Across the buffer ETF market, 431 funds from 8 issuers show a wide spread in how much room is left before this period's terms change. As of Oct 21, 2026, 107 funds, or 25% of the total, sat at their cap, meaning the index tracked by those funds has already risen far enough that further gains in the index would not pass through to the fund price this period. Another 272 funds, or 63%, remained open, with both upside and downside still in play. A smaller group of 52 funds had moved into buffer territory, where losses in the index are being absorbed rather than passed to the fund price; of these, 51 were still within their stated protection and 1 had used up its buffer entirely.
By issuer, the share at cap varied. Innovator, the largest issuer by fund count with 138 funds, had 40 at cap and 20 with buffers working. First Trust, with 104 funds, had 28 at cap and 9 in buffer. AllianzIM's 57 funds included 7 at cap and 4 in buffer. PGIM's 44 funds had 16 at cap, the highest share relative to its size among the mid-sized issuers, alongside 2 in buffer. Corgi, with 36 funds, had none at cap but 14 with buffers working, the most of any issuer in that state. Calamos had 14 of its 32 funds at cap and 3 in buffer. TrueShares and iShares, the two smallest groups, showed little movement toward either boundary, with TrueShares flat and iShares holding 2 of 8 funds at cap.
The median fund across the market could still gain 5.9% from its current price before hitting its cap, and could fall 3.9% before its buffer would begin absorbing losses, based on the issuers' own published figures. These medians differ by issuer: Innovator's median fund had 7.0% of gain room and 5.1% of fall room, while PGIM's median fund had less of both, at 4.3% and 3.7%. Corgi and TrueShares did not publish a median gain figure in this cut, though their median fall-before-buffer figures were 1.4% and 4.8%.
Looking ahead by reset month, the data shows a pattern tied to how much time each index has had to move. Funds resetting soonest, such as the 18 funds ending Oct 2026, carried the smallest remaining cap room, a median of 0.9%, after their underlying index had already moved +13.3% since the period began. Funds with resets further out carried more room: those ending Sep 2027 had a median remaining cap of 14.2%, with their index having moved only +1.4% since the period started. The pattern holds across the twelve months shown, with remaining cap room generally widening as the reset date moves further into 2027.
Readers can check the current cap, buffer level, and reset date for any individual fund on ETFIQ's fund pages.