> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.focusalpha.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# ETF Distributions

> Declared ETF distribution events with ex, record and pay dates, amount per share, and distribution type.

ETF Distributions records every distribution an ETF declared: the amount per share, the dates attached to it, and what kind of distribution it was. Each observation is associated with an `etf_id` and an ex-dividend date. Distributions are stored as raw declared events and are never folded into any NAV.

<Info>
  **Plan:** Fund · **Credits:** 1 per call
</Info>

## What You Can Use ETF Distributions For

Compute a fund's trailing distribution yield from what it actually paid. Reconcile the gap between [ETF NAV](/etf/nav) and [ETF Total Return](/etf/total-return). Anticipate the NAV step-down on an upcoming ex date. Separate income distributions from capital-gain distributions when estimating an investor's tax position.

## ETF Distributions Coverage

Distribution events are collected for funds across the ETF registry. The [ETF profile](/etf/overview) returns the newest twelve events inline; the full declared history is available through the history endpoint with `series=distributions`.

Coverage bounds are measured on the way out — read the `coverage` block on the response for the fund you queried.

## Key ETF Distribution Fields

`ex_date` is the ex-dividend date, the date the distribution detaches from the share. `amount_per_share` is the amount as declared, in the fund's currency. `amount_per_share_split_adjusted` restates that amount on today's share count so a long history is comparable across splits.

`declaration_date`, `record_date` and `pay_date` are the other three dates the fund announced. `frequency` describes the fund's declared distribution schedule. `distribution_type` classifies the payment.

## What the ETF Distribution Type Means

`distribution_type` carries the classification only when the fund's own notice stated one. A value of `unclassified` means the notice did not say whether the payment was income or capital gain — it is a record of what the fund disclosed, not a failure of extraction, and it should not be assumed to be ordinary income. In practice most declared events are `unclassified`, because most distribution notices do not break the payment down; treat the type as a bonus where present, never as a partition of the history.

## Distributions Are Never Folded Into NAV

The [ETF NAV series](/etf/nav) is price-basis: on an ex date, NAV simply steps down by the distribution and the cash is never reinvested there. The [ETF Total Return series](/etf/total-return) is the one that folds distributions back in. Keeping the three apart — raw declared events here, price-basis NAV, and a separate total-return series — is what makes each of them reconcilable against the other two. A distribution can always be located as the exact gap between the NAV step and the total-return series on its ex date.

## ETF Distribution Date Convention

Four dates appear on a distribution and they are not interchangeable. `declaration_date` is when the fund announced it. `ex_date` is when the shares begin trading without it, and it is the date NAV steps down. `record_date` is when ownership is fixed. `pay_date` is when cash reaches holders.

Yield and NAV-reconciliation work keys on `ex_date`. Cash-flow work keys on `pay_date`.

## ETF Distributions Sources

Distributions come from the funds' own declared distribution notices, kept as raw events with the currency the fund declared them in. Amounts are validated against the observed ex-date NAV step, and the split-adjusted restatement uses the same adjudicated events documented on [ETF Splits](/etf/splits) — so the declared basis and today's basis are both first-class and either can be reconstructed exactly.

## Query ETF Distributions

Use the ETF history endpoint with `series=distributions` to retrieve the full declared distribution history for one fund.

<ParamField path="id" type="string" required>
  `etf_id` (`E000011`), a ticker (`SPY`), an ISIN, or a CUSIP.
</ParamField>

<ParamField query="series" type="string" required>
  Set to `distributions` for this dataset.
</ParamField>

<ParamField query="date_gte" type="string">
  Earliest ex date to return, `YYYY-MM-DD`. `date_lte` sets the ceiling. On this series the date filters apply to `ex_date`.
</ParamField>

<ParamField query="limit" type="integer" default="250">
  Rows per page, between 1 and 1000. Pages run newest to oldest via `cursor`.
</ParamField>

## Related Datasets

See also [ETF NAV and Shares Outstanding](/etf/nav) for the series a distribution steps down, [ETF Total Return](/etf/total-return) for the series that adds it back, and [ETF Splits](/etf/splits) for the events behind the split-adjusted amounts.

<RequestExample>
  ```bash cURL theme={null}
  curl "https://api.focusalpha.ai/v1/etfs/SPY/history?series=distributions&limit=2" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOCUSALPHA_API_KEY"
  ```
</RequestExample>

<ResponseExample>
  ```json Response theme={null}
  {
    "etf_id": "E000011",
    "ticker": "SPY",
    "series": "distributions",
    "data": [
      {
        "ex_date": "2026-06-18T00:00:00.000Z",
        "amount_per_share": "1.90352",
        "amount_per_share_split_adjusted": "1.90352",
        "distribution_type": "unclassified",
        "declaration_date": "2026-01-02T00:00:00.000Z",
        "record_date": "2026-06-18T00:00:00.000Z",
        "pay_date": "2026-07-31T00:00:00.000Z",
        "frequency": "Quarterly"
      }
    ],
    "next_cursor": "Fri Mar 20 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)",
    "coverage": {
      "available_from": "1993-03-19",
      "available_to": "2026-06-18",
      "note": "Distribution events as declared; never folded into any NAV here."
    }
  }
  ```
</ResponseExample>