First Trust Nasdaq-100 quarterly 15 buffer ETF is cleared to list
First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII's 485BPOS for FT Vest Nasdaq-100 Quarterly 15 Buffer ETF, a 15% buffer on Invesco QQQ Trust over three months, takes effect Monday, September 14, 2026; the fund has not listed.
A quarterly 15% buffer on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, SQBA, went effective August 6 and was trading on Cboe BZX on August 24. The Nasdaq-100 counterpart, filed Friday, September 11 by First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII, takes effect Monday, September 14, without another SEC review. First Trust's product page still says the fund has not been released.
Friday's 485BPOS names the series FT Vest Nasdaq-100 Quarterly 15 Buffer ETF QQBF and says it intends to list on Cboe BZX. Ticker and exchange were blank in the preliminary 485APOS the trust filed July 1, marked subject to completion.
The fund seeks, before fees and expenses, the price return of Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ up to a cap, and a buffer against the first 15% of those losses, over successive Target Outcome Periods of about three months, the window in which the cap and buffer apply. The prospectus sets the first period at September 21 through December 18. The cap is set on the first day of each period from then-prevailing market conditions and resets when the next period begins; the 15% buffer does not. The actual cap is still a blank. The paper estimates 2.90% to 3.80% before fees for the initial period and says there is no guarantee the live figure will fall in that range.
Total annual fund operating expenses are 0.90%, all of it the management fee. SQBA writes the same 15% buffer against the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY and charges 0.85%.
This filing takes effect September 14 and dates the fund's first period to September 21, a week later. SQBA's first outcome period began on the listing session. The listing date is not in the paper.
Frequently asked
What does the fund actually do?
It aims to deliver the price return of Invesco QQQ Trust up to a cap, with a buffer against the first 15% of losses over roughly three-month outcome periods.
What is the cap?
The cap is still blank; the prospectus estimates 2.90% to 3.80% before fees for the first period and says there is no guarantee the live figure lands in that range.
Does the buffer reset like the cap?
No: the cap is set fresh on the first day of each period from prevailing market conditions, while the 15% buffer does not change.
What does it cost?
Total annual fund operating expenses are 0.90%, all of it the management fee.