OCTZ vs XTR

OCTZCTrueShares Structured Outcome (October) ETF

XTRCGlobal X S&P 500 Tail Risk ETF

In short

OCTZ Most buffer ETFs trade away your upside for downside protection. OCTZ skips the hard cap: it targets a 10% cushion against S&P 500 price losses over a 12-month October-to-October period, and leaves the upside open.

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

OCTZ The fund seeks to track the S&P 500 Price Return Index before fees and expenses while protecting the first 8% to 12% of index losses over a twelve-month period.

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

• OCTZ No hard cap. It buffers the first 8% to 12% of S&P 500 price index losses per period (10% target) while leaving upside open, the design TrueShares built its lineup on.true-shares.com
• Fixed calendar: each outcome period runs October 1 to September 30, then resets, so the buffer's start and end dates are known up front.true-shares.com
• October is one of several monthly-dated siblings on the same index (JANZ, MAYZ, NOVZ, DECZ), so the entry month can be picked or laddered across the year.
• Trading since 2020, one of the longer-running uncapped buffer funds on the S&P 500 price index.true-shares.com

• 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

• OCTZ The buffer is a full-period outcome: buy mid-period and your cushion and starting level differ. Past the buffer, losses follow the index one for one.sec.gov
• The options reference the S&P 500 price index, so shareholders forgo the index's dividends.sec.gov
• Small and thinly traded, so spreads can run wider than at the largest buffer funds; 0.79% is the peer median but above laddered options like PSFF (0.10%).

• 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 OCTZ profile⁠

Full XTR profile⁠