Win by popular vote reflects investor demand for an innovative strategy seeking high monthly income from gold exposure, an asset not typically associated with income

Lineup of tax-efficient options-based ETFs from covered call pioneers builds streak of wins at ETF.com Awards

NEOS Investments, an award-winning ETF provider specializing in options-based income solutions, today announced the NEOS Gold High Income ETF (IAUI) has won “Best New Options Income ETF” at the 2026 ETF.com Awards. IAUI seeks high monthly income from a data-driven call option strategy and the potential for capital appreciation from exposure to physical gold.

“This award is a testament to the loyalty of our investors as well as NEOS’ goal of being a solutions provider aiming to give investors more options for their income needs across a range of asset classes and income targets,” said Troy Cates, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of NEOS.

The 2026 ETF.com Awards recognize the most influential, innovative, and impactful ETFs launched in 2025, “the biggest year for ETFs in decades”, according to Dave Nadig, President and Director of Research at ETF.com. The 2026 winners were selected through a rigorous four-phase process: a quantitative screening of eligible funds; a qualitative deep-dive measuring each fund’s Merit, Position, Utility, and Power; an editorial review of the shortlist; and an open community vote to determine category winners.

“The main legacy criticism of gold is that it has been a non-income producing asset. In building IAUI, we set out to change that. For investors who wanted exposure to gold’s historically strong diversification properties and capital appreciation potential but had an income need, IAUI added a way to seek high monthly income alongside the timeless value proposition of the precious metal,” said Garrett Paolella, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of NEOS.

This is the second consecutive year NEOS has won an ETF.com award. In 2025, NEOS was awarded “Best New Active ETF” for the NEOS Nasdaq-100 High Income ETF (QQQI), launched in January 2024.

NEOS Alternative High Income Suite Seeks to Pair High Monthly Income with Diversification

Launched in June 2025, IAUI sits within NEOS’ suite of Alternative High Income ETFs. Built for investors who seek both the lower correlation properties of alternatives and income production of NEOS’ options strategies, the suite provides exposure to both traditional and modern portfolio diversifying assets while utilizing data-driven options strategies to seek high monthly income distributions. In addition to IAUI, the NEOS Alternative High Income Suite includes:

• BTCI, the Bitcoin High Income ETF, launched October 2024;
• IYRI, the Real Estate High Income ETF, launched January 2025;
• MLPI, the MLP & Energy Infrastructure High Income ETF, launched December 2025;
• NEHI, the Ethereum High Income ETF, launched December 2025.

Tax-Aware Income Investors Vote for NEOS

Additionally in 2025, NEOS won the ETF Express U.S. Award for Best Options Strategies ETF Issuer ($1-$10b). The firm also received multiple award nominations at the 2025 Wealth Management Industry Awards, reflecting its growing recognition within the ETF industry.

About NEOS Investments

NEOS Investments is an award-winning ETF issuer founded in 2022 and headquartered in Westport, CT. The firm was established by a team of options-based ETF pioneers with decades of experience developing and managing some of the industry’s most widely used options-based ETFs. NEOS offers a suite of ETFs designed to deliver the next evolution of options-based investing where seeking income is the outcome. The firm’s solutions aim to provide investors with core portfolio building blocks that offer monthly income, tax efficiency, and diversification through a data-driven approach.

Important Disclosures:

Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) before investing. To obtain an ETF's prospectus and/or summary prospectus containing this and other important information, please call (866) 498-5677 or view/download a prospectus at https://neosfunds.com. Please read the prospectus and/or summary prospectus carefully before you invest.

An investment in NEOS ETFs involve risk, including possible loss of principal. The equity securities purchased by the Funds may involve large price swings and potential for loss. There is no guarantee the NEOS ETFs will make monthly distributions and the amounts may fluctuate from month to month. Distributions made by NEOS ETFs have been classified as a return of capital and may be comprised of option premiums, dividends, capital gains, and interest payments. To view both current and historical monthly estimates of ETF distribution composition, investors may view the 19a-1 notices available on each corresponding Fund's webpage. Distributions classified as return of capital will reduce an investor’s cost basis in Fund shares owned, which may result in higher taxes paid in the future when the Fund shares are sold, even if the shares are sold at a loss compared to the original investment.

The use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. These risks include (i) the risk that the counterparty to a derivative transaction may not fulfill its contractual obligations; (ii) risk of mispricing or improper valuation; and (iii) the risk that changes in the value of the derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index. Derivative prices are highly volatile and may fluctuate substantially during a short period of time. The use of leverage by the Fund, such as borrowing money to purchase securities or the use of options, will cause the Fund to incur additional expenses and magnify the Fund’s gains or losses. The earnings and prospects of small and medium sized companies are more volatile than larger companies and may experience higher failure rates than larger companies. Small and medium sized companies normally have a lower trading volume than larger companies, which may tend to make their market price fall more disproportionately than larger companies in response to selling pressures and may have limited markets, product lines, or financial resources and lack management experience. The funds are new with a limited operating history.

Award-Related Disclosures:

IAUI was awarded "Best New Options Income ETF" at the 2026 ETF.com Awards. The awards follow a four-phase selection process: 1) Quantitative Screening — Automated filters establish the eligible universe. 2) Qualitative Evaluation — Editorial team scores candidates on four criteria. 3) Shortlist Selection — Top five finalists identified per category. 4) Community Voting — ETF.com readers select winners from finalists. For the full methodology please click here.

QQQI was awarded "Best New Active ETF" at the 2025 ETF.com Awards. There were ~25 submissions for "Best New Active ETF". The criteria for inclusion were that the ETF needed to be launched in 2025 within the actively managed category. Judges looked at a number of factors including performance, flows, uniqueness, and overall value-add to the ETF space.

NEOS Investments was awarded "Best Options Strategies ETF Issuer ($1bn-$10bn)" at the 2025 ETF Express U.S. Awards. Trackinsight has provided the pre-selection data for ETF issuer shortlists since 2020. To determine candidates, all ETFs that have been listed for the past 12 months are included. For each award category, an issuer’s ETFs within that category are combined to calculate total AUM. Issuers with less than USD 100 million in average assets over the review period are excluded. Shortlists are formed based on the percentage change in AUM over the prior 12 months, and in some categories, issuers are further grouped by asset-size tiers. The resulting shortlist goes into an industry voting survey, with each company limited to 10 internal votes. After review, votes are tallied to determine the winners.

The Wealthmanagement.com Industry Awards are independently granted in recognition of business initiatives that enhance financial advisor success and help advisors create better outcomes for their clients. The program begins with an open nomination process for all categories which extends from February to May. Firms submit business initiatives either introduced or enhanced during the previous 18 months. Submissions are reviewed in June by a panel of independent judges with required industry expertise, looking at the submission’s innovation, scope and impact. From the pool of submissions, judges select finalists for each category. Each judge on the committee then ranks those finalists, with the weighted aggregate ranking determining the winner. Winners are announced in September. No financial compensation is paid for consideration in the award process. Judges’ decisions are made independent of any firm’s business relationships with Informa Plc. Judges recuse themselves from the process from selecting finalists or winners for any category where the conflict exists.

NEOS ETFs are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC.

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