As of October 8, 2026, 122 of the 430 buffer ETFs tracked across 8 issuers had reached their cap, meaning the index they track has risen far enough that those funds have no further upside left in the current period. That is 28% of the universe. Another 266 funds, or 62%, remained open, with room to move in either direction before hitting their cap or their downside buffer. A smaller group, 41 funds, had their buffer already absorbing losses, and one fund had exhausted its buffer entirely, a state where further index declines would pass through to the fund dollar for dollar.
Across all funds, the median buffer ETF could still gain 5.8% from its current price before reaching its cap, and could fall 4.3% before its buffer begins to offset further losses. These numbers come from the issuers themselves and are stated in fund-price terms, after fees.
The issuer breakdown shows meaningful differences in where funds sit within their outcome periods. Innovator, the largest issuer with 138 funds, had 42 at cap and 18 with buffers working, with a median remaining gain of 7.0% and a median fall-before-buffer of 5.0%. First Trust, with 104 funds, had 39 at cap and a narrower median remaining gain of 5.5%, alongside a median fall-before-buffer of 6.3%, the widest cushion among issuers reporting that number. PGIM's 44 funds included 16 at cap and none with buffers working, while Corgi and Calamos both had funds with buffers working but fewer at cap. TrueShares, with 11 funds, had none at cap and none with buffers working, the only issuer in that position.
The reset calendar over the next twelve months shows a pattern tied to how much time each period's index has had to run. Funds resetting soonest, in October and November 2026, carried the least remaining cap room, a median of 0.8% and 1.8% respectively, alongside the highest share of funds already at cap for those months. This reflects that their tracked indexes have had the most time within the period to climb toward the ceiling, as the method note explains. By contrast, funds with periods ending later in 2027, such as August and September, showed median remaining gains of 13.6% and 14.6%, with almost none at cap, since those periods started more recently and the index has moved less since each one began. March 2027 stood out with the highest median index move since period start, at +19.0%, alongside 25 of its 37 funds already at cap.
Readers working from the live desk can check the current band state, cap distance, and buffer cushion for any individual fund or issuer named here against the latest issuer-published terms, since these numbers are current only as of October 8, 2026, and will shift as each fund's outcome period progresses.