MARO vs NVDY: Performance, Holdings, Fees & Risk

MARO and NVDY are ETFs, but they can differ materially in exposure, yield, fees and risk. MARO is YieldMax MARA Option Income Strategy ETF, while NVDY is YieldMax NVDA Option Income Strategy ETF. NVDY is broader by holdings count, with 15 positions versus 9 for MARO. MARO has the lower expense ratio. Current AlgovestIQ evidence has NVDY ahead on AIQ Score, 46 versus 27.

Market data as of Oct 21, 2026 market close· Fund characteristics as of Oct 21, 2026
MARO
YieldMax
vs
NVDY
YieldMax
MARO
YieldMax MARA Option Income Strategy ETF
Issuer
YieldMax
Inception
2024-12-09
NVDY
YieldMax NVDA Option Income Strategy ETF
Issuer
YieldMax
Inception
2023-05-10
Expense ratio
MARO
1%
NVDY
1.09%
Lower annual fund costMARO
Holdings
MARO
9
NVDY
15
Broader reported basketNVDY
1Y return
MARO
-86%
NVDY
-24.1%
Trailing performanceNVDY
Annualized volatility
MARO
67.7%
NVDY
31.3%
Lower realized volatilityNVDY
MetricMARONVDY
Fund
Expense ratio1%1.09%
Holdings915
Distribution yieldTrailing 12 months249.99%53.28%
Average volume560,5632,081,681
Performance
1Y return-86%-24.1%
YTD return-63.2%-19%
Risk
Annualized volatility67.7%31.3%
Max drawdown (1Y)-86.6%-32.7%
Beta2.801.59
Sharpe ratio-2.59-0.88
Sortino ratio-3.90-1.33
AlgovestIQ
AIQ Score27/10046/100
AIQ Edge Score1/103/10
Momentum25/10025/100
Risk Resilience1/10061/100

AlgovestIQ AIQ Comparison

YieldMax MARA Option Income Strategy ETF vs YieldMax NVDA 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 9/10

NVDY leads

NVDY leads by 19 AIQ points, primarily on Risk Resilience and Quality, but the lead has narrowed from 26 points over 30 sessions.

Competitive: 3 of 3 evidence groups support NVDY, its lead is narrowing, and its current signal state is conflicted.

Evidence agreement: 3 of 3Comparison trend: Weakening
MARO

YieldMax MARA Option Income Strategy ETF

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

YieldMax NVDA Option Income Strategy ETF

Leads
AIQ Score
46/100
AIQ Edge Score
3/10

The Algovestiq AIQ Score currently favors NVDY over MARO, 46 versus 27 as of Oct 21, 2026. NVDY's advantage is driven primarily by stronger risk resilience and quality. NVDY also shows the stronger technical structure relative to its 50-day moving average. 3 of 3 covered evidence groups favor NVDY today, and the comparison is rated Competitive on stability: the leader's advantage has been narrowing. NVDY lead: Weakening — the AIQ differential moved from 26 to 19 points over 30 sessions.

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

MARO vs NVDY: 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 wantMARONVDYFits
Lower costExpense ratio1%1.09%MARO
Broader diversificationNumber of holdings915NVDY
Higher incomeTrailing 12-month distribution yield249.99%53.28%MARO
Smaller drawdownsMax drawdown, 1 year-86.6%-32.7%NVDY
Lower volatilityAnnualized volatility, 1 year67.7%31.3%NVDY

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%
NVDY
+47.0%

Total return comparison

Growth of $10,000, distributions reinvested

MARO $2,827 · NVDY $14,698

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 NVDY against another ticker

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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
NVDY advantage
  • Risk Resilience1 vs 61
    NVDY +60
  • Quality42 vs 55
    NVDY +13
  • Momentum25 vs 25
    Even

3 of 3 evidence groups favor NVDY. NVDY’s edge is concentrated in risk resilience and quality.

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.

NVDY0 AIQ

No factor moved materially.

New signals

  • RSI Oversold - Potential Bounce — bullish, momentum, short horizon

NVDY's lead was unchanged in the latest session.

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

MeasureMARONVDYWhy it matters
Expense ratio1%1.09%Lower is better — it compounds against you every year you hold.
Holdings915More holdings means broader diversification, not better returns.
Average volume560,5632,081,681Liquidity — matters most if you trade size.
Annualized volatility67.7%31.3%Lower is a steadier ride for the same exposure.
Max drawdown (1Y)-86.6%-32.7%The worst peak-to-trough loss over the past year.
Sharpe ratio-2.59-0.88Return per unit of risk. Higher is better.
Beta2.801.59Sensitivity to the broad market. Neither direction is better — it depends on the role in your portfolio.

How much of the same holdings they own

MARO and NVDY share 46.58% of their weighted exposure across 4 common holdings.

Every MARO holding is also in NVDY, and 2 holdings are unique to NVDY. Owning both is a partial overlap: a majority of the capital is distinct, but the largest positions are shared.

Largest shared positions

HoldingMARONVDYShared
United States Treasury Bill 02/18/202733.4%16.09%16.09%
United States Treasury Bill 12/10/202628.74%15.84%15.84%
United States Treasury Bill 10/15/202614.05%17.03%14.05%
United States Treasury Bill 07/08/20270.6%15.9%0.6%

Shared weight is the lower of the two positions — the portion of capital both funds genuinely have in the same security.

What MARO adds that NVDY doesn’t

HoldingMARONVDY
United States Treasury Bill 02/18/202733.4%16.09%

What NVDY adds that MARO doesn’t

HoldingNVDYMARO
United States Treasury Bill 07/08/202715.9%0.6%
United States Treasury Note/Bond 2.375% 05/15/202715.18%Not held
First American Government Obligations Fund 12/01/20312.25%Not held

Each list is a fund’s largest positions by weight that the other fund does not hold, or holds at less than half the weight.

MARO vs NVDY: five-year payout growth

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

Dividend metricMARONVDY
2025 annual payout$21.132$12.142
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 NVDY. A wide gap backed by one group is a weaker case than a narrow gap backed by five.

Evidence groupFavorsReading
AIQ ScoreNVDY27 vs 46
FundamentalsNot coveredNot covered
ValuationNot coveredNot covered
TechnicalsNVDYPrice vs 50-day -33% vs -4.1%; vs 200-day -54.7% vs -10.8%
Risk ResilienceNVDYRisk Resilience 1 vs 61
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 NVDY 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 19 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 narrowing. (argues the conclusion is provisional)
  • 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 NVDY.

How the comparison changed

45 daily snapshots · Sep 6 – Oct 20

NVDY lead: Weakening — the AIQ differential moved from 26 to 19 points over 30 sessions.

Sep 6MARO leads above the line · NVDY leads belowOct 20
Today
NVDY +19
27 vs 46
7 sessions ago
NVDY +19
27 vs 46
30 sessions ago
NVDY +26
30 vs 56
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.

MAROConflicted

1 bullish / 5 bearish / 2 neutral, conflicted

Only MARO

  • ATR Expansion - Breakout Mode — neutral, volatility, short horizon (8.92%)
NVDYConflicted

1 bullish / 5 bearish / 1 neutral, conflicted

No signal that the other name lacks.

Both carry 7 more signals that do not separate them: Bollinger Band Squeeze, Death Cross Active, Keltner Channel Breakdown, RSI Oversold - Potential Bounce, 52-Week Low Proximity, Downtrend Structure Active, MACD Bearish Crossover.

NVDY 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).

NVDYNo material change

Neither the price nor the AIQ Score moved enough in the latest session to confirm or contradict the other (price +2.03%, AIQ 0 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 Risk Resilience gap — currently 60 points behind, the largest single contributor to NVDY's edge.
  2. 2MARO's Death Cross Active resolves — a bearish trend rule currently active against it.
  3. 3NVDY's conflicting signal state resolves bearish — it currently carries 1 bullish and 5 bearish rules at once.
  4. 4The narrowing continues — the lead has already given back 7 points over 30 sessions, and a further 19-point move would eliminate NVDY's advantage entirely.

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

NVDY leads 6 of 6 windows
MetricMARONVDY
1 week (5 sessions)-18.1%-5.7%
1 month (20 sessions)-44.9%-7.4%
3 months (63 sessions)-51.8%-7.5%
6 months (126 sessions)-59.7%-15%
Year to date-63.2%-19%
1 year (252 sessions)-86%-24.1%

Technicals

NVDY has the stronger structure
MetricMARONVDY
RSI (14)5.828.4
ADX (14)30.719.8
Price vs 50-day-33%-4.1%
Price vs 200-day-54.7%-10.8%
Volatility (1M, annualized)47.8%21.2%

Risk

NVDY is the more resilient
MetricMARONVDY
Beta2.81.59
Sharpe ratio-2.59-0.88
Sortino ratio-3.9-1.33
Max drawdown-86.6%-32.7%
Current drawdown-86.3%-31.3%
Annualized volatility67.7%31.3%
Value at risk (95%)-7.7%-3.4%

Straight answers

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

How much do MARO and NVDY overlap?

MARO and NVDY share 46.58% of their weighted exposure across 4 common holdings. Every MARO holding is also in NVDY, and 2 holdings are unique to NVDY. Owning both is a partial overlap: a majority of the capital is distinct, but the largest positions are shared.

Which ETF is more diversified, MARO or NVDY?

NVDY holds more positions: 15 versus 9 for MARO.

Which has the lower expense ratio?

MARO has the lower expense ratio, 1% a year against 1.09% for NVDY.

Which ETF has the higher distribution yield?

MARO, with a trailing 12-month distribution yield of 249.99% against 53.28% for NVDY.

Which ETF has been more volatile?

MARO has been more volatile over the past year, at 67.7% annualized against 31.3% for NVDY.

Which ETF has had the smaller drawdown?

NVDY fell less from peak to trough over the past year: -32.7% against -86.6% for MARO.

Compare MARO and NVDY 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.