##  [# Simeon Hyman @ Future Proof: Daily Call Writing ETFs](/sections/conferences/simeon-hyman-future-proof-daily-call-writing-etfs) 

 

# Simeon Hyman @ Future Proof: Daily Call Writing ETFs

 

 

Dave Nadig discusses ProShares' new daily covered call writing ETF suite with Simeon Hyman.



 

 

 

 

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[By ETF.com Staff](/contributors/etfcom-staff)

 Oct 07, 2025

 Edited by: ETF.com Staff

 

 

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ETF.com's Dave Nadig talked covered call investing with Simeon Hyman, CFA, Global Investment Strategist at ProShares, and what the firm is doing differently in its newest income ETF suite.

# Simeon Hyman &amp; Dave Nadig Conversation - Full Transcript

## Opening: Solving for Income and Equity Returns

**Hyman:** People found out Liberation Day that their traditional covered call strategies didn’t really offer any downside protection, and then in this rally, they didn’t participate. We think we’ve solved that in this suite, where we offer the opportunity to generate the income people want from covered call strategies, but get the equity returns at the same time.

 
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## ProShares Offers Daily Call Writing ETFs

**Nadig:** Hi there, I'm here with Simeon Hyman, Global Investment Strategist at ProShares. Simeon, we've seen a lot of income products. It's been a big story both for retail investors and for financial advisors. ProShares has a very different strategy here compared to a lot of folks. Talk to me about your income suite.

**Hyman:** We do. We have a suite that's based on a daily approach to covered call writing. The flagship is[ ISPY.](https://www.etf.com/ISPY) That's our S&amp;P 500 High Income ETF, but we also have[ IQQQ](https://www.etf.com/IQQQ) and[ ITWO](https://www.etf.com/ITWO) on the NASDAQ and the Russell 2. And I think the story here is trying to figure out how to get that income, but still get the equity returns. You know, people found out Liberation Day that their traditional covered call strategies didn't really offer any downside protection, and then in this rally they didn't participate. We think we've solved that in this suite, where we offer the opportunity to generate the income people want from covered call strategies, but get the equity returns at the same time.

**Nadig:** What is it you're doing under the hood there that makes it different? I mean, traditionally, you buy some S&amp;P and then you sell some calls on it. Those come due in a month or two, and that's your income stream. What are you doing that's different than that?

**Hyman:** It's every day instead of monthly. In a monthly strategy, if the thing you own, the index, goes up a little bit the beginning of the month, you're done for 27, 28 days. But in ISPY, IQQQ, and ITWO, it's a daily approach. So you're back in tomorrow morning, and if the index moves a little bit, you’re called away a little bit. And when you put that in the blender, the innovation of doing it on a daily basis allows for both the income and the participation.

## Innovation, Income, and Equity Upside

**Nadig:** Is this because the index products like the S&amp;P 500 have more availability in the options stream than just an individual stock like [IBM](https://www.etf.com/stock/IBM)?

**Hyman:** The dailies are an innovation that's been around with us on the major U.S. indices for several years. And indeed, that was the opportunity we saw, because the tradeoff historically for the traditional monthly strategies hasn't been a great one. You give up too much upside, you don't get really meaningful downside protection. We all know what the picture or the profile looks like. But the daily opportunity really gave us a window to innovate in this space. And the last little guy that put the cherry on top was a volatility-adjusted strike price. So when that volatility is high, you write a little further out of the money, make sure you can participate in the equity upside.

**Nadig:** So there's a little bit of movement in the strategy, it's not just rote.

**Hyman:** But it's all index-based, and that's critically important because people have been trying to resolve these tradeoffs by actively managing them. If I think I know what's going to happen with the VIX or whatever, I'll write a little more, write a little less. These are all index-based strategies. ISPY is an example, it follows the S&amp;P 500 Daily Covered Call Index.

**Nadig:** And so no market timing required?

**Hyman:** It's just an index. I don't decide anything. I just tell people how it works.

## Added Tax Benefits 

**Nadig:** Talk to me a little bit about taxes. Some of the products in the income space have had really confusing tax treatment. How should investors be expecting their 1099s to look at the end of the year?

**Hyman:** Sure. There are a lot of strategies in this space that offer all of the distributions. There are monthly distributions with ISPY, IQQQ, and ITWO. And a lot of the strategies in the space, everything they distribute is ordinary income. There is an opportunity with ISPY, IQQQ, and ITWO for some of that to be return on capital, which means a deferral of tax until – and a reduction of basis when you pay the tax – when you sell the instrument.

**Nadig:** But it's not the core of the strategy. The point isn't to just generate RoC, or to just generate a different income strategy. That's part of just what comes along for the ride?

**Hyman:** Correct. The point here is to generate high income and equity returns.

**Nadig:** Simeon, it's been great catching up. Thanks so much.

**Hyman:** Thanks so much.



 

 

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