PJUL vs PSMO

PJULCInnovator U.S. Equity Power Buffer ETF

PSMOBPacer Swan SOS Moderate (October) ETF

In short

PJUL Rides the S&P 500, absorbs the first 15% of a 12-month drawdown, and gives up upside above a cap in exchange. Innovator's July-reset Power Buffer, running the same playbook since 2018.

PSMO A 15% cushion against SPY's first losses, reset every October, for 0.49% a year. Most defined-outcome funds charge more, and the trade is a cap on the upside that gets set fresh at the start of each period.

Stated mandate

PJUL The Fund seeks to track the return of SPY up to a predetermined cap while protecting investors from the first 15% of losses over the current outcome period.

PSMO The fund seeks to track the returns of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust up to a stated cap while buffering the first 15% of losses during an approximately one-year outcome period.

Why people hold it

• PJUL The buffer is the whole product: built to absorb the first 15% of reference-index losses across each one-year outcome period, with upside capped in return.innovatoretfs.com
• Trades tightly for a defined-outcome fund, and at multi-billion-dollar size it is one of the more established names on the buffer shelf.
• A 2018 vintage that has carried its buffer through real market cycles, and among buffer funds we grade it sits near the top of the group.

• PSMO Charges 0.49% a year versus a 0.79% median across its 15%-buffer peer group, one of the lower-cost ways to own this structure.
• Pacer's moderate SOS funds (PSMD, PSMR, PSMJ) all price at 0.49%, while the Innovator power-buffer lineup (POCT, PJUL, PJAN) runs 0.79%.
• The reference asset is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust itself, not an abstract index, so what's being buffered is a fund you can watch tick by tick.paceretfs.com

Worth knowing

• PJUL Cap and buffer are set at the July 1 reset and apply to full-period holders. Step in midstream and your effective cap and remaining buffer differ from the headline terms.innovatoretfs.com
• 0.79% is the category median, not the floor. The laddered sibling BUFF lists 0.10% and spreads the same Power Buffer approach across staggered start dates.
• Income is not part of the design. The options-based structure has not been throwing off distributions.

• PSMO Buffer and cap are engineered for the full one-year outcome period running October through September. Buy or sell mid-period and you may get neither in full.paceretfs.com
• Upside stops at a cap reset each October. A runaway rally in the S&P 500 is the scenario this structure hands back in exchange for the 15% cushion.paceretfs.com
• One of the quieter tickers in the buffer aisle, so spreads and order type matter more here than with the category's household names.

Full PJUL profile⁠

Full PSMO profile⁠