GAUG vs PSMO

GAUGCFT Vest U.S. Equity Moderate Buffer ETF - August

PSMOBPacer Swan SOS Moderate (October) ETF

In short

GAUG The August rung of First Trust's buffer ladder: it absorbs the first 15% of an S&P 500 drop over a one-year stretch, in exchange for a ceiling on the gains, reset every August. A deeper cushion than plain index exposure, with a lid as the price.

PSMO A 15% cushion against SPY's first losses, reset every October, for 0.49% a year. Most defined-outcome funds charge more, and the trade is a cap on the upside that gets set fresh at the start of each period.

Stated mandate

GAUG The fund seeks to track the price return of the State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF up to an 11.89% upside cap while buffering the first 15% of losses during the August 18, 2025–August 21, 2026 outcome period.

PSMO The fund seeks to track the returns of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust up to a stated cap while buffering the first 15% of losses during an approximately one-year outcome period.

Why people hold it

• GAUG Absorbs the first 15% of a decline in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust over each one-year outcome period, in exchange for a cap on gains that resets every August.
• Twelve monthly siblings run the same 15% buffer playbook, so entry points can be staggered across the calendar instead of hinging on one start date.
• The reference is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust itself, not a bespoke index nobody can look up.

• PSMO Charges 0.49% a year versus a 0.79% median across its 15%-buffer peer group, one of the lower-cost ways to own this structure.
• Pacer's moderate SOS funds (PSMD, PSMR, PSMJ) all price at 0.49%, while the Innovator power-buffer lineup (POCT, PJUL, PJAN) runs 0.79%.
• The reference asset is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust itself, not an abstract index, so what's being buffered is a fund you can watch tick by tick.paceretfs.com

Worth knowing

• GAUG At 0.85% a year, it prices above much of its buffer cohort; Innovator's laddered BUFF lists 0.10%.
• Buy mid-period and your effective cap and cushion differ from the headline terms, which apply to shares held from one August reset to the next.
• Thinly traded next to the category's giants, so limit orders matter, and the options structure passes through no dividend income.

• PSMO Buffer and cap are engineered for the full one-year outcome period running October through September. Buy or sell mid-period and you may get neither in full.paceretfs.com
• Upside stops at a cap reset each October. A runaway rally in the S&P 500 is the scenario this structure hands back in exchange for the 15% cushion.paceretfs.com
• One of the quieter tickers in the buffer aisle, so spreads and order type matter more here than with the category's household names.

Full GAUG profile⁠

Full PSMO profile⁠