Across the buffer ETF market, 419 funds from 7 issuers show a market that has largely climbed into its ceilings. As of October 3, 2026, 110 funds, or 26%, sit at their cap, meaning the index they track has risen far enough that those funds have no further upside left for the period. Another 281 funds, 67% of the total, remain open, with room to move before either their cap or their buffer comes into play. A smaller group, 27 funds, or 6%, has its buffer already absorbing losses, and one fund shows its buffer exhausted.
The median fund across the market could still gain 5.9% from its current price and could fall 4.0% before its buffer starts working, based on the issuers' own published data. These numbers vary by issuer. Innovator, with 138 funds, shows the highest median remaining gain at 7.2% and a median buffer start of 4.8% down. First Trust's 104 funds show a smaller remaining gain, 5.5%, but more room before the buffer activates, at 6.3%. AllianzIM and PGIM show narrower downside cushions, 2.9% and 3.3% respectively, while Corgi's 36 funds, none at cap, show a median fall before buffer of just 1.7%, the tightest in the table. Calamos and iShares fall in between. Expense ratios range from 0.30% at Corgi to 0.80% at Innovator and First Trust.
The pattern by reset month tells a related story. Funds whose period ends soonest, in October and November 2026, show the smallest remaining caps, 1.1% and 2.0% respectively, alongside the largest index gains since their periods began, +12.8% and +12.6%. This matches the summary's explanation: these funds have had the most time for their tracked index to climb toward the ceiling, leaving little room left to gain. By contrast, funds resetting later, such as those in August and September 2027, show much larger remaining caps, 14.0% and 15.1%, alongside smaller index moves since inception, +0.3% and +0.9%. These are the newer periods, where the cap has not yet been approached.
The share of funds at cap within each reset month follows the same logic. December 2026, with 62 funds, shows 23 at cap, while March 2027's 34 funds show 21 at cap despite being further out, reflecting that period's larger index move of +18.3% since it started. Meanwhile, August 2027 shows none of its 23 funds at cap yet, consistent with its index having moved only +0.3% so far.
Overall, the data shows a buffer ETF landscape where the funds nearing their reset dates have largely used up their room to the upside, while funds further from reset retain more headroom, both for gains and before downside protection begins. The numbers are issuer-published, in fund-price terms, and band states are calculated by ETFIQ from those terms against the reference index return.
Readers can check any individual fund's current distance to cap and to buffer on the live desk, broken out by issuer and reset month.