GFEB vs PSMO

GFEBCFT Vest U.S. Equity Moderate Buffer ETF - February

PSMOBPacer Swan SOS Moderate (October) ETF

In short

GFEB A one-year seatbelt on the S&P 500: GFEB soaks up the first 15% of losses over its outcome period, and in exchange your upside stops at a cap that gets reset every February.

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

GFEB The Fund seeks to match the price return of the State Street® SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust up to a 12.05% upside cap, while buffering the first 15% of losses over the February 23, 2026–February 19, 2027 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

• GFEB Absorbs the first 15% of losses on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust over each one-year outcome period, a cushion written into the fund's terms rather than left to a manager's judgment.ftportfolios.com
• What's being buffered is plain vanilla US large cap, the S&P 500 via the SPDR trust, not a bespoke index engineered around the options math.
• February is simply this fund's gate. First Trust runs the same 15% structure across a dozen reset months (GJAN, GMAR, GJUN and the rest), so entry dates can be staggered.
• Each February the outcome period rolls into a fresh one with a new cap and a new 15% buffer, so there is no options expiry for a shareholder to roll by hand.

• 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

• GFEB 0.85% a year sits above the typical buffer-fund fee, and some rivals go far lower: the laddered BUFF lists 0.10%.
• The upside ceiling is the price of the cushion: gains stop at the cap, and both cap and buffer are measured over the full period, not from a mid-period purchase.
• Trades lightly next to the largest buffer funds, so spreads deserve attention. It has also made no distributions in the past year; any return shows up in the price.

• 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 GFEB profile⁠

Full PSMO profile⁠