KJAN vs KOCT

KJANCInnovator U.S. Small Cap Power Buffer ETF - January

KOCTBInnovator U.S. Small Cap Power Buffer ETF

In short

KJAN Most buffer ETFs babysit the S&P 500. KJAN aims the same machinery at small caps: Russell 2000 exposure with the first 15% of losses absorbed, upside capped, and a fresh outcome period every January.

KOCT Small-cap exposure with a seatbelt. KOCT tracks IWM up to a yearly cap while absorbing the first 15% of losses, resetting each October 1. A 2019 original in a corner where most buffer funds are built on the S&P 500.

Stated mandate

KJAN The fund seeks to track the return of the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM), subject to a predetermined cap, while protecting investors against the first 15% of losses during the outcome period.

KOCT The Fund seeks to track the return of the iShares Russell 2000 ETF, subject to a predetermined upside cap, while protecting against the first 15% of losses during the outcome period.

Why people hold it

• KJAN The buffer points at the Russell 2000, not the S&P 500. Only a handful of funds run this trade in small caps, and this one owns the January reset.
• At 0.79% a year it sits right at the going rate for small-cap buffer funds and undercuts the FT Vest versions (SMAY, SNOV) at 0.90%.
• Running since 2020, it has cycled through full outcome periods again and again, and it lands in the upper half of its small-cap buffer peer group.

• KOCT The contract is plain: track the iShares Russell 2000 ETF up to a preset cap, with the first 15% of losses over the one-year outcome period absorbed first.innovatoretfs.com
• Rare air: it listed October 1, 2019 in Innovator's first small-cap buffer wave. Most defined-outcome ETFs wrap the S&P 500, not the Russell 2000.accessnewswire.com
• Fee lands at 0.79%, the middle of its small-cap buffer group, and the fund rates in the upper half of that group on our review.
• You pick your calendar. This is the October reset; siblings KJAN, KAPR and KJUL run the same 15% buffer off other quarters.

Worth knowing

• KJAN The cap is the price of the buffer. It is reset each January for the year ahead, so the ceiling for a given period isn't known until that period begins.
• Buying mid-period gets you whatever buffer and cap are left, not the headline 15%. The stated terms apply to a full January-to-December stretch, before the fee.
• It trades lightly next to the big S&P 500 buffer funds, so spreads can be wider and limit orders do more work than market orders.

• KOCT The cap is the price of the cushion. A blistering small-cap year gets trimmed, and the cap is reset for each new outcome period starting October 1.
• Timing matters: Innovator notes the stated outcomes apply to holders from the first day of the outcome period through the last. Buy mid-period and your own cap and buffer differ.innovatoretfs.com
• Trading is light versus mainstream small-cap funds, and the options-based structure isn't built to throw off income.

Full KJAN profile⁠

Full KOCT profile⁠