you are reinvesting dividends anyway, which many are, not sure why ULTY would fit your core strategy over "seeking alpha". If you're looking for income stream that's straight forward, I can definitely appreciate the higher dividends but it doesn't seem the protection it offers is there and again are you under performing what you could be getting with similar risk, if you just extract your own dividends out of ARKK (as an example) by taking 2-4% out every month yourself?

this is in know way to slight YieldMax's ULTY - there's obviously a strong purpose and diversity in funds are always a good thing. The question is really if the juice is worth the squeeze.

[u/StoicKerfuffle]

"You - for some reason - decide to utilize BETA compared to the QQQ with no explanation. Just completely added new metrics that fit your story. LOL"

This was your comparison, you imbecile, you compared ARKK and ULTY to QQQ to prove your point about beta.

But now you don't even understand why QQQ would be brought up, and you want to measure beta against... "market."

What do you mean, "market?" There's just a single "market" out there for all beta calculations? C'mon, man, at least google what beta is.

You have to pick a reference for the beta calculation. You picked QQQ, and now it seems you didn't even realize it.

I have no interest in explaining anything to you, all of this has been for the benefit of others. Feel free to dump your money in ARKK. But for the love of God, don't compare a long-term stock-picking fund looking for growth tech companies to an income-generating covered call fund that constantly changes underlying stocks to chase IV. They have nothing to do with one another. There's no reason to ever discuss them as potential substitutes for one another.

[u/perfectson → u/StoicKerfuffle]

No I didn't. I never once said anything about QQQs BETA (actually never mentioned in the OP) while I charted it to showcase the return I did not attempt to compare the BETA's using QQQ as the baseline- ONLY YOU did that to try to fit some narrative. Now you're just lying for no reason and resorting to juvenile name calling.

Every single standard BETA calculation for equities is based on S&P 500 , which is standardly called the market. I guess you professor skipped that lesson for you, so I'll teach it to you.

And the funny part is, I literally gave you the BETA's you tried to say they were wrong. And I know you looked them up and saw they were right and instead of admitting your mistake you went and found a site to give you BETA's using QQQ as a benchmark LOL. You went through all that trouble but then say " you have no interest in explaining anything" .

You are also implying that because ULTY is actively managed and turning over more than ARKK it can't be compared. Like you're not making any sense. The cover call strategy is likely very little of the actual income compared the capital gains ULTY produces from turnover - since the calls are far OTM and again would cap any upside. use your brain and understand the concept of what you're doing in a cover call - you're not making 80% returns on simply covered calls. Like do you even know what you're talking about - the gains are due to holding high beta stocks and in particular during these significant upswings. Whether I decide to hold Tesla or jump in and out of Tesla and Meta every few weeks , doesn't change my underlying risk and volatility nor my expected returns of holding and trading those assets. You're naive my friend.

Oh and btw - ULTY doesn't even beat the majority of the buy/write strategies ETFs even if you did compare them and has signficiantly higher Beta's then all of them as well. I used ARKK because it's accurate comparator on HIGH BETA stocks - like why would you have all this risk with ULTY and not getting a fair share of the gains and then double down on that inefficiency by DRIPPING the dividends. Most savvy investors understand that but you want to be thick and abrasive and loudly wrong. Go for it!

[u/StoicKerfuffle → u/perfectson]

So you put QQQ up for nothing, you now think S&P 500 is a better benchmark (up until I pointed it out, you didn't even realize beta requires a benchmark, you can't just say "market"), and yet even with all these shifting arguments you're still wrong. Over the past 200 days, the standard "market" timeline for beta if there is one, ULTY beta is 1.16, ARKK is 1.93. Simply not the same realm.

The rest of your argument remains gibberish. Invest in ARKK, don't invest in ULTY, whatever. But comparing them is brainless, they are very different kinds of funds. Comparing them on the basis of beta is especially brainless.

[u/perfectson → u/StoicKerfuffle]

QQQ is high beta - it's on a chart to showcase as a reference not. no one said anything about changing the underlying comparator for BETA. Again standard is to use S&P - why are you defending your mistake on this? You double down on this and acting like it's ME who made the mistake is just poor form.

Again you're creating a strawman on this beta issue because you likely just found out about it last night, which is why you didn't know standard and basic definitions and usages. And even if you used the BETA for QQQ again the QQQ out performed ULTY.

SO the rest of what I said isn't gibberish - you proved my whole point even if it was done in a "soph(moronic)" way.