What is an autocallable ETF?
An autocallable ETF pays a coupon and can be called away early, on dates set in advance.
Its downside is a barrier rather than a buffer: above the barrier the holder is whole, and below it they take the whole fall rather than only the part beyond it. ETFIQ covers 24 of them from 7 issuers, paying from 11.1% of price to 14.0% over the year to Sep 30, 2026.
The call is the part the name refers to. On each observation date the fund checks where the underlying is. If it is above the call level the fund is called: the holder gets their money back with the coupon and the run ends early. If it is not, the fund carries on to the next date and keeps paying.
The barrier is the part that decides what a bad year costs. A buffer takes the first slice of a fall for you, so a 15% buffer means the first 15% is absorbed. A barrier takes none of it once broken: stay above it and the holder is repaid in full, fall through it and the holder takes the whole fall, not just the part beyond. That is why these are on the income desk here and not beside the buffer ETFs, and it is the single thing most often got wrong about them.
What to compare them on, then, is the coupon against what has to hold for it to be paid. Two funds paying the same can be carrying very different barriers on very different underlyings. The cash and total return below are measured the same way as every income fund here, with distributions reinvested on their ex-dates. Over the last year what holders finished with ran from +5.9% to +11.8%.
On ETFIQ today
| Ticker | Fund | Issuer | Cash paid, 1 year | Total return | Pays | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAIE | Calamos Autocallable Income ETF | Calamos | 14.0% | +11.8% | monthly | 0.74% |
| ACEI | Innovator Equity Autocallable Income S | Innovator | 11.1% | +5.9% | monthly | 0.79% |
| CAGE | Calamos Autocallable Growth ETF | Calamos | too new | too new | 0.74% | |
| CAIQ | Calamos Nasdaq Autocallable Income ETF | Calamos | too new | too new | monthly | 0.74% |
| ACYN | FT Vest Laddered Autocallable Barrier | First Trust | too new | too new | monthly | 0.75% |
| ACYQ | FT Vest Autocallable Barrier & High In | First Trust | too new | too new | 0.75% | |
| ACYS | FT Vest Laddered Autocallable Barrier | First Trust | too new | too new | monthly | 0.75% |
| AHD | GraniteShares Autocallable HOOD ETF | GraniteShares | too new | too new | monthly | 1.07% |
| ANV | GraniteShares Autocallable NVDA ETF | GraniteShares | too new | too new | monthly | 1.07% |
| ATC | GraniteShares Autocallable COIN ETF | GraniteShares | too new | too new | monthly | 1.07% |
| IACL | GraniteShares US 100 Autocallable Inco | GraniteShares | too new | too new | 0.55% | |
| MRA | GraniteShares Autocallable MARA ETF | GraniteShares | too new | too new | monthly | 1.07% |
| MSR | GraniteShares Autocallable MSTR ETF | GraniteShares | too new | too new | 1.07% | |
| PLA | GraniteShares Autocallable PLTR ETF | GraniteShares | too new | too new | monthly | 1.07% |
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Cite this page. ETFIQ, What is an autocallable ETF?, data as of Sep 30, 2026. https://etfiq.com/questions/what-is-an-autocallable-etf Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.
ETFIQ, What is an autocallable ETF?, data as of Sep 30, 2026. https://etfiq.com/questions/what-is-an-autocallable-etf
ETFIQ. (Sep 30, 2026). What is an autocallable ETF?. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/questions/what-is-an-autocallable-etf
[What is an autocallable ETF? (ETFIQ, Sep 30, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/questions/what-is-an-autocallable-etf)
Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.