DFEB vs DNOV

DFEBCFT Vest U.S. Equity Deep Buffer ETF - February

DNOVCFT Vest U.S. Equity Deep Buffer ETF - November

In short

DFEB A buffer with a deductible. DFEB lets the first 5% of a drop in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust land on you, then covers the next 25 points, in exchange for an upside cap that resets every February.

DNOV A deep-buffer take on the S&P 500: you absorb the first 5% of a drop, the fund's design targets the next 25 points of losses, and your upside is capped for the year. The terms reset every November.

Stated mandate

DFEB The Fund seeks to match the price return of the State Street® SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust before fees and expenses, subject to an 11.87% upside cap, while protecting against Underlying ETF losses from -5% through -30% during the February 23, 2026–February 19, 2027 outcome period.

DNOV The Fund seeks returns matching the price return of the State Street® SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust up to a 12.93% upside cap, while buffering Underlying ETF losses between -5% and -30% during the November 24, 2025–November 20, 2026 outcome period.

Why people hold it

• DFEB Deep coverage where it hurts: the fund targets protection against reference-ETF losses from -5% through -30%, a 25-point band, over each one-year outcome period.
• One of twelve monthly vintages on the same reference ETF (DMAR, DJUN, DDEC and the rest), so entries can be laddered across the calendar instead of hinging on one start date.
• Running since 2020, it has rolled through several full outcome periods, and it sits in the upper half of its deep-buffer peer group.
• At 0.85%, the fee sits right at the median for deep-buffer funds tracking this kind of strategy.

• DNOV Deep buffer, not the entry-level kind: the design targets absorbing reference-fund losses from -5% down to -30% over each one-year outcome period, a 25-point band of cushion.ftportfolios.com
• One of twelve monthly siblings (DFEB, DMAR, DJUN and the rest), so entry dates can be laddered across the calendar instead of hinging on a single November start.
• Live since 2019 and through multiple full outcome periods, with a 0.85% fee that sits right at the median for deep-buffer funds.
• A multi-hundred-million-dollar fund from First Trust, one of the more established names running defined-outcome strategies.

Worth knowing

• DFEB The trade for depth: you absorb the first 5% of losses yourself, and gains stop at a cap that is reset each February from option pricing at the time.
• It tracks price return only, so the reference ETF's dividends are not passed along, and the fund has not been paying distributions.
• Cheaper deep-buffer options exist (PSCX and PSCW run 0.49%), and DFEB trades lightly, so limit orders are the sane way in and out.

• DNOV The cap is the price of the cushion, and it resets each November. Buy mid-period and your actual cap and remaining buffer differ from the headline terms.ftportfolios.com
• It references the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust's price return, so index dividends are outside the payoff, and the fund itself has not been making regular distributions.
• The first 5% of losses and anything past -30% land on you. Shares trade lightly, so spreads matter, and cheaper deep-buffer options exist (PSCX, PSCW at 0.49%).

Full DFEB profile⁠

Full DNOV profile⁠