HOOY vs IWMI: Performance, Holdings, Fees & Risk

HOOY and IWMI are ETFs, but they can differ materially in exposure, yield, fees and risk. HOOY is YieldMax HOOD Option Income Strategy ETF, while IWMI is NEOS Russell 2000 High Income ETF. HOOY is broader by holdings count, with 14 positions versus 4 for IWMI. IWMI has the lower expense ratio. Current AlgovestIQ evidence has IWMI ahead on AIQ Score, 52 versus 26.

Market data as of Oct 21, 2026 market close· Fund characteristics as of Oct 21, 2026
HOOY
YieldMax
vs
IWMI
Neos
HOOY
YieldMax HOOD Option Income Strategy ETF
Issuer
YieldMax
Inception
2025-05-07
IWMI
NEOS Russell 2000 High Income ETF
Issuer
Neos
Inception
2024-06-24

What is the main difference between HOOY and IWMI?

HOOY holds 14 positions to IWMI's 4.

Expense ratio
HOOY
0.99%
IWMI
0.76%
Lower annual fund costIWMI
Holdings
HOOY
14
IWMI
4
Broader reported basketHOOY
1Y return
HOOY
-64.1%
IWMI
-0.4%
Trailing performanceIWMI
Annualized volatility
HOOY
60.5%
IWMI
15.4%
Lower realized volatilityIWMI
MetricHOOYIWMI
Fund
Expense ratio0.99%0.76%
Holdings144
Distribution yieldTrailing 12 months116.93%14.86%
Average volume140,299423,424
Performance
1Y return-64.1%-0.4%
YTD return-49%+0.3%
Risk
Annualized volatility60.5%15.4%
Max drawdown (1Y)-66.8%-10.6%
Beta2.710.97
Sharpe ratio-1.45-0.18
Sortino ratio-2.19-0.28
AlgovestIQ
AIQ Score26/10052/100
AIQ Edge Score1/104/10
Momentum24/10041/100
Risk Resilience9/10081/100

AlgovestIQ AIQ Comparison

YieldMax HOOD Option Income Strategy ETF vs NEOS Russell 2000 High Income ETF

Data as of Oct 21, 2026· market close· Options Income / Covered Call· Coverage 59/66 fields· Moderate confidence
AIQ VerdictStableAIQ Comparison Conviction 10/10

IWMI leads

IWMI leads by 26 AIQ points, primarily on Risk Resilience and Momentum, and the lead has widened from 14 points over 30 sessions.

Stable: 3 of 3 evidence groups support IWMI, its lead is widening, and its current signal state is conflicted.

Evidence agreement: 3 of 3Comparison trend: Strengthening
HOOY

YieldMax HOOD Option Income Strategy ETF

AIQ Score
26/100
AIQ Edge Score
1/10
IWMI

NEOS Russell 2000 High Income ETF

Leads
AIQ Score
52/100
AIQ Edge Score
4/10

The Algovestiq AIQ Score currently favors IWMI over HOOY, 52 versus 26 as of Oct 21, 2026. IWMI's advantage is driven primarily by stronger risk resilience and momentum. IWMI also shows the stronger technical structure relative to its 50-day moving average. 3 of 3 covered evidence groups favor IWMI today, and the comparison is rated Stable on stability: the leader is throwing conflicting signals. IWMI lead: Strengthening — the AIQ differential moved from 14 to 26 points over 30 sessions.

Compare YieldMax HOOD Option Income Strategy ETF and NEOS Russell 2000 High Income ETF across performance, expense ratio, dividend yield, drawdown, volatility and the Algovestiq AIQ Score.

HOOY vs IWMI: which fits what

Each row is settled by a single measure. Where the gap is too small to matter it reads Similar, and no row decides the comparison as a whole.

If you wantHOOYIWMIFits
Lower costExpense ratio0.99%0.76%IWMI
Broader diversificationNumber of holdings144HOOY
Higher incomeTrailing 12-month distribution yield116.93%14.86%HOOY
Smaller drawdownsMax drawdown, 1 year-66.8%-10.6%IWMI
Lower volatilityAnnualized volatility, 1 year60.5%15.4%IWMI

Similar means the gap is within 0.01 percentage points of expense ratio, 25% more holdings, 3 points of top-10 weight, 0.2 points of yield, 2 points of drawdown or 1 point of volatility. Past drawdowns and volatility describe the funds’ history, not their future.

Currently unavailable

Performance over time

Total return with distributions reinvested, from daily closes for both ETFs.

HOOY
+48.6%
IWMI
+37.0%

Total return comparison

Growth of $10,000, distributions reinvested

HOOY $14,861 · IWMI $13,698

Split-adjusted closes; each distribution is reinvested at the close on its ex-dividend date. Taxes and trading costs are not modeled.

Compare HOOY and IWMI against another ticker

Open a multi-ticker workspace without changing this focused pair page.

Basic: 2 symbols·Explorer: 3 symbols·Pro and Premium: 5 symbols·Your limit: 2

AIQ Factor Divergence

Where the two separate, on the four dimensions behind the AIQ Score. Bars read outward from a shared zero: further from the centre is a wider gap.

HOOY advantage
0
IWMI advantage
  • Risk Resilience9 vs 81
    IWMI +72
  • Momentum24 vs 41
    IWMI +17
  • Quality37 vs 44
    IWMI +7

3 of 3 evidence groups favor IWMI. IWMI’s edge is concentrated in risk resilience and momentum.

What changed since the last close

Latest scored session 2026-10-20, compared against the prior scored session 2026-10-19.

HOOY0 AIQ

No factor moved materially.

New signals

  • 52-Week Low Proximity — bearish, risk, long horizon (1.9%)
IWMI+2 AIQ

Largest factor move: Momentum +9

New signals

  • Death Cross Active — bearish, trend, long horizon (0.16%)
  • Downtrend Structure Active — bearish, trend, long horizon
  • MACD Bullish Crossover — bullish, momentum, short horizon

IWMI's lead widened by 2 AIQ points in the latest session.

Deeper signal detail for each name lives on its own signals page — HOOY and IWMI both carry a full feed there.

Fund facts, side by side

Two funds tracking overlapping universes are separated by cost and risk far more than by holdings. Those lead here.

MeasureHOOYIWMIWhy it matters
Expense ratio0.99%0.76%Lower is better — it compounds against you every year you hold.
Holdings144More holdings means broader diversification, not better returns.
Average volume140,299423,424Liquidity — matters most if you trade size.
Annualized volatility60.5%15.4%Lower is a steadier ride for the same exposure.
Max drawdown (1Y)-66.8%-10.6%The worst peak-to-trough loss over the past year.
Sharpe ratio-1.45-0.18Return per unit of risk. Higher is better.
Beta2.710.97Sensitivity to the broad market. Neither direction is better — it depends on the role in your portfolio.

HOOY vs IWMI: five-year payout growth

HOOY began paying distributions in 2025, so it has no 2020-2025 growth rate to compare. IWMI began paying distributions in 2024, so it has no 2020-2025 growth rate to compare.

Dividend metricHOOYIWMI
2025 annual payout$39.305$6.842
Peer ranknot rankednot ranked

Split-adjusted annual distributions, 2020–2025. Research as of Sep 19, 2026. Yield and expense ratio above are current values, not part of this window.

AIQ Agreement Matrix

3 of 3 covered evidence groups favor IWMI. A wide gap backed by one group is a weaker case than a narrow gap backed by five.

Evidence groupFavorsReading
AIQ ScoreIWMI26 vs 52
FundamentalsNot coveredNot covered
ValuationNot coveredNot covered
TechnicalsIWMIPrice vs 50-day -10.6% vs -4.7%; vs 200-day -23.7% vs -4%
Risk ResilienceIWMIRisk Resilience 9 vs 81
Analyst expectationsNot coveredNot covered

✓ agrees with the overall verdict · ✕ points the other way. Groups marked “not covered” lack data on one or both of HOOY and IWMI and are excluded from the count.

AIQ Decision Stability

Stable

The conclusion rests on a wide gap and broad agreement. It is unlikely to turn on a single session.

  • The AIQ gap is wide at 26 points. (supports the conclusion holding)
  • 3 of 3 covered evidence groups point the same way. (supports the conclusion holding)
  • The leader's advantage has been widening. (supports the conclusion holding)
  • The leader is throwing conflicting signals. (argues the conclusion is provisional)

Stability combines the score gap, how broadly the evidence agrees, how steady the lead has been across daily snapshots, the current signal state on both names, and analyst dispersion on IWMI.

How the comparison changed

45 daily snapshots · Sep 6 – Oct 20

IWMI lead: Strengthening — the AIQ differential moved from 14 to 26 points over 30 sessions.

Sep 6HOOY leads above the line · IWMI leads belowOct 20
Today
IWMI +26
26 vs 52
7 sessions ago
IWMI +25
25 vs 50
30 sessions ago
IWMI +14
34 vs 48
90 sessions ago
Not covered

The lead has not changed hands in this window.

AIQ Signal Divergence

Only the signals that bear on the head-to-head. A conflicted name is carrying bullish and bearish rules at the same time — the technical evidence is not pointing one way.

HOOYConflicted

1 bullish / 5 bearish / 2 neutral, conflicted

Only HOOY

  • ATR Expansion - Breakout Mode — neutral, volatility, short horizon (5.29%)
  • Keltner Channel Breakdown — bearish, volatility, short horizon
  • RSI Oversold - Potential Bounce — bullish, momentum, short horizon
  • 52-Week Low Proximity — bearish, risk, long horizon (1.9%)
  • MACD Bearish Crossover — bearish, momentum, short horizon
IWMIConflicted

1 bullish / 2 bearish / 2 neutral, conflicted

Only IWMI

  • ATR Contraction - Coiling — neutral, volatility, short horizon (1.19%)
  • MACD Bullish Crossover — bullish, momentum, short horizon

Both carry 3 more signals that do not separate them: Bollinger Band Squeeze, Death Cross Active, Downtrend Structure Active.

IWMI leads the comparison while carrying a conflicted signal state, which is one reason the stability rating is not higher.

Price vs model alignment

Whether the latest session's price move confirms what the model did over the same session, or contradicts it.

HOOYNo material change

Neither the price nor the AIQ Score moved enough in the latest session to confirm or contradict the other (price +3.47%, AIQ 0 points).

IWMIDivergence

Price is down while the AIQ Score moved up 2 points over the same session — price and model disagree (price -0.89%, AIQ +2 points).

What would flip this result

A state, not a forecast. These are the specific, observable changes that would reverse the verdict — not a price prediction.

  1. 1HOOY closes the Risk Resilience gap — currently 72 points behind, the largest single contributor to IWMI's edge.
  2. 2HOOY's Death Cross Active resolves — a bearish trend rule currently active against it.
  3. 3IWMI's conflicting signal state resolves bearish — it currently carries 1 bullish and 2 bearish rules at once.
  4. 4A regime shift changes factor weighting — Quality and Value carry the heaviest weights in the composite, so a rotation toward either would move the result most.

The full evidence

Every number behind the verdict. The leader is called above each group so you are not left to solve it from the table.

Performance

IWMI leads 6 of 6 windows
MetricHOOYIWMI
1 week (5 sessions)-10.3%-0.2%
1 month (20 sessions)-22%-3.2%
3 months (63 sessions)-21.5%-6.4%
6 months (126 sessions)-28.3%-4.5%
Year to date-49%0.3%
1 year (252 sessions)-64.1%-0.4%

Technicals

IWMI has the stronger structure
MetricHOOYIWMI
RSI (14)25.648.6
ADX (14)19.841
Price vs 50-day-10.6%-4.7%
Price vs 200-day-23.7%-4%
Volatility (1M, annualized)38.1%13.3%

Risk

IWMI is the more resilient
MetricHOOYIWMI
Beta2.710.97
Sharpe ratio-1.45-0.18
Sortino ratio-2.19-0.28
Max drawdown-66.8%-10.6%
Current drawdown-66.3%-9%
Annualized volatility60.5%15.4%
Value at risk (95%)-6.4%-1.7%

Straight answers

Short answers to the questions fund investors ask about this pair, from the figures above.

What is the difference between HOOY and IWMI?

HOOY holds 14 positions to IWMI's 4.

Which ETF is more diversified, HOOY or IWMI?

HOOY holds more positions: 14 versus 4 for IWMI.

Which has the lower expense ratio?

IWMI has the lower expense ratio, 0.76% a year against 0.99% for HOOY.

Which ETF has the higher distribution yield?

HOOY, with a trailing 12-month distribution yield of 116.93% against 14.86% for IWMI.

Which ETF has been more volatile?

HOOY has been more volatile over the past year, at 60.5% annualized against 15.4% for IWMI.

Which ETF has had the smaller drawdown?

IWMI fell less from peak to trough over the past year: -10.6% against -66.8% for HOOY.

Compare HOOY and IWMI with others

Continue your research

This page answers which of the two. These answer the questions on either side of it.

How this comparison is scored

The Algovestiq AIQ Score composites four factors — Quality, Value, Momentum and Risk, each carrying a fixed weight. Sentiment is reported separately as SentimentPulse and is not folded into the composite. Scores refresh every trading day, and this page regenerates from the latest snapshot rather than being written once.

The verdict names a leader, states how broadly six independent evidence groups agree, and rates how durable that conclusion is given the score gap, its recent trajectory and the current signal state on both names.

How to use side-by-side comparison →

This comparison is informational and educational, not investment advice. AIQ scores update daily; re-check after earnings, guidance or macro data that materially changes either name’s factor profile.