My ETF Income Edge services provide investment ideas to subscribers from the rapidly growing world of option strategy and ultra-high-yield ETFs. I have a research universe of over 70 ETFs (and growing!) funds that I review regularly to bring the best ideas to my newsletter subscribers. For ETFs with a long enough track record, I like to look at the one-year total return for an initial cut to decide whether to investigate further in the fund.

The Simplify Bitcoin Strategy PLUS Income ETF (MAXI) one-year return stands head and shoulders above all the other ETFs in my database. As of November 5, MAXI had returned 78.1% over the last year. The fund uses Bitcoin futures exposure for 100% of the ETF’s net assets in front month Bitcoin futures. Because futures require very little cash commitment, almost 100% of the fund assets are in Treasury bills.

MAXI takes a unique approach to generating income to pay dividends. The fund sells short-dated puts and/or calls on a wide range of investments. Note: the ETF does not sell Bitcoin options!

Currently, the MAXI portfolio holds short puts on these instruments:

·       SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD)

·       iShares iBoxx $ High-Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG)

·       Nasdaq 100 stock index

·       Russell 2000 stock index

·       S&P 500 stock index

Currently, MAXI has not sold call options. The prospectus gives the managers the authority to also sell calls. It will be interesting to see if they switch to call selling if the markets go into a downturn.

MAXI currently pays a $1.00 per share monthly dividend, giving the ETF a 54% distribution rate. The unique option selling strategy has worked very well for this ETF.