Going into Q2 I knew the crypto bear market was going to hurt. Bitcoin and Ethereum were declining, my MSTR-based positions were getting hammered, and distributions from my five crypto income ETFs were falling month over month. I watched $9,720 in combined unrealized losses build up across BTCI, YBTC, MSTY, YETH, and MSTW. I wrote about all of it honestly in Issue #9.

And yet Q2 still beat Q1.

Not by a little. By $744.92. A 6.2% improvement quarter over quarter, generated by a 37-ETF portfolio that kept paying while one of its most volatile sleeves was getting punished by the market.

That is exactly what a diversified income portfolio is supposed to do. And watching it work in real time — through a genuine bear market in crypto, through NAV erosion, through compressed covered call premiums — has been the most instructive investing experience I have had in years.

Here are the complete numbers.

Six months in. $24,868.50 collected in distributions from a real portfolio. Not hypothetical. Not backtested. Actual cash deposited into my account.

May was my best single month ever at $4,576.40. June came in at $4,092.97 — solid despite being my worst month for crypto distributions. March remains my best Q1 month at $4,377.35, a number June nearly matched even with the crypto headwinds.

The trend line is moving in the right direction.

Before I break down June ETF by ETF, I want to zoom out and show you the full picture — income, portfolio value, and the NAV reality that most income investing newsletters never talk about.

I am going to say something that most income investing content creators avoid. My portfolio value has declined from its peak of $197,255 in May to $183,289 at the end of June. That is a $13,966 drop in a single month.

At the same time I collected $4,092.97 in distributions in June alone.

This is the fundamental tension at the heart of covered call income investing and I think every subscriber deserves to understand it clearly.

NAV erosion is real.

Covered call ETFs — especially high yield ones — can and do experience price decline over time. When the underlying assets fall, your ETF price falls with them. The covered call premium income does not fully offset price declines in a bear market. Anyone telling you otherwise is not being straight with you.

But income is also real.

Since January I have collected $24,868.50 in distributions. That is cash in my account. It is not a paper gain that can evaporate. Every dollar of distribution I receive reduces my effective cost basis in each position. A position that has declined $1,000 in value but paid $2,000 in distributions is not a losing position — it is a $1,000 winner that happens to look bad on paper.

The math that matters.

My portfolio entered 2026 at roughly $195,000. It sits at $183,289 today — a paper decline of approximately $11,700. But I have collected $24,868 in distributions over the same period. Net of distributions my portfolio is up approximately $13,168 from where it started the year.

That is the number I watch. Not the daily portfolio value. Not the unrealized gain or loss on any individual position. The total return — distributions plus or minus price change — is the only number that tells the complete story.

What this means for Q3.

I am not alarmed by the June portfolio value decline. June was a tough month for risk assets broadly and my crypto sleeve took a disproportionate hit. What I am watching is whether the distribution income continues to outpace the NAV erosion on a cumulative basis. So far it is — significantly.