Across 431 buffer ETFs from 8 issuers, 93 funds, or 22% of the total, sat at their cap on Oct 19, 2026. In index terms those funds have no further upside left for this period. Another 263 funds, 61% of the total, were in the open band, with room to move before either the cap or the buffer comes into play. A further 74 funds, 17%, had their buffer already absorbing losses, and one fund had its buffer exhausted.
Looking at remaining room by issuer, the median Innovator fund could still gain 7.5% before hitting its cap, against a 4.7% fall before its buffer starts. First Trust funds showed a 6.7% median gain still available and a 4.8% cushion before the buffer. AllianzIM funds had less room on both sides, a 5.4% median gain and a 2.9% cushion. PGIM funds showed 4.7% of remaining upside and a 3.4% cushion. Corgi and TrueShares had no median gain data reported, with cushions of 0.6% and 4.5% respectively. Calamos funds had a 3.8% cushion with no gain data shown, and iShares funds, the smallest group at 8 funds, showed a 6.0% median gain and a 3.5% cushion. Expense ratios across issuers ranged from 0.30% for Corgi to 0.80% for Innovator, First Trust, and TrueShares.
The cap totals by issuer varied widely in scale. Innovator, the largest issuer by fund count at 138, had 32 funds at cap and 28 with buffers working. First Trust, with 104 funds, had 24 at cap and 12 with buffers working. AllianzIM, PGIM, and Calamos showed smaller counts at cap relative to their fund totals, while Corgi and TrueShares reported no funds at cap.
Looking ahead by reset month, the pattern follows from how much time each period's index has had to run. Periods ending soonest carry the least remaining cap room: Oct 2026, with 18 funds, showed a median remaining gain of just 1.4%, and the underlying index had already moved +12.4% since the period started. Nov 2026 and Dec 2026 showed similarly tight remaining caps against index moves of +12.2% and +7.8%. By contrast, periods resetting later in the cycle carry fresher caps. Aug 2027, with 26 funds, showed a median remaining gain of 14.1% against an index move of just −0.1% since the period began, and Sep 2027 showed 15.0% of remaining gain against a +0.5% index move. The counts of funds at cap fall off sharply in these later months, with several showing zero or one fund at cap out of dozens.
Readers can check the current band state, remaining cap, and buffer cushion for any individual fund on ETFIQ's fund pages.