Amplify COWS Covered Call ETF

Amplify COWS Covered Call ETF (HCOW) holds the 40 to 50 US stocks in the Amplify Cash Flow Dividend Leaders ETF, picked for high free cash flow and steady dividend growth, and writes covered call options on them. The options give up some upside in exchange for monthly income: the trailing yield was 11% as of October 27, 2026. Its 0.65% expense ratio is above the 0.60% average of five funds with overlapping holdings.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, HCOW returned +17.8%, 3rd of 6 among similar funds.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2025 (+5.8%); its best was 2024 (+7.6%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 24.1% (Nov 25, 2024 to Apr 8, 2025), recovered by Dec 11, 2025.

As of Jun 30, 2026, the fund held 40 securities; the ten largest made up 31.74% of assets, and 4.98% sat in cash and money-market holdings.

By sector

• Over the three months to Jun 30, 2026, investors added a net $1.4M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +4.62%, +1.94%, -0.94%.

Amplify Investments manages HCOW actively, with Kelly Intelligence and Penserra as sub-advisers. The fund owns the stocks in a sister fund, the Amplify Cash Flow Dividend Leaders ETF, which tracks the Kelly US Cash Flow Dividend Leaders Index. That index takes large and mid-sized US companies, leaves out financials, ranks them by free cash flow yield (operating cash flow minus capital spending, relative to company value or share price) and screens for dividend and earnings traits, ending with 40 to 50 stocks.

A call option gives its holder the right to purchase a stock at a set price, the strike price, by a set date. HCOW writes calls on stocks it owns (hence “covered”) and collects a fee, called a premium. It aims for premium income of about 10% or more a year before costs, though this varies with market conditions. The options last about a month or less. If a stock climbs past the strike price, the fund forgoes the extra gain, but it still bears losses when stocks fall, cushioned only by the premiums.

The fund trades heavily: its January 28, 2026 prospectus reports portfolio turnover (the share of holdings replaced in a year) of 441%, which can raise costs and taxes. Option income is usually taxed as ordinary income, not as qualified dividends.

• HCOW charges 0.65% a year, versus an average of 0.6% for the similar funds below (5th of 6, cheapest first).
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $66 in the first year and $810 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

Its stated objective is current income, and it pays monthly from stock dividends and option premiums, with an 11% trailing yield as of October 27, 2026.

Launched in September 2023, HCOW has no record from the 2008 financial crisis, the 2020 COVID crash or the 2022 bear market. Its deepest drop was 24.1%, from November 25, 2024 to April 8, 2025, and it took about eight months from that low to recover, on December 11, 2025. Cashing out shares near that low would have locked in the loss. Its weakest full calendar year, 2025, still gained 5.75%, per its prospectus.

The 11% trailing yield (as of October 27, 2026), paid monthly, can help cover spending, but the income varies with markets and is usually taxed as ordinary income in taxable accounts. Costs are 0.65% a year: $66 in the first year and $810 over 10 years on $10,000, in the SEC's standard example. Past results don't predict the future, and a sound plan looks at the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by closest holdings overlap from the latest N-PORT reports (no similar fund shares 20% or more of its holdings).