---
title: "Both the bid and the ask on PGIM's October Max Buffer ETF sat below the NAV"
url: "https://etf.net/news/pgim-buffer-etf-quotes-below-nav-2026-10-25"
published_at: "2026-10-25T19:58:38.784Z"
updated_at: "2026-10-25T19:58:38.784Z"
byline: "ETF.net Research"
---

# Both the bid and the ask on PGIM's October Max Buffer ETF sat below the NAV

The 0.46% discount PGIM published Thursday was the midpoint of the quote, not the ask a buyer would have paid.

By ETF.net Research. Published Oct 25, 2026.

On Thursday, Oct. 22, both the bid and the ask on [PGIM S&P 500 Max Buffer ETF - October](https://www.pgim.com/us/en/individual/investment-capabilities/products/buffer-etf/pgim-s-p-500-max-buffer-etf-october), PMOC, sat below the fund's net asset value. The fund uses options to seek the S&P 500's price return up to a cap, and to cushion losses over a year.

PGIM's page showed a **0.46%** discount. That figure is how far the midpoint of the highest bid and the lowest ask sits from the NAV, measured when the NAV is calculated, normally 4 p.m. Eastern time. It is not the price a buyer pays.

The spread was 0.26%, against a 30-day median of 0.23%. Over the same day the NAV rose 4 cents, or 0.16%, and the midpoint fell 4 cents, or 0.15%.

Thursday's discount was the widest PGIM shows for the fund in October, wider than 0.18% on Friday, Oct. 16, and 0.05% on Monday, Oct. 19. PGIM has not published a premium for Friday, Oct. 23.

The bid was $26.57 and the ask was $26.64, against a NAV of $26.73, so a buyer paying the ask would have paid 9 cents under the NAV, not the 0.46% discount PGIM published.

The fund held $7.2 million, and PGIM reported volume of 118 shares.

Under the premium, PGIM prints a warning.

"There is no guarantee you will receive the stated Premium/Discount and additional fees may result from individual broker fees and transaction costs in the secondary market."

## On the Nasdaq-100 fund, the ask was over the NAV

The same afternoon, the ask on [PGIM Nasdaq-100 Buffer 12 ETF - October](https://www.pgim.com/us/en/intermediary/investment-capabilities/products/buffer-etf/pgim-nasdaq-100-buffer-12-etf-oct), PQOC, sat above the NAV even though PGIM reported a 0.09% discount. The bid was $31.42 and the ask was $31.65, against a NAV of $31.56. The spread was 0.73%, against a 30-day median of 0.25%, and the fund held $28.7 million.

A buyer paying the ask would have paid 9 cents over the NAV, and a seller hitting the bid would have received 14 cents under it. On PMOC the ask itself was under the value. On PQOC the ask was over it, and the 0.09% PGIM reported was only the middle of the quote.

On both funds, that published discount was a 4 p.m. midpoint. The price of the order was the ask, or the bid for a seller.

## While Hong Kong was closed, the official discount was 0.39%

A published discount is only as good as the value it uses.

Hong Kong's securities market was closed on Monday, Oct. 19, the day following the Chung Yeung Festival, on [Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing's 2026 holiday schedule](https://www.hkex.com.hk/-/media/HKEX-Market/Services/Circulars-and-Notices/Participant-and-Members-Circulars/SEHK/2025/ce_SEHK_CT_075_2025.pdf). [iShares China Large-Cap ETF](https://www.ishares.com/us/products/239536/ishares-china-large-cap-etf), FXI, a fund of large Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong, kept trading in New York. It traded 24.4 million shares and closed at $33.53.

iShares put the NAV at $33.66 and the discount at **0.39%**. That NAV fell 16 cents, or 0.47%, from $33.82 on Friday, Oct. 16, on a day the Hong Kong market did not trade.

Daniel Prince, in an [iShares note](https://www.ishares.com/us/investor-education/etf-education/etf-premiums-and-discounts) dated Sept. 10, wrote that BlackRock applies a fair-value adjustment when it sets the NAV of international stock funds. The case he described is a U.S. fund that keeps trading after the local market has closed.

The adjustment often produces a more precise NAV, he wrote, and a premium that can look different from the premium on a fund that does not adjust, so an investor has to know the method well enough to tell a true gap to the value of the holdings from an optical one.

iShares also publishes a NAV without fair value, the figure that leaves that adjustment out. It was $33.93 on Monday, and $33.94 on Friday, Oct. 16.

The New York close was 1.2% under Monday's NAV without fair value. That comparison is not the discount iShares published. The published discount, against the NAV the fund used, was 0.39%.

By Friday, Oct. 23, the NAV and the NAV without fair value were the same figure, $32.42. iShares put the discount at 0.35%, about where Monday's official discount had been.

Source: etf.net, https://etf.net/news/pgim-buffer-etf-quotes-below-nav-2026-10-25. Please cite the page URL.