FFEB vs ZALT

FFEBCFT Vest U.S. Equity Buffer ETF - February

ZALTAInnovator U.S. Equity 10 Buffer ETF - Quarterly

In short

FFEB The February door into First Trust's buffer lineup: it absorbs the first 10% of a year's decline in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, and caps the upside in exchange. Same recipe, reset every February since 2020.

ZALT The defined-outcome trade on a three-month clock: ZALT follows SPY up to a cap and buffers the first 10% of a decline, then resets both every quarter. Four fresh caps a year, at a fee under the shallow-buffer median.

Stated mandate

FFEB The Fund seeks to match the price return of the State Street® SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust before fees and expenses, subject to a 15.01% upside cap and a 10% downside buffer over the current target-outcome period.

ZALT The fund seeks to follow SPY's return up to a predetermined cap while providing a 10% downside buffer over each three-month outcome period. It may be held indefinitely, with the defined outcomes resetting at the end of each period.

Why people hold it

• FFEB Absorbs the first 10% of the reference S&P 500 ETF's price decline over each 12-month period, with a cap set at the February reset. Price return only, so dividends aren't included.ftportfolios.com
• Running since February 2020, and First Trust fields a version for every calendar month, so you can start in any month or ladder several across the year.
• The reference asset is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust itself, not a bespoke index, and this is a multi-billion-dollar fund.

• ZALT Resets on a quarterly clock: a new cap is set the first day of each calendar quarter and the 10% buffer starts over. Can be held indefinitely, no rolling into a new ticker.sec.govcboe.com
• At 0.69% it undercuts the going rate for 10% buffer funds on the S&P 500, where peers like SIXZ, JULT and BJUN charge 0.74% to 0.79%.
• The cushion is built from FLEX options on SPY itself, so the thing you are hedged against is the same fund most investors already watch.sec.gov
• Sits among the stronger implementations in its shallow-buffer peer group on cost and ease of trading.

Worth knowing

• FFEB The 0.85% fee sits above the buffer-fund median, and cheaper builds exist in the group (BUFB charges 0.10%).
• The cap resets each February and isn't known in advance. Buy mid-period and you inherit the remaining buffer and cap, not the headline terms.ftportfolios.com
• It trades lightly for its size, so bid-ask spreads can matter more here than with mainstream index ETFs.

• ZALT Three months of upside buys a lower ceiling. Each quarter's cap is priced off three-month options, so it lands well below what a 12-month buffer fund can offer.sec.gov
• Buy mid-quarter and you inherit whatever cap and buffer are left, not the full 10%. The prospectus says so plainly.sec.gov
• The fee comes out of the cushion: with the 0.69% fee counted, the prospectus puts the net buffer at 9.82% per period. No distributions so far, so return shows up in price.sec.gov

Full FFEB profile⁠

Full ZALT profile⁠