The state of buffer ETFs

As of Sep 9, 2026, the buffer ETF market covered in this data spans 243 funds across three issuers: Innovator, First Trust, and AllianzIM. Of these, 66 funds, or 27% of the total, sit at their cap, meaning the index they track has risen far enough that these funds have no further upside for the remainder of their current period. Another 147 funds, or 60%, remain open, with room to move in either direction before hitting a cap or entering their buffer. The remaining 30 funds, or 12%, are in a state where their buffer is actively absorbing losses.

Looking at the median fund across all 243, there is still 5.5% of potential gain remaining before it would hit its cap, and the index could fall 5.9% before the buffer begins to absorb losses, according to the issuers' own published figures. These figures vary by issuer. Innovator's 107 funds show a median remaining gain of 5.9% and a median fall of 5.4% before the buffer engages, with an expense ratio of 0.80%. First Trust's 81 funds show a smaller median remaining gain of 4.8% but more room before the buffer starts, at 7.2%, also at a 0.80% expense ratio. AllianzIM's 55 funds carry a median remaining gain of 5.2% and 4.7% of room before the buffer, with a lower expense ratio of 0.70%.

The data also breaks down the outlook by reset month over the next twelve months, and a pattern emerges: funds resetting soonest have the least remaining cap room. This follows from how buffer ETFs work: the index tied to a fund has had more time to climb toward that fund's cap the closer that fund is to its reset date. For funds ending in September 2026, the median remaining gain is just 1.1%, and 19 of the 42 funds in this group are already at their cap. The underlying index for this cohort has moved up 14.4% since the period began. By contrast, funds resetting further out show more headroom. Those ending in May 2027 show a median remaining gain of 12.8%, with none of the 16 funds in that cohort at their cap yet, and the index has moved just 0.8% since that period's start. Similarly, August 2027 funds show a median remaining gain of 15.8%, with an index move of −0.6% since inception of that period.

This progression, smaller caps and more at-cap funds in near-term resets, larger caps and fewer at-cap funds further out, follows mechanically from the amount of time each period's index has had to move toward its cap, not from any change in the funds' construction.

Readers working with a live desk can check the current cap and buffer levels, band state, and reset date for any individual fund by ticker to see where it stands against these issuer-published figures as of today's date.