GJUL vs PSMO

GJULCFT Vest U.S. Equity Moderate Buffer ETF - July

PSMOBPacer Swan SOS Moderate (October) ETF

In short

GJUL The July door into First Trust's moderate-buffer lineup: it aims to absorb the first 15% of an S&P 500 ETF price decline over a one-year outcome period, and in exchange your upside stops at a cap set when that period begins.

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

GJUL 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 13.82% upside cap, while buffering the first 15% of losses during the July 20, 2026–July 16, 2027 target 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

• GJUL The first 15% of the reference ETF's price loss over each outcome period is absorbed by the option structure, not by a manager's judgment call.
• Twelve month-stamped siblings run the same 15% recipe, so the calendar start is your choice. This one resets in July.
• The reference is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, so the only moving parts are the buffer and the cap. No sector tilts, no stock picking.

• 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

• GJUL At 0.85%, it runs above the buffer-cohort median of 0.79%. Laddered peers like BUFF charge 0.10% and spread start dates for you.
• Buffer and cap apply to the full outcome period. Buy or sell partway through and you own part of a buffer and part of a cap, priced by the options.
• It targets price return, so S&P 500 dividends are not part of the package.

• 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 GJUL profile⁠

Full PSMO profile⁠