BUFT vs IVVM

BUFTDFT Vest Buffered Allocation Defensive ETF

IVVMBiShares Large Cap Moderate Quarterly Laddered ETF

In short

BUFT One ticket instead of a whole ladder of dated buffer funds: BUFT owns a basket of S&P 500 buffer ETFs tilted to the defensive end, with capital preservation as its stated goal. That convenience carries a 1.21% price tag.

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

BUFT The Fund seeks capital preservation by investing in ETFs whose returns are tied to SPY up to a predetermined cap and that provide a defined buffer against SPY losses over a one-year period.

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

• BUFT Buy the ladder, skip the legwork: one holding spreads you across several S&P 500 buffer ETFs instead of tracking start dates, caps and rolls fund by fund.ftportfolios.com
• The reference point is plain vanilla: the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust. No bespoke index under the options layer, just the benchmark everyone already knows.ftportfolios.com
• Downside cushion is the entire design. Each underlying fund absorbs a defined slice of S&P 500 losses across its one-year outcome period before losses reach the shareholder.ftportfolios.com

• 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

• BUFT At 1.21%, you pay for the wrapper plus the funds inside it, which lands above the typical buffer ETF. First Trust's own laddered BUFR runs cheaper.
• Caps are the price of cushions: upside is limited to a preset ceiling each period, and the fund has not been paying distributions.
• Assets are modest and trading is thin, so spreads can widen. Limit orders are the standard tool for funds in this volume range.

• 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 BUFT profile⁠

Full IVVM profile⁠