What this ETF is trying to do

The GraniteShares YieldBoost TopYielders ETF (YBTY) is an exchange-traded fund designed to generate income. It is classified as an option income ETF, which means it uses specific strategies involving options to help create cash for investors. The fund focuses on a small group of holdings, which currently includes eight different assets.

What the numbers show

As of September 23, 2026, the current price of YBTY is $10.33. When looking at how the fund has performed so far this year, there is a difference between the share price and the total return:

• Year-to-Date (YTD) Price Return: The share price has declined by approximately 53.94%. This number only tracks the change in the cost of a single share.

• Year-to-Date (YTD) Total Return: The total return is approximately -24.20%. Total return is a broader measure because it includes the impact of distributions (cash payments) received by the investor.

Because the total return is higher than the price return, it shows that the cash distributions helped offset some of the share-price decline.

Income and distribution explanation

YBTY is characterized by very high distributions. The distribution yield is approximately 82.83%. This means the amount of cash paid out is very high relative to the ETF's current price.

The fund pays out cash very frequently, described as "weekly-like," with 40 distributions recorded over the last 12 months. Most of these payments (36 out of 40) occurred on Mondays. While these frequent payments provide cash income, it is important to remember that a high distribution yield does not guarantee that an investor will earn that percentage as a total return.

NAV erosion explanation

Investors often look at "NAV erosion" when researching high-yield funds. NAV (Net Asset Value) refers to the actual value of the assets held by the fund. Price erosion occurs when the market price of the ETF shares falls.

The supplied data is sufficient to evaluate price erosion, but it does not include enough historical NAV-per-share data to confirm or rule out NAV erosion. We can see that there has been significant share-price decline this year, but we cannot confirm if the underlying NAV has declined by the same amount.

Pros

• High Cash Flow: The fund provides very frequent, weekly-like distributions.

• Income Offset: The distributions have helped improve the total return compared to the much lower share-price return.

Cons

• Significant Price Decline: The share price has dropped by over 50% year-to-date.

• High Volatility in Returns: The massive gap between the distribution yield and the total return highlights the risk of share-price deterioration.

Beginner takeaway

YBTY is an option income ETF that focuses on providing very high, frequent cash payments. However, new investors should note that the share price has fallen significantly this year. While the cash distributions help cushion the total return, they do not prevent the share price from dropping. High yields can sometimes be accompanied by declining share values, so it is important to look at both the distribution yield and the total return together.