DMAY vs PSCQ

DMAYCFT Vest U.S. Equity Deep Buffer ETF - May

PSCQBPacer Swan SOS Conservative (October) ETF

In short

DMAY A deep buffer with a May start date. DMAY absorbs a 25-percentage-point band of losses in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust over each one-year outcome period, and in exchange you live under a cap that resets every May.

PSCQ A deep buffer with a deductible: you take the first 5% of an S&P 500 slide, then the next 25 points get cushioned, up to a cap reset each October. At 0.49% a year, it is a low-cost way to run that trade.

Stated mandate

DMAY The Fund seeks to track the price return of the State Street® SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust, subject to a 13.56% upside cap, while buffering specified losses over the current target-outcome period.

PSCQ The Fund seeks to match the returns of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust before fees and expenses up to a predetermined cap while providing a downside buffer over approximately one year.

Why people hold it

• DMAY Twenty-five percentage points of buffer against declines in the reference fund per outcome period. That is the deep end of the buffer menu, not the usual thin cushion.ftportfolios.com
• The thing being buffered is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust itself, price return. No custom index to decode.ftportfolios.com
• One of twelve monthly vintages First Trust runs on the same deep-buffer recipe, DJAN through DDEC, every one at 0.85%. Start dates can be laddered without changing the fee math.
• Running since 2020, so the structure has been through real market weather rather than a backtest.

• PSCQ 0.49% a year, at the cheap end of the SPY deep-buffer group. In a capped strategy, fees come straight out of the upside you are allowed to keep.
• Real depth of cushion: underlying losses from 5% down to 30% are absorbed by the options package, 25 percentage points of protection across a full one-year outcome period.paceretfs.com
• October start date. Pacer runs the same conservative recipe in January, April and July windows, so you choose which twelve months (and which cap) you live with.
• Plain plumbing: FLEX options on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, no stock picking, no leverage. It sits in the upper half of its deep-buffer peer group.paceretfs.com

Worth knowing

• DMAY 0.85% sits right at the median for deep-buffer funds, but not the floor: the Pacer Swan SOS Conservative siblings (PSCX, PSCW, PSCQ) run 0.49%.
• Price return only. Dividends paid inside the S&P 500 are not passed along, and income has not been part of the package here.
• Trades lightly next to the biggest buffer funds, so execution deserves attention. Buy mid-period and you inherit whatever cap and buffer remain, not the reset-day terms.

• PSCQ The cap is the price of the cushion. Upside stops at a level set when the October period begins, so a roaring S&P year leaves money on the table.
• The 5% to 30% math is built for holders of the full period. Buy mid-period and your effective buffer and cap depend on the price you pay.paceretfs.com
• A small fund that trades thinly, so spreads can run wider than on big index ETFs. It holds options, not dividend payers, so income is not part of the design.

Full DMAY profile⁠

Full PSCQ profile⁠