How JEPI Has Performed in Rising and Falling Markets

JEPI, the JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF, returned 10.81% a year at net asset value from its launch on 20 May 2020 to 30 September 2026. The S&P 500 returned 17.72% a year over the same period. In exchange for that lower return, JEPI paid a high monthly income and was much steadier than the market.

The yearly record shows exactly how that trade-off has worked. JEPI beat the S&P 500 in one full calendar year, the 2022 bear market, and trailed it in every rising year. Its income moved far more than its share price, which stayed in a narrow range for four years.

FRC’s How to Invest in JEPI course covers JEPI’s full performance record, built from J.P. Morgan’s SEC filings and annual reports. You can also watch the JEPI video in FRC’s Retail Investing series on YouTube before you decide whether the course is right for you.

This guide sets out every year’s return, the forces behind each one, how JEPI behaved in market falls and rallies, and what $10,000 would have become. For how the fund works, see FRC’s complete guide to JEPI, the JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF.

JEPI Performance at a Glance

These are JEPI’s total returns, including distributions, to 30 September 2026, as published on J.P. Morgan’s fact sheet.

Over every period, JEPI kept between about 42% and 56% of the market’s return: about 42% over one year, 44% over three years and 56% over five years.

The five-year figure is the fairest long-run comparison, because it contains the 2022 bear market and the rallies on either side of it. Even so, the S&P 500 returned almost twice as much a year.

JEPI’s Returns Every Year

These are JEPI’s calendar-year total returns at net asset value against the S&P 500, with the distributions JEPI declared in each year, counted by ex-dividend date.

J.P. Morgan does not publish a calendar return for 2020’s part-year, so it is left blank here rather than estimated. The 2026 figure covers nine months only and will change before the year ends.

What Drove Each Year

2020 was JEPI’s launch year. The fund started trading at $50 a share on 20 May 2020, made its first payment of $0.49408 with an ex-date of 1 July 2020 and held about $169.8 million by the end of the year.

2021 was a strong year for stocks. The S&P 500 returned 28.71% and JEPI 21.61%, so JEPI kept about three-quarters of the market’s gain. Its lowest-ever payment, $0.25719, came in August 2021, when markets were calm and option premiums were low.

2022 was the bear market. The S&P 500 lost 18.11%, while JEPI lost just 3.54%, its only full year ahead of the index. Volatile markets pushed option premiums up, and JEPI declared a record $6.36214 a share, including its highest single payment of $0.62102 in July.

2023 was a rally led by a handful of giant technology companies. The S&P 500 returned 26.29% and JEPI 9.88%, the widest gap of any full year. JEPI’s largest single stock was only about 1.6% of the fund, so it missed most of the gains of the seven companies that drove about 62% of the index’s return.

2024 was another strong year, with the S&P 500 up 25.02% and JEPI up 12.56%. Distributions fell to $4.21640, the lowest full calendar year by ex-date. 2025 brought a sharp spring fall after the April tariff announcements, then a recovery: JEPI returned 8.07% against 17.88%, while its payments rose about 11.9% to $4.71996.

Understand the Numbers Before You Rely on Them

A performance table shows what happened. It does not show why, or what that means for someone relying on JEPI for income. Don’t mistake a high yield for a high return: JEPI’s record shows the two can point in opposite directions in the same year.

FRC’s How to Invest in JEPI course takes you through JEPI’s performance year by year, how covered calls cap gains in rallies and cushion falls, every monthly distribution since launch and clearly labelled simulations of lump-sum and monthly investing. It is built from J.P. Morgan’s filings and fact sheets, and every figure carries its date.

FRC’s three progressive ETF programmes cover how to judge any fund’s record. ETF Investing for Beginners explains total return and price return. ETF Investing Strategies shows how to compare funds fairly and fit income funds into a portfolio, and Advanced ETF Investing covers risk-adjusted returns and portfolio management.

Past returns are the most quoted and most misunderstood part of investing. Understanding them before you invest costs far less than learning the lesson with your own money.

Price Change vs Income

JEPI’s share price has done very little since mid-2022, and most of its return has come from its distributions. J.P. Morgan reports JEPI’s results by financial year, which runs to 30 June.

From 30 June 2022 to 30 June 2025, the net asset value stayed between about $55.29 and $56.82. Over those years, yearly income ranged from about 7.5% to 10.9% of the starting value.

That pattern is the design working as intended. JEPI converts much of its potential share-price growth into monthly income, so its price tends to drift sideways while the payments carry the return.

What $10,000 Would Have Become

As a hypothetical illustration, this is what $10,000 invested at JEPI’s launch would have grown to, with every distribution reinvested and no taxes or costs, against the same amount in the S&P 500.

The 2020 part-year is not published as a calendar return, so these values are built from JEPI’s published returns and its since-launch rate. The JEPI investor was ahead only once, at the end of 2022, after the market’s fall. By 30 September 2026, the S&P 500 investor had about $9,000 more.

What $100 a Month Would Have Become

Most investors add money gradually. As a second hypothetical, an investor putting $100 into JEPI at the start of every month from January 2021 to September 2026 would have put in $6,900 across 69 deposits.

By 30 September 2026, that account would have been worth about $8,659 in JEPI, growth of about $1,759. The same deposits in the S&P 500 would have reached about $11,149, growth of about $4,249.

The JEPI account was ahead at one year end, again the end of 2022, at $2,466 against $2,208. These simulations are hypothetical, ignore taxes and costs, and do not predict future results.

How JEPI Behaved in Market Falls and Rallies

JEPI’s biggest test was the 2022 bear market. At its worst, JEPI fell about 13.7%, against about 25.4% for the S&P 500, and it regained its previous peak around 15 June 2023.

The rally that followed showed the other side. Through 2023 and 2024, JEPI gained about 23.7% while the S&P 500 gained about 57.9%. In the spring 2025 fall, the S&P 500 dropped about 18.9% from its record close on 19 February to 8 April, while JEPI fell about 13.3%.

These figures are approximate, because JEPI’s include its distributions while the S&P 500’s are price only. Even so, the pattern is consistent: smaller falls, much smaller gains.

FRC’s guide to covered call ETFs explains why. Selling call options brings in premium that cushions falls, but gives away gains above the strike price when markets rise strongly.

JEPI’s Risk Figures

J.P. Morgan’s fact sheet reports three risk measures over the three years to 30 September 2026. JEPI’s standard deviation, which measures how much returns swing, was 7.78 against 12.42 for the S&P 500, about 37% lower.

Its beta, which measures how much it tends to move with the market, was 0.42. In plain terms, JEPI has tended to move a little under half as much as the S&P 500.

Lower volatility is the main thing JEPI has delivered alongside its income. Whether that is worth the lower return depends on what you need the money to do.

How JEPI’s Income Has Changed

JEPI’s yearly payments have varied far more than its returns. They rose from $4.16126 a share in 2021 to $6.36214 in 2022, then fell about a third to $4.21640 in 2024 before rising again to $4.71996 in 2025.

The reason is option premiums. When markets are volatile, premiums rise and so does JEPI’s income, which is why the bear market year of 2022 paid the most. FRC’s JEPI dividend history page lists every one of JEPI’s 77 payments since launch.

For an income investor, this means a year of strong returns can come with lower payments, and a weak year can bring higher ones. Planning around a single year’s income is one of the most common mistakes with JEPI.

Why Other Websites Show Different Figures

Performance figures for JEPI vary from site to site, and most of the differences have simple causes. Net asset value returns measure the fund’s holdings, while market price returns measure the price the shares traded at, and the two can differ slightly.

Calendar years and J.P. Morgan’s financial years, which end on 30 June, give different figures for the same fund. Distributions can be counted by ex-dividend date or by pay date, which moves the late-December payment into a different year.

Price return also leaves out distributions entirely, which badly understates a fund like JEPI. This guide uses total return at net asset value from J.P. Morgan’s own fact sheet, with distributions counted by ex-dividend date.

How JEPI Compares With Other Funds

JEPI is designed for income and lower volatility, so comparing it with a growth fund on return alone misses half the picture. Comparing it with another income fund on yield alone misses the other half.

FRC’s guide to JEPI vs SCHD compares it with a dividend fund that keeps its full upside, and the guide to JEPI vs JEPQ compares it with its Nasdaq-100 sister fund. For index funds, FRC’s VOO performance history and SCHD performance history pages use the same year-by-year format.

What JEPI’s Record Means for an Income Investor

Consider a hypothetical retiree holding 1,000 JEPI shares and living on the payments. In 2022, those shares would have paid $6,362 in distributions declared that year. In 2024, the same 1,000 shares would have paid $4,216, a fall of $2,146 a year without selling a single share.

That retiree’s income fell at the same time as the market was rising strongly. A plan built around 2022’s payments would have left a shortfall of about $179 a month by 2024, so anyone relying on JEPI for income needs a cash buffer or other income to cover the lean years.

The record also shows the other side. In 2022, when the S&P 500 fell 18.11%, JEPI’s investors received their highest income while their holding fell far less than the market. For someone drawing income in a falling market, that combination reduced the pressure to sell shares at low prices.

What JEPI’s Record Can and Cannot Tell You

JEPI’s history covers just over six years, one bear market and several strong rallies. That is enough to see how the strategy behaves, but not enough to know how it will perform in every kind of market.

A long sideways market, for example, could suit JEPI better than its record so far suggests, while another powerful rally led by a few giant companies could widen the gap again. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

Common Questions

How has JEPI performed since launch?

From its launch on 20 May 2020 to 30 September 2026, JEPI returned 10.81% a year at net asset value, against 17.72% a year for the S&P 500.

What is the average annual return of JEPI?

JEPI’s average annual return since launch is 10.81% a year at net asset value, to 30 September 2026. Over the five years to the same date it averaged 7.78% a year, against 13.79% for the S&P 500.

How has JEPI performed over the last three years?

JEPI returned 10.05% a year over the three years to 30 September 2026, against 22.89% for the S&P 500.

What was JEPI’s best year?

Its best calendar year was 2021, when it returned 21.61%. Its strongest year relative to the market was 2022, when it lost 3.54% against an 18.11% fall for the S&P 500.

Has JEPI ever beaten the S&P 500?

In one full calendar year, 2022. JEPI trailed the S&P 500 in 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Does JEPI’s price go up over time?

Not much. From 30 June 2022 to 30 June 2025, its net asset value stayed between about $55.29 and $56.82, and most of its return came from distributions.

Why has JEPI lagged the market?

JEPI sells call options that give away gains above the strike price, and its stocks lean towards steadier companies. In strong rallies led by large technology companies, such as 2023 and 2024, both hold it back. In 2026 to 30 September, it returned 3.65% against 12.75% for the S&P 500.

How much JEPI do you need to make $1,000 a month?

At JEPI’s 12-month yield of 8.01% on 6 November 2026, about $150,000 would have produced roughly $12,000 a year, or $1,000 a month on average. The actual amount changes every month, and yearly payments have varied by about a third.

What would $10,000 in JEPI be worth?

As a hypothetical, $10,000 invested at launch with distributions reinvested would have grown to about $19,215 by 30 September 2026, against about $28,236 in the S&P 500.

Know What the Numbers Mean Before You Invest

JEPI has delivered what it was built to deliver: high monthly income and a smoother ride, in exchange for a lower total return than the market in rising years. Whether that trade suits you depends on whether you need income now or growth for later.

Before you rely on JEPI’s income, understand exactly where it comes from and how it has behaved. FRC’s How to Invest in JEPI course brings the full record together in 20 structured chapters, and FRC’s guide to JEPI explains how the fund works from start to finish.