BUFD vs IVVM

BUFDCFT Vest Laddered Deep Buffer ETF

IVVMBiShares Large Cap Moderate Quarterly Laddered ETF

In short

BUFD Twelve First Trust deep buffer funds in one ticker, one resetting every month, so you never have to time an outcome period. The trade: a deeper cushion means a lower ceiling, and the ladder wrapper runs 0.95% a year.

IVVM Most buffer funds make you pick a start date. IVVM runs overlapping three-month tranches on IVV, each cushioning roughly the first 5% of losses in exchange for a cap, so no single reset date decides everything.

Stated mandate

BUFD The Fund seeks capital appreciation by providing U.S. large-cap equity exposure while limiting downside risk through a laddered portfolio of twelve FT Vest U.S. Equity Deep Buffer ETFs.

IVVM The fund seeks exposure to large-cap U.S. equities while using staggered-maturity buffers to protect approximately the first 5% of losses. It accepts limited upside and uses the laddered structure to reduce timing risk.

Why people hold it

• BUFD One ticker holds twelve deep buffer funds on a monthly ladder, so there's no start month to pick and no buying in with a cushion that's already half spent.ftportfolios.com
• Laddering spreads reset risk across twelve staggered outcome periods instead of one all-or-nothing 12-month window tied to a single entry date.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund running since 2021, with U.S. large-cap exposure referenced to the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.

• IVVM 0.50% net of a waiver through June 30, 2028 (0.53% gross), below the category median and well under Innovator's laddered Power Buffer fund BUFF at 0.89%.ishares.com
• Staggered tranches of roughly three-month FLEX options, rolling on a rhythm, spread out the entry-point risk that single-period buffer funds carry.ishares.com
• Born in 2023 as a plain quarterly buffer fund, rebuilt as a ladder in October 2025, and one of the stronger builds in its laddered-buffer peer group.sec.gov
• The reference asset is BlackRock's own S&P 500 workhorse, IVV, inside a standard 1940 Act ETF wrapper that trades all day on an exchange.sec.gov

Worth knowing

• BUFD At 0.95%, it prices above the 0.79% median in its buffer peer group, and rival laddered wrappers charge less: BUFP at 0.50%, PSFF at 0.10%.
• Each underlying fund sets its own buffer and cap at its reset, for its own outcome period, so the protection and ceiling you hold shift month to month.ftportfolios.com
• Income isn't part of the mandate. The stated objective is capital appreciation, and the fund has not been making distributions.

• IVVM Each tranche caps the upside, and caps are reset at every roll, so a hot S&P 500 stretch leaves the fund behind plain index exposure.ishares.com
• The cushion is thin by design: approximately the first 5% of losses per tranche, with declines past that borne in full, and fund fees come off the top.sec.gov
• Exposure follows IVV's share price, not its dividends, and the fund trades thinly on a modest asset base, so spreads can run wider than on index giants.sec.gov

Full BUFD profile⁠

Full IVVM profile⁠