MART vs ZALT

MARTCAllianzIM U.S. Equity Buffer10 Mar ETF

ZALTAInnovator U.S. Equity 10 Buffer ETF - Quarterly

In short

MART A March-reset buffer fund: it absorbs the first 10% of a year's drop in an S&P 500 ETF and caps the upside for that stretch in exchange. Standard recipe for the category, priced a shade under the typical rival.

ZALT The defined-outcome trade on a three-month clock: ZALT follows SPY up to a cap and buffers the first 10% of a decline, then resets both every quarter. Four fresh caps a year, at a fee under the shallow-buffer median.

Stated mandate

MART The Fund seeks to provide downside-loss protection covering the first 10% of losses on its Underlying ETF, before fees and expenses.

ZALT The fund seeks to follow SPY's return up to a predetermined cap while providing a 10% downside buffer over each three-month outcome period. It may be held indefinitely, with the defined outcomes resetting at the end of each period.

Why people hold it

• MART The contract is legible: over each one-year period starting in March, the first 10% of the S&P 500 ETF's losses are absorbed before fees and expenses, with upside capped at a level set that March.
• A 0.74% fee undercuts the typical S&P 500 buffer fund, which matters in a wrapper where the cushion is measured before fees and expenses.
• No exotic reference: the fund tracks outcomes against the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, and the combination of plain benchmark and low fee puts it in the upper half of a crowded buffer cohort.

• ZALT Resets on a quarterly clock: a new cap is set the first day of each calendar quarter and the 10% buffer starts over. Can be held indefinitely, no rolling into a new ticker.sec.govcboe.com
• At 0.69% it undercuts the going rate for 10% buffer funds on the S&P 500, where peers like SIXZ, JULT and BJUN charge 0.74% to 0.79%.
• The cushion is built from FLEX options on SPY itself, so the thing you are hedged against is the same fund most investors already watch.sec.gov
• Sits among the stronger implementations in its shallow-buffer peer group on cost and ease of trading.

Worth knowing

• MART Small asset base, light volume. Spreads can widen, so limit orders and a glance at intraday value matter more here than with a mega-cap index fund.
• Buy mid-period and you inherit whatever buffer and cap are left, not the headline 10%. The design lines up cleanly only from one March reset to the next.
• Income isn't part of the package; returns show up in price. Cheaper buffer builds exist in the same cohort, like PSFF at 0.10% and BUFP at 0.50%.

• ZALT Three months of upside buys a lower ceiling. Each quarter's cap is priced off three-month options, so it lands well below what a 12-month buffer fund can offer.sec.gov
• Buy mid-quarter and you inherit whatever cap and buffer are left, not the full 10%. The prospectus says so plainly.sec.gov
• The fee comes out of the cushion: with the 0.69% fee counted, the prospectus puts the net buffer at 9.82% per period. No distributions so far, so return shows up in price.sec.gov

Full MART profile⁠

Full ZALT profile⁠