NJAN vs NOCT

NJANCInnovator Growth-100 Power Buffer ETF

NOCTCInnovator Growth-100 Power Buffer ETF

In short

NJAN The January rung of Innovator's Nasdaq-100 ladder: hold a QQQ-linked stake, hand back the upside above a cap set each January, and get the first 15% of the year's losses absorbed. Big tech with the top and bottom sanded down.

NOCT Nasdaq-100 exposure with a 15% airbag: over each one-year outcome period starting October 1, the fund absorbs the first 15% of the reference ETF's decline and gives up gains above a cap in return.

Stated mandate

NJAN The fund seeks capped upside exposure to the Invesco QQQ Trust while protecting against the first 15% of losses during each approximately annual outcome period.

NOCT The Fund uses a defined-outcome strategy based on the Nasdaq-100 exposure of QQQ. It seeks to replicate the underlying ETF’s performance over the outcome period, subject to a capped upside and a 15% downside buffer.

Why people hold it

• NJAN Deep cushion by design: the first 15% of the reference asset's losses over each roughly one-year outcome period are absorbed before you feel anything.
• The reference asset is the Invesco QQQ Trust itself, not a bespoke index. What you're buffering is the same Nasdaq-100 exposure most investors already know.
• Part of a dated series (NAPR, NJUL run the same 15% Power Buffer on different start months), so entry dates can be laddered rather than bet on one January.
• Fee sits right at the middle of the Nasdaq-100 buffer aisle at 0.79%, and the fund has been running its annual reset since 2020.

• NOCT The deal is written into the prospectus: a 15% buffer against the reference Nasdaq-100 ETF's losses over each outcome period, paid for with a capped upside, reset every October 1.innovatoretfs.com
• Live since October 2019, so the reset-and-cap machinery has years of real market cycles behind it rather than a backtest.
• At 0.79%, the fee sits at the median for Nasdaq-100 buffer funds. The defined-outcome plumbing costs no premium versus the cohort.
• An October start date makes this the autumn rung for anyone spreading buffer exposure across reset months instead of concentrating on one date.

Worth knowing

• NJAN The cap is the price of the buffer. It's reset each January from options pricing, so a scorching Nasdaq-100 year gets left partly on the table.
• Outcomes are engineered start-to-finish of the period. Buy or sell mid-period and your real cushion and remaining upside differ from the headline terms.
• Cheaper ways to buffer the Nasdaq-100 exist (PBQQ runs 0.50%), and this one trades lightly, so limit orders matter more here than with the category's giants.

• NOCT Thinly traded, so spreads and limit orders matter more here than with the big plain-index funds.
• 0.79% is not the cohort floor: PBQQ runs 0.50% and the Calamos Nasdaq-100 protection funds 0.69%, on different protection terms.
• Buffer and cap are measured across the full outcome period. Enter mid-period and your effective buffer and remaining upside differ from the stated terms.innovatoretfs.com

Full NJAN profile⁠

Full NOCT profile⁠