FEBT vs XTR

FEBTBAllianzIM U.S. Equity Buffer10 Feb ETF

XTRCGlobal X S&P 500 Tail Risk ETF

In short

FEBT Allianz Life's hedging desk, packaged as an ETF. FEBT absorbs the first 10% of its S&P 500 ETF benchmark's price decline over each February-to-January stretch, trading away gains above a cap, at a fee under the buffer-fund norm.

XTR Most downside-protection ETFs sell away your upside to pay for it. XTR pays cash instead: it owns the S&P 500 stocks and buys 10% out-of-the-money puts every quarter, leaving the upside uncapped.

Stated mandate

FEBT The Fund seeks to match the share-price return of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust over a specified one-year outcome period, subject to an upside cap and protection against the first 10% of losses.

XTR The Fund seeks to track the performance of the Cboe S&P 500 Tail Risk Index before fees and expenses.

Why people hold it

• FEBT Charges 0.74% a year, under the buffer-fund median and below same-benchmark rival BAPR (0.79%) and laddered BUFR (0.95%).
• The options work is run in-house by AllianzIM, the Allianz Life arm that hedges the insurer's own annuity book, rather than farmed out.allianzlife.com
• Plain, repeatable terms: a 10% downside buffer against the S&P 500 ETF's price return, capped upside, reset for a fresh one-year period every February 1.sec.gov
• Sits in the upper half of its buffer-ETF peer group, helped by pricing below the cohort median.

• XTR No cap on the gains. The hedge is bought with cash rather than funded by selling calls, so index rallies come through less the put premium and fees.sec.gov
• Costs 0.25%, well under half of what the defined-outcome funds it competes with typically charge for downside protection.
• Owns the roughly 500 S&P 500 stocks themselves, with the put position layered on top, rather than wrapping the index in a stack of options.sec.gov
• Rules-based and mechanical: puts are bought at 10% below the prevailing index level each quarter and held to expiration, with no manager guessing at timing.sec.gov

Worth knowing

• FEBT Buffer and cap are set before fees (the prospectus puts the net buffer at 9.26%), and the payoff tracks share price only, so index dividends sit out.sec.gov
• Buy mid-period and you get whatever cap and buffer remain, not the headline terms. The clean slate arrives each February 1.sec.gov
• One of the smaller, thinner-traded funds in the buffer aisle, so the spread between bid and ask deserves a look before trading.

• XTR Protection starts about 10% down and resets quarterly, so garden-variety dips are absorbed in full and the gap widens if the market rallies mid-quarter.sec.gov
• Insurance is not free. The quarterly premium is a steady cost against plain index exposure, and in calm markets the puts expire worthless.sec.gov
• A small fund that trades thinly, so limit orders matter and subscale products carry more risk of being closed than the category's giants.

Full FEBT profile⁠

Full XTR profile⁠