Innovator U.S. Equity Buffer ETF
$54.88−0.20 (−0.36%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.79%
- Fund size
- $213M
- 1Y return
- +14.9%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- —
- Holdings
- 6
- Volume · 30D
- 0M sh
- NAV per share
- $54.52
- 52W range
The ETF.net BDEC Grade
Score 48 of 100 sits in the C band. Bands: A ≥ 70, B ≥ 55, C ≥ 40, D ≥ 25, F < 25; the scale skips E.
Cost
What you pay to own it — the expense ratio plus trading frictions, ranked within its category.CScore 40Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.Not scoredRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.CScore 40Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.BScore 65Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.Not scoredDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.AScore 70Category rank
Our read on BDEC
CInnovator invented the buffer ETF, and BDEC is the December door into that lineup: SPY's price moves with the first 9% of losses absorbed, the upside capped, and the whole deal reset every December 1.
The Fund uses a defined-outcome strategy intended to replicate its underlying ETF over an approximately one-year period, subject to a capped upside and protection against the first 9% of losses.
Why people hold it
- The terms are written down before you commit: 9% of the reference ETF's price losses absorbed (before the 0.79% fee) over a roughly one-year period, with the new cap published each December 1.sec.gov
- At 0.79% the fee sits at the category median, and it undercuts the dated buffer funds built on the same reference (FDEC, FJUL, FMAR and siblings at 0.85%).
- One rung in a twelve-month series from the shop that listed the first defined-outcome ETFs in 2018. BDEC has been running its December reset since 2019.globenewswire.com
Worth knowing
- Timing is the whole game. The buffer and cap are built for holders from the first day of the outcome period to the last; buy mid-period and your actual terms differ from the headline ones.sec.gov
- You get SPY's price return, not its dividends: the fund's options don't collect them, so income isn't part of the design.sec.gov
- Trading is thin for a fund of this size, so limit orders and a look at the spread earn their keep.
BDEC Holdings
- Stocks
- 6
- 101%
- SPY 11/30/2026 6.85 C
Sectors
BDEC Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
Returns run to the Sep 22, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | BDEC |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +11.1% |
| 1 month | +1.2% |
| 3 months | +3.8% |
| 1 year | +14.9% |
| 3 years | +16.1% |
| 5 years | +10.4% |
| 10 years | — |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | BDEC |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +11.1% | |
| 2025 | +15.0% | |
| 2024 | +12.7% | |
| 2023 | +19.9% | |
| 2022 | −9.4% | |
| 2021 | +15.5% | |
| 2020 | +13.4% |
BDEC in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on BDEC yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
BDEC Dividends
No distributions in the last 12 months.
BDEC Risk
- 9.3%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- 0.99
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −16.4%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 0.69
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
BDEC Cost
- The middle half of S&P 500 Buffer 9-12% funds
- Median 0.79%
33 of the 77 S&P 500 Buffer 9-12% funds charge less.