FMAY vs ZALT

FMAYCFT Vest U.S. Equity Buffer ETF - May

ZALTAInnovator U.S. Equity 10 Buffer ETF - Quarterly

In short

FMAY First Trust's May rung on a twelve-month buffer ladder: it absorbs the first 10% of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust's price losses over a one-year stretch, trades that cushion for an upside cap, then resets every May.

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

FMAY The Fund seeks pre-fee, pre-expense returns linked to the price return of the State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, subject to a 17.09% upside cap and protection against the first 10% of losses during the current May 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

• FMAY Mechanically simple: across each one-year period it seeks to absorb the first 10% of the reference ETF's price decline, in exchange for an upside cap set at the May reset.ftportfolios.com
• Twelve monthly siblings (FJAN through FDEC) run the same 10% buffer on the same reference ETF, so entries can be laddered or rolled into a fresh period in any month.ftportfolios.com
• Built from exchange-listed FLEX options inside an ETF wrapper: daily liquidity, no surrender schedule, no minimum holding term.sec.govftportfolios.com
• Seasoned by buffer-fund standards: running since 2020 and carrying over a billion dollars, which puts it among the larger, longer-lived funds in this niche.

• 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

• FMAY At 0.85% a year it costs more than the typical fund in its buffer peer group, and laddered alternatives such as BUFB charge a fraction of that.
• It follows price return only, so the reference ETF's dividends are left out, and the stated cap and buffer are quoted before fees and expenses.sec.gov
• Cap and buffer are designed for holders across the full outcome period; buy mid-period and your own numbers differ. Each May's new cap depends on market rates at the reset.ftportfolios.comsec.gov

• 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 FMAY profile⁠

Full ZALT profile⁠