BUFP vs IVVM

BUFPBPGIM Laddered S&P 500 Buffer 12 ETF

IVVMBiShares Large Cap Moderate Quarterly Laddered ETF

In short

BUFP Most buffer funds make you pick a start month and live with it. BUFP skips the choice: it owns twelve PGIM S&P 500 Buffer 12 ETFs, one per calendar month, so part of the ladder resets on a rolling basis.

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

BUFP The Fund seeks capital appreciation through U.S. large-cap equity exposure obtained via a laddered portfolio of twelve PGIM US Large-Cap Buffer 12 ETFs. The underlying ETFs seek limited downside protection and capped upside over a specified period, while the Fund itself has no stated buffer.

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

• BUFP Twelve underlying buffer ETFs, one for each month, spread the entry point instead of locking everything to a single outcome period and a single cap.pgim.com
• Each underlying ETF targets a buffer against the first 12% (before fees) of SPY's price-return losses over a one-year period, paired with an upside cap.pgim.com
• A 0.50% fee sits well under the 0.79% typical of buffer peers, and the package ranks among the stronger implementations in that group.

• 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

• BUFP The wrapper itself has no stated buffer. PGIM notes it likely won't get the full benefit of the underlying buffers, and their caps limit its upside.pgim.com
• Small and thinly traded, so spreads can run wider than at the category's giants. Matters most on larger orders.
• Live since 2024, so the record is short. PSFF, the other fund-of-buffer-ETFs in the group, carries a lower fee.

• 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 BUFP profile⁠

Full IVVM profile⁠