FHDG vs ZALT

FHDGDFT Vest U.S. Equity Quarterly Dynamic Buffer ETF

ZALTAInnovator U.S. Equity 10 Buffer ETF - Quarterly

In short

FHDG Most buffer funds lock in one cushion for a full year. FHDG resets every three months and lets the cushion itself flex between 5.0% and 7.5% of S&P 500 losses, with a fresh upside cap set each period.

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

FHDG The Fund seeks to track the price return of the State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust before fees and expenses, subject to an upside cap, while dynamically buffering either 5.0% or 7.5% of losses over approximately three months.

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

• FHDG The buffer isn't fixed. Each roughly three-month period opens with either 5.0% or 7.5% of downside absorbed, sized to what the options market can fund at the time.ftportfolios.com
• Quarterly resets mean four fresh starts a year, so one awkward entry point doesn't set the terms for the next twelve months.
• The reference is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, before fees and expenses. No bespoke index to decode, just the benchmark most investors already track.
• Sits in the upper half of a crowded shallow-buffer peer group, helped by day-to-day tradability that holds up against bigger names.

• 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

• FHDG At 0.85% a year it runs above the typical fund in its buffer cohort, and above shallow-buffer alternatives like ZALT (0.69%) and BUFB (0.10%).
• The cap is reset each period, losses past the 5.0% or 7.5% buffer pass through in full, and the reference is a price return, so dividends don't come along.ftportfolios.com
• Launched in late 2024, so the history is short, and the buffer math only lands as designed for holders who own it from one period start to the next.

• 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 FHDG profile⁠

Full ZALT profile⁠