MARO vs MRNY: Performance, Holdings, Fees & Risk

MARO and MRNY are ETFs, but they can differ materially in exposure, yield, fees and risk. MARO is YieldMax MARA Option Income Strategy ETF, while MRNY is YieldMax MRNA Option Income Strategy ETF. MRNY is broader by holdings count, with 15 positions versus 9 for MARO. Current AlgovestIQ evidence has MRNY ahead on AIQ Score, 45 versus 27.

Market data as of Oct 21, 2026 market close· Fund characteristics as of Oct 21, 2026
MARO
YieldMax
vs
MRNY
YieldMax
MARO
YieldMax MARA Option Income Strategy ETF
Issuer
YieldMax
Inception
2024-12-09
MRNY
YieldMax MRNA Option Income Strategy ETF
Issuer
YieldMax
Inception
2023-10-23
Expense ratio
MARO
1%
MRNY
1%
Lower annual fund cost
Holdings
MARO
9
MRNY
15
Broader reported basketMRNY
1Y return
MARO
-86%
MRNY
+166.5%
Trailing performanceMRNY
Annualized volatility
MARO
67.7%
MRNY
181.1%
Lower realized volatilityMARO
MetricMAROMRNY
Fund
Expense ratio1%1%
Holdings915
Distribution yieldTrailing 12 months249.99%38.96%
Average volume560,563300,891
Performance
1Y return-86%+166.5%
YTD return-63.2%+196.7%
Risk
Annualized volatility67.7%181.1%
Max drawdown (1Y)-86.6%-35.8%
Beta2.801.64
Sharpe ratio-2.591.05
Sortino ratio-3.904.37
AlgovestIQ
AIQ Score27/10045/100
AIQ Edge Score1/103/10
Momentum25/10072/100
Risk Resilience1/1000/100

AlgovestIQ AIQ Comparison

YieldMax MARA Option Income Strategy ETF vs YieldMax MRNA Option Income Strategy ETF

Data as of Oct 21, 2026· market close· Options Income / Covered Call· Coverage 58/66 fields· Moderate confidence
AIQ VerdictCompetitiveAIQ Comparison Conviction 7/10

MRNY leads

MRNY leads by 18 AIQ points, primarily on Momentum.

Competitive: 2 of 3 evidence groups support MRNY, and its current signal state is conflicted.

Evidence agreement: 2 of 3Comparison trend: Stable
MARO

YieldMax MARA Option Income Strategy ETF

AIQ Score
27/100
AIQ Edge Score
1/10
MRNY

YieldMax MRNA Option Income Strategy ETF

Leads
AIQ Score
45/100
AIQ Edge Score
3/10

The Algovestiq AIQ Score currently favors MRNY over MARO, 45 versus 27 as of Oct 21, 2026. MRNY's advantage is driven primarily by stronger momentum. MRNY also shows the stronger technical structure relative to its 50-day moving average. 2 of 3 covered evidence groups favor MRNY today, and the comparison is rated Competitive on stability: the leader is throwing conflicting signals. MRNY lead: Stable — the AIQ differential has held near 18 points over 30 sessions.

Compare YieldMax MARA Option Income Strategy ETF and YieldMax MRNA Option Income Strategy ETF across performance, expense ratio, dividend yield, drawdown, volatility and the Algovestiq AIQ Score.

MARO vs MRNY: 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 wantMAROMRNYFits
Lower costExpense ratio1%1%Similar
Broader diversificationNumber of holdings915MRNY
Higher incomeTrailing 12-month distribution yield249.99%38.96%MARO
Smaller drawdownsMax drawdown, 1 year-86.6%-35.8%MRNY
Lower volatilityAnnualized volatility, 1 year67.7%181.1%MARO

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.

MARO
-71.7%
MRNY
+307.2%

Total return comparison

Growth of $10,000, distributions reinvested

MARO $2,827 · MRNY $40,719

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

Compare MARO and MRNY 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.

MARO advantage
0
MRNY advantage
  • Momentum25 vs 72
    MRNY +47
  • Quality42 vs 44
    Even
  • Risk Resilience1 vs 0
    Even

2 of 3 evidence groups favor MRNY. MRNY’s edge is concentrated in momentum.

What changed since the last close

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

MARO0 AIQ

No factor moved materially.

No signal started or stopped since the prior session; its 8 active signals are unchanged.

MRNY+3 AIQ

Largest factor move: Momentum +8

New signals

  • BB Upper Band Breach — bearish, volatility, short horizon

MRNY's lead widened by 3 AIQ points in the latest session.

Deeper signal detail for each name lives on its own signals page — MARO and MRNY 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.

MeasureMAROMRNYWhy it matters
Expense ratio1%1%Lower is better — it compounds against you every year you hold.
Holdings915More holdings means broader diversification, not better returns.
Average volume560,563300,891Liquidity — matters most if you trade size.
Annualized volatility67.7%181.1%Lower is a steadier ride for the same exposure.
Max drawdown (1Y)-86.6%-35.8%The worst peak-to-trough loss over the past year.
Sharpe ratio-2.591.05Return per unit of risk. Higher is better.
Beta2.801.64Sensitivity to the broad market. Neither direction is better — it depends on the role in your portfolio.

MARO vs MRNY: five-year payout growth

MARO began paying distributions in 2025, so it has no 2020-2025 growth rate to compare. MRNY began paying distributions in 2023, so it has no 2020-2025 growth rate to compare.

Dividend metricMAROMRNY
2025 annual payout$21.132$21.459
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

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

Evidence groupFavorsReading
AIQ ScoreMRNY27 vs 45
FundamentalsNot coveredNot covered
ValuationNot coveredNot covered
TechnicalsMRNYPrice vs 50-day -33% vs 33.5%; vs 200-day -54.7% vs 109.8%
Risk ResilienceEvenRisk Resilience 1 vs 0
Analyst expectationsNot coveredNot covered

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

AIQ Decision Stability

Competitive

The two are close enough that your objective, not the score, should decide.

  • The AIQ gap is wide at 18 points. (supports the conclusion holding)
  • The lead has been steady session to session. (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 MRNY.

How the comparison changed

45 daily snapshots · Sep 6 – Oct 20

MRNY lead: Stable — the AIQ differential has held near 18 points over 30 sessions.

Sep 6MARO leads above the line · MRNY leads belowOct 20
Today
MRNY +18
27 vs 45
7 sessions ago
MRNY +16
27 vs 43
30 sessions ago
MRNY +17
30 vs 47
90 sessions ago
Not covered

The lead changed hands 2 times in this window, most recently on Sep 10 when MRNY moved ahead of MARO.

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.

MAROConflicted

1 bullish / 5 bearish / 2 neutral, conflicted

Only MARO

  • Bollinger Band Squeeze — neutral, volatility, short horizon
  • Death Cross Active — bearish, trend, long horizon (43.32%)
  • Keltner Channel Breakdown — bearish, volatility, short horizon
  • RSI Oversold - Potential Bounce — bullish, momentum, short horizon
  • 52-Week Low Proximity — bearish, risk, long horizon (0.0%)
  • Downtrend Structure Active — bearish, trend, long horizon
MRNYConflicted

4 bullish / 2 bearish / 1 neutral, conflicted

Only MRNY

  • Golden Cross Active — bullish, trend, long horizon (58.76%)
  • BB Upper Band Breach — bearish, volatility, short horizon
  • EMA Ribbon Expansion Bullish — bullish, trend, medium horizon
  • 52-Week High Proximity — bullish, risk, long horizon (0.0%)
  • Uptrend Structure Active — bullish, trend, long horizon

Both carry 2 more signals that do not separate them: ATR Expansion - Breakout Mode, MACD Bearish Crossover.

MRNY 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.

MARONo material change

Neither the price nor the AIQ Score moved enough in the latest session to confirm or contradict the other (price +3.15%, AIQ 0 points).

MRNYConfirmed strength

Price and the AIQ Score both moved up over the latest session (price +1.06%, AIQ +3 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. 1MARO closes the Momentum gap — currently 47 points behind, the largest single contributor to MRNY's edge.
  2. 2MARO's Death Cross Active resolves — a bearish trend rule currently active against it.
  3. 3MRNY's conflicting signal state resolves bearish — it currently carries 4 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

MRNY leads 6 of 6 windows
MetricMAROMRNY
1 week (5 sessions)-18.1%9.2%
1 month (20 sessions)-44.9%18.7%
3 months (63 sessions)-51.8%171.1%
6 months (126 sessions)-59.7%138.1%
Year to date-63.2%196.7%
1 year (252 sessions)-86%166.5%

Technicals

MRNY has the stronger structure
MetricMAROMRNY
RSI (14)5.862.8
ADX (14)30.748.5
Price vs 50-day-33%33.5%
Price vs 200-day-54.7%109.8%
Volatility (1M, annualized)47.8%65.2%

Risk

Split
MetricMAROMRNY
Beta2.81.64
Sharpe ratio-2.591.05
Sortino ratio-3.94.37
Max drawdown-86.6%-35.8%
Current drawdown-86.3%0%
Annualized volatility67.7%181.1%
Value at risk (95%)-7.7%-5.7%

Straight answers

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

Which ETF is more diversified, MARO or MRNY?

MRNY holds more positions: 15 versus 9 for MARO.

Which has the lower expense ratio?

Neither: both charge 1% a year.

Which ETF has the higher distribution yield?

MARO, with a trailing 12-month distribution yield of 249.99% against 38.96% for MRNY.

Which ETF has been more volatile?

MRNY has been more volatile over the past year, at 181.1% annualized against 67.7% for MARO.

Which ETF has had the smaller drawdown?

MRNY fell less from peak to trough over the past year: -35.8% against -86.6% for MARO.

Compare MARO and MRNY 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.