OCTT vs XTR

OCTTBAllianzIM U.S. Equity Buffer10 Oct ETF

XTRCGlobal X S&P 500 Tail Risk ETF

In short

OCTT A one-year seatbelt on the S&P 500, rebuckled every October 1. OCTT cushions the first 10% of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust's price losses and trades away gains above a cap, with the options book run by Allianz Life's own investment arm.

XTR Most downside-protection ETFs sell away your upside to pay for it. XTR pays cash instead: it owns the S&P 500 stocks and buys 10% out-of-the-money puts every quarter, leaving the upside uncapped.

Stated mandate

OCTT The Fund seeks to match the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust’s share-price return at the end of each one-year Outcome Period, subject to an upside Cap and a buffer against the first 10% of losses.

XTR The Fund seeks to track the performance of the Cboe S&P 500 Tail Risk Index before fees and expenses.

Why people hold it

• OCTT The deal is written down, not implied: first 10% of the reference ETF's price losses buffered, upside capped, over a fixed October 1 to September 30 window that resets like clockwork.allianzim.com
• 0.74% a year, a notch under the typical shallow-buffer S&P fund and cheaper than the 0.79% charged by the Innovator October series (BOCT).
• Hedging is the parent's day job. AllianzIM is a wholly owned unit of Allianz Life, and it manages the FLEX options in-house instead of outsourcing the trade.tradersmagazine.comallianzim.com
• Running since 2020, it's one of the sturdier builds among shallow-buffer S&P funds, sitting in the upper half of a crowded 52-fund field.

• XTR No cap on the gains. The hedge is bought with cash rather than funded by selling calls, so index rallies come through less the put premium and fees.sec.gov
• Costs 0.25%, well under half of what the defined-outcome funds it competes with typically charge for downside protection.
• Owns the roughly 500 S&P 500 stocks themselves, with the put position layered on top, rather than wrapping the index in a stack of options.sec.gov
• Rules-based and mechanical: puts are bought at 10% below the prevailing index level each quarter and held to expiration, with no manager guessing at timing.sec.gov

Worth knowing

• OCTT The 10% cushion is a full-period promise. Buy in mid-period or sell early and you get whatever the options are worth that day, not the headline buffer.allianzim.com
• Buffer and cap are stated before fees and expenses, so the 0.74% comes out of whatever the structure delivers.allianzim.com
• Thinly traded and built without an income component, so limit orders matter and the whole result shows up in the share price.

• XTR Protection starts about 10% down and resets quarterly, so garden-variety dips are absorbed in full and the gap widens if the market rallies mid-quarter.sec.gov
• Insurance is not free. The quarterly premium is a steady cost against plain index exposure, and in calm markets the puts expire worthless.sec.gov
• A small fund that trades thinly, so limit orders matter and subscale products carry more risk of being closed than the category's giants.

Full OCTT profile⁠

Full XTR profile⁠