GMAY vs PSMO

GMAYCFT Vest U.S. Equity Moderate Buffer ETF - May

PSMOBPacer Swan SOS Moderate (October) ETF

In short

GMAY First Trust runs a buffer fund for every month of the calendar, and GMAY holds the May slot: a 15% cushion on SPY's price return over a one-year outcome period, paid for with a cap on the upside set when the 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

GMAY The Fund seeks returns corresponding to the price return of the State Street® SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust, subject to an upside cap and protection against the first 15% of losses during the stated 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

• GMAY The deal is spelled out in the fund's own documents: protection against the first 15% of losses on SPY's price return, plus a stated cap, across a defined one-year outcome period.ftportfolios.com
• May is just one rung. GJAN through GDEC run the same 15% structure on a rolling monthly schedule, so start dates can be staggered instead of hostage to one entry point.
• The reference asset is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust itself. Plain large-cap US equity price return, no custom index or factor tilt to decode.
• One of the easier funds in its buffer peer group to get in and out of, with a mid-sized asset base standing behind it.

• 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

• GMAY At 0.85%, it sits above the 0.79% median for its buffer cohort. Downside protection is a purchased feature, and the sticker shows it.
• The cap works both ways: big SPY years get trimmed. And the 15% buffer is measured from the start of the outcome period to its end, not day by day in between.
• Not an income vehicle. The options package is built to shape the payoff, not to pay out along the way.

• 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 GMAY profile⁠

Full PSMO profile⁠