Data as of Nov 4, 2026.
BALT vs FSEP: Cap, Buffer & Days Left
As of Nov 4, 2026 FSEP can fall 1.5% before its buffer engages and BALT 0.6%, and BALT resets 260 days sooner.
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Net assets: $3.3bn on Nov 4, 2026 for Innovator Defined Wealth Shield ETF - Quarterly, and $1.4bn on Nov 3, 2026 for FT Vest U.S. Equity Buffer ETF - September.
BALT: reference +0.5% since period start, fund +0.6%; buffer 0 to −20; cap +2.4%; Between buffer and cap. Data to Nov 4, 2026.
BALT: reference +0.5% since period start, fund +0.6%; buffer 0 to −20; cap +2.4%; Between buffer and cap. Data to Nov 4, 2026.FSEP: reference +0.7% since period start, fund +0.7%; buffer 0 to −10; cap +16.7%; Between buffer and cap. Data to Nov 4, 2026.
FSEP: reference +0.7% since period start, fund +0.7%; buffer 0 to −10; cap +16.7%; Between buffer and cap. Data to Nov 4, 2026.Pair scorecard
BALT costs 0.16 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 6.8 points; BALT is 2.3 times larger.
Points (pts) are percentage points.
| Measure | BALT | FSEP |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +6.4% | +13.2% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Index fall to the buffer | 0.5% | 0.7% |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | SPY | SPY |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.69% | 0.85% |
| Net assets, as of Nov 3, 2026 | $3.2bn | $1.4bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
How much of a bear-market fall the buffer would absorb from today's level, ranked against 292 buffer ETFs on stocks with a live outcome period. 100 is best. How it is computed
Today's position against one 20% fall; it ignores smaller falls, and stock buffers are never ranked against bond or commodity ones. All buffer ETFs ranked by it →
Risk and return
Jul 9, 2021 to Oct 30, 2026 · 277 weekly returns · each against SPYFrom Jul 2021 to Oct 2026, FSEP returned more: +66.1% to +36.0%. BALT swung less: 2.9% to 10.0%. BALT fell less at its worst: −4.1% to −13.2%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | BALT | FSEP | SPY | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | |||||
| Total return | +36.0% | +66.1% | FSEP | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. | |
| Annualized | +5.9% | +10.0% | FSEP | Total return as a yearly rate. | |
| Price return | +36.0% | +66.1% | FSEP | Price change alone, distributions left out. | |
| Risk | |||||
| Volatility | 2.9% | 10.0% | BALT | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. | |
| Downside deviation | 2.0% | 6.6% | BALT | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. | |
| Max drawdown | −4.1% | −13.2% | BALT | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. | |
| Upside capture | 13.2% | 51.0% | 100.0% | FSEP | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. |
| Downside capture | 14.8% | 65.9% | 100.0% | BALT | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. |
| Beta | 0.16 | 0.60 | 1.00 | BALT lower | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.75 | 0.93 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | |||||
| Sharpe | 0.72 | 0.63 | BALT | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. | |
| Sortino | 1.04 | 0.96 | BALT (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. | |
| Treynor | 0.132 | 0.105 | 0.092 | BALT | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. |
| Calmar | 1.45 | 0.76 | BALT | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. | |
| Against the benchmark | |||||
| Benchmark | SPY | SPY | SPY | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.6% a year | +0.7% a year | 0.0% | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 1.00 | 0.65 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. | |
| Alpha range | −0.6% to +1.9% | −1.5% to +3.0% | Both include zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. | |
| Information ratio | −0.53 | −0.43 | FSEP | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 13.5% | 6.8% | 0.0% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 277 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Window by window
| Total return | Gap to the reference's price return | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Window | BALT | FSEP | BALT | FSEP |
| 3 months | +1.3% | +2.2% | +1.7 pts | +2.6 pts |
| 6 months | +3.2% | +6.1% | −1.3 pts | +1.6 pts |
| 1 year | +6.4% | +13.2% | −7.1 pts | −0.4 pts |
| 3 years | +25.4% | +52.7% | −51.0 pts | −23.7 pts |
| Since launchNot the same days: BALT Jul 2021 · FSEP Sep 2020 | +36.5% | +94.7% | −41.7 pts | −39.8 pts |
Each fund's gap is to its reference's price return, dividends left out: the basis the outcome period uses. Open this comparison in the app →
Side by side
As of Nov 4, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
They do not reset together. BALT has 57 days of its period left and FSEP has 317, so the two are not the same bet on the same months.
Where each one stands today
BALT resets first, on Dec 31, 2026, 57 days from now; FSEP runs to Sep 17, 2027, 317 days. BALT can still gain 1.8% before its cap, FSEP 15.1%. A fall from here reaches BALT’s buffer after 0.6% and FSEP’s after 1.5%. Both track SPY, so what separates them is where each is in its own period.
Client brief:
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BALT
From its price on Nov 4, 2026, the fund can gain about 1.8% more before it reaches its cap. The fund's price can fall 0.6% from here before the buffer starts absorbing losses, by the issuer's number. In index terms, SPY can fall 0.5% from today's level to the point where the buffer begins. Protection left, in index points: 20.0% of the 20.0% buffer still sits below today's SPY level. 57 days remained on Nov 4, 2026. On Dec 31, 2026 the period ends and a new cap is set.
FSEP
From its price on Nov 4, 2026, the fund can gain about 15.1% more before it reaches its cap. The fund's price can fall 1.5% from here before the buffer starts absorbing losses, by the issuer's number. In index terms, SPY can fall 0.7% from today's level to the point where the buffer begins. Protection left, in index points: 10.0% of the 10.0% buffer still sits below today's SPY level. 317 days remained on Nov 4, 2026. On Sep 17, 2027 the period ends and a new cap is set.
Questions people ask
Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.
How this is computed
It is a place in a set, not a rating or a recommendation.
ETFIQ calculates every number from each issuer’s published outcome-period terms. Buffer ETFs hold options on an index, not shares, so there is no holdings overlap to report.
Every number is an ETFIQ calculation with distributions reinvested.
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ETFIQ, BALT against FSEP, data as of Nov 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/buffer/balt-vs-fsep
ETFIQ. (Nov 4, 2026). BALT against FSEP. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/buffer/balt-vs-fsep
[BALT against FSEP (ETFIQ, Nov 4, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/buffer/balt-vs-fsep)
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