Data as of Nov 4, 2026.
BAUG vs FJUL: Cap, Buffer & Days Left
As of Nov 4, 2026 FJUL can fall 3.6% before its buffer engages and BAUG 2.6%, and FJUL resets 15 days sooner.
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Net assets: $270m on Nov 4, 2026 for Innovator U.S. Equity Buffer ETF - Aug, and $1.4bn on Nov 3, 2026 for FT Vest U.S. Equity Buffer ETF - July.
BAUG: reference +2.6% since period start, fund +2.4%; buffer 0 to −9; cap +17.8%; Between buffer and cap. Data to Nov 4, 2026.
BAUG: reference +2.6% since period start, fund +2.4%; buffer 0 to −9; cap +17.8%; Between buffer and cap. Data to Nov 4, 2026.FJUL: reference +3.1% since period start, fund +2.9%; buffer 0 to −10; cap +16.8%; Between buffer and cap. Data to Nov 4, 2026.
FJUL: reference +3.1% since period start, fund +2.9%; buffer 0 to −10; cap +16.8%; Between buffer and cap. Data to Nov 4, 2026.Pair scorecard
BAUG costs 0.06 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.7 points; FJUL is 5.3 times larger.
Points (pts) are percentage points.
| Measure | BAUG | FJUL |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +12.9% | +12.2% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Index fall to the buffer | 2.5% | 3.1% |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | SPY | SPY |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.79% | 0.85% |
| Net assets, as of Nov 3, 2026 | $266m | $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 31, 2020 to Oct 30, 2026 · 326 weekly returns · each against SPYFrom Jul 2020 to Oct 2026, BAUG and FJUL returned about the same: +101.5% and +99.9%. FJUL swung slightly less: 9.9% to 10.7%. FJUL fell less at its worst: −11.7% to −15.3%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | BAUG | FJUL | SPY | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | |||||
| Total return | +101.5% | +99.9% | Tie | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. | |
| Annualized | +11.8% | +11.7% | Tie | Total return as a yearly rate. | |
| Price return | +101.5% | +99.9% | Tie | Price change alone, distributions left out. | |
| Risk | |||||
| Volatility | 10.7% | 9.9% | FJUL (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. | |
| Downside deviation | 7.0% | 6.4% | FJUL (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. | |
| Max drawdown | −15.3% | −11.7% | FJUL | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. | |
| Upside capture | 55.5% | 49.6% | 100.0% | BAUG | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. |
| Downside capture | 71.6% | 65.0% | 100.0% | FJUL (slight) | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. |
| Beta | 0.66 | 0.60 | 1.00 | FJUL lower | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.96 | 0.93 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | |||||
| Sharpe | 0.81 | 0.85 | FJUL (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. | |
| Sortino | 1.23 | 1.30 | FJUL (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. | |
| Treynor | 0.131 | 0.139 | 0.129 | FJUL (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. |
| Calmar | 0.77 | 0.99 | FJUL | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. | |
| Against the benchmark | |||||
| Benchmark | SPY | SPY | SPY | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.1% a year | +0.6% a year | 0.0% | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.15 | 0.64 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. | |
| Alpha range | −1.6% to +1.9% | −1.3% to +2.6% | Both include zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. | |
| Information ratio | −0.73 | −0.66 | FJUL (slight) | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 5.9% | 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, 326 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Window by window
| Total return | Gap to the reference's price return | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Window | BAUG | FJUL | BAUG | FJUL |
| 3 months | +0.5% | +0.8% | +0.9 pts | +1.2 pts |
| 6 months | +5.7% | +5.5% | +1.2 pts | +1.0 pts |
| 1 year | +12.9% | +12.2% | −0.7 pts | −1.3 pts |
| 3 years | +66.1% | +59.0% | −10.4 pts | −17.4 pts |
| Since launchNot the same days: BAUG Aug 2019 · FJUL Jul 2020 | +122.4% | +102.2% | −37.7 pts | −34.2 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.
Where each one stands today
FJUL resets first, on Jul 16, 2027, 254 days from now; BAUG runs to Jul 31, 2027, 269 days. BAUG can still gain 14.8% before its cap, FJUL 12.7%. A fall from here reaches BAUG’s buffer after 2.6% and FJUL’s after 3.6%. Both track SPY, so what separates them is where each is in its own period.
Client brief:
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BAUG
From its price on Nov 4, 2026, the fund can gain about 14.8% more before it reaches its cap. The fund's price can fall 2.6% from here before the buffer starts absorbing losses, by the issuer's number. In index terms, SPY can fall 2.5% from today's level to the point where the buffer begins. Protection left, in index points: 9.0% of the 9.0% buffer still sits below today's SPY level. 269 days remained on Nov 4, 2026. On Jul 31, 2027 the period ends and a new cap is set.
FJUL
From its price on Nov 4, 2026, the fund can gain about 12.7% more before it reaches its cap. The fund's price can fall 3.6% from here before the buffer starts absorbing losses, by the issuer's number. In index terms, SPY can fall 3.1% 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. 254 days remained on Nov 4, 2026. On Jul 16, 2027 the period ends and a new cap is set.
Questions people ask
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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, BAUG against FJUL, data as of Nov 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/buffer/baug-vs-fjul
ETFIQ. (Nov 4, 2026). BAUG against FJUL. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/buffer/baug-vs-fjul
[BAUG against FJUL (ETFIQ, Nov 4, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/buffer/baug-vs-fjul)
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