Across the buffer ETF market, 429 funds from 8 issuers show a wide spread in how much room is left before their annual reset. As of Sep 26, 2026, 139 funds, or 32% of the total, sat at their cap, meaning the index tied to those funds has already climbed as far as the terms allow for this period. Another 28 funds had their buffer working, absorbing losses on the way down, and 1 fund had its buffer exhausted. The remaining 261 funds, 61% of the total, were still open, with room to move in either direction before hitting a cap or a floor. For the median fund across the market, there was still 4.9% of possible gain left and 5.0% of possible decline before the buffer would begin to absorb losses, based on the issuers' own published data.
The issuer breakdown shows some differences worth noting. Innovator, the largest issuer by fund count with 138 funds, had 50 at cap and 11 with buffers working, and its median fund could still gain 5.3% before hitting the cap. First Trust, with 104 funds, had a similar median gain number of 5.6% and the same 6.2% median fall before buffer as Innovator. AllianzIM and PGIM showed lower median gain numbers, at 4.2% and 3.7% respectively, with PGIM having 22 of its 44 funds already at cap and none with buffers working. Corgi's 36 funds had no data for median gain, but 8 were absorbing losses and its median fall before buffer was the smallest in the table at 1.3%. Calamos, TrueShares, and iShares rounded out the issuer list with smaller fund counts and a mix of at-cap and open positions.
The reset calendar adds another layer. Funds with reset dates further out carry more remaining upside, a pattern the summary attributes to timing rather than fund quality: fresh caps set later in the cycle simply haven't had as long for their underlying index to climb toward them. Funds resetting in Sep 2026, the nearest month shown, had a median remaining gain of just 0.3%, with 24 of 50 funds already at cap and a median index move since period start of +14.1%. By contrast, funds resetting in Aug 2027, the furthest out in this table, showed a median remaining gain of 14.1% and none at cap, with the index having moved just +0.6% since that period began. The months in between show a gradual climb in remaining cap room as the reset date extends outward, alongside falling at-cap counts from March 2027 onward.
Expense ratios across issuers ranged from 0.30% for Corgi to 0.80% for Innovator, First Trust, and TrueShares, with AllianzIM and iShares at 0.50% and Calamos at 0.70%.
Readers can check the live desk for the current band state, remaining cap, and downside-before-buffer numbers on any specific fund by issuer and reset month.