NBFR vs PQJA

NBFRDInnovator Nasdaq-100 Managed 10 Buffer ETF

PQJABPGIM Nasdaq-100 Buffer 12 ETF - January

In short

NBFR Innovator's Nasdaq-100 buffer, minus the calendar. NBFR spreads its options across a laddered set of periods with a manager steering them, aiming to absorb roughly the first 10% to 14% of index losses.

PQJA A one-year seatbelt on the Nasdaq-100: PQJA absorbs the first 12% of price losses on the index's flagship ETF and gives up gains above a cap in exchange. A deeper cushion than most of its buffer peers, at 0.50% a year.

Stated mandate

NBFR The Fund seeks capital appreciation through Nasdaq-100 equity exposure while using an actively managed, laddered options strategy to reduce volatility and protect approximately 10% to 14% of reference-asset losses.

PQJA The Fund seeks to match QQQ’s price return up to a predetermined cap while buffering the first 12% of QQQ losses over a one-year target outcome period.

Why people hold it

• NBFR Laddered by design: protection is staggered across overlapping option periods instead of hinging on one annual reset date, so entry timing matters less.
• Actively managed, not rules-on-rails: a manager runs the option ladder with a stated goal of damping volatility on Nasdaq-100 exposure.
• Fee sits at the middle of its Nasdaq-100 buffer peer group at 0.79%, the same sticker as Innovator's date-locked sibling QBUF.

• PQJA Cushions the first 12% of the tracked Nasdaq-100 ETF's price losses over each one-year outcome period, deeper than the 10-point buffer on Innovator's QBUF.pgim.com
• Charges 0.50% a year against a 0.79% median for its Nasdaq-100 buffer cohort, where QBUF sits at 0.79%.
• January is one of four PGIM Nasdaq-100 buffer funds on a quarterly calendar (PQAP, PQJL, PQOC), so outcome periods aren't tied to a single start month.
• Launched in 2024 and rated in the upper half of its shallow-buffer Nasdaq-100 group on our review.

Worth knowing

• NBFR Cheaper routes to Nasdaq-100 buffering exist in the same cohort: PGIM's dated buffer funds charge 0.50% and Global X's QTR 0.25%.
• Launched in 2026, so the record is short, and it trades lightly next to the category's household names, which can mean wider spreads.
• The buffer is a slice, not a floor: roughly 10% to 14% of index declines. Losses past that pass through to shareholders.

• PQJA Upside stops at a cap that resets with each new one-year period, and the mandate follows price return, so index dividends aren't part of the payoff.
• The 12% buffer and the cap are measured across a full outcome period. Buy partway through and your effective cushion and ceiling differ from the headline terms.pgim.com
• A small, thinly traded fund next to the largest buffer products, which can show up as wider bid-ask spreads.

Full NBFR profile⁠

Full PQJA profile⁠