PQJL vs QTR

PQJLCPGIM Nasdaq-100 Buffer 12 ETF - July

QTRBGlobal X Nasdaq 100 Tail Risk ETF

In short

PQJL The July door into PGIM's Nasdaq-100 Buffer 12 series: QQQ's price return up to a cap, with the first 12% of QQQ's losses absorbed over a one-year outcome period, for 0.50% a year.

QTR QTR owns the Nasdaq-100 and buys puts 10% below the index, so it wears the first leg of a selloff and passes the deep-drop risk to the options market. Insurance you pay for, not a capped buffer.

Stated mandate

PQJL The fund is designed to track QQQ's price return up to an upside cap while absorbing the first 12% of QQQ losses, before fees and expenses, over a one-year target outcome period.

QTR QTR seeks to buffer market selloffs through a protective-put strategy that owns Nasdaq-100 stocks and buys 10% out-of-the-money puts on the Nasdaq-100 Index. It aims to generally track the Nasdaq-100 Quarterly Protective Put 90 Index's price and yield performance before fees and expenses.

Why people hold it

• PQJL Costs 0.50% a year against a cohort median near 0.79% for Nasdaq-100 buffer funds. Innovator's QBUF charges 0.79% for a shallower cushion.pgim.com
• The 12% buffer (before fees) sits at the deep end of the shallow-buffer Nasdaq group. Innovator's QBUF buffers 10% of the same reference exposure.pgim.com
• One of four quarterly start dates in the same series (January, April, July, October), each with identical 12% terms and the same 0.50% fee.pgim.com

• QTR Protection is bought outright rather than funded by selling upside calls, so the trade-off is the running cost of the puts instead of a ceiling on gains.globalxetfs.com
• 0.25% a year, a fraction of the going rate in its Nasdaq-100 downside-protection peer group, where 0.50% (PGIM's Buffer 12 series) to 0.79% (QBUF) is typical.
• The puts roll on the quarterly schedule set by its index, so there is no defined outcome period to time an entry around.
• Holds the Nasdaq-100 stocks directly, roughly 100 names, and sits among the stronger implementations in its peer group.

Worth knowing

• PQJL Cap and buffer are struck for a one-year period starting in July. Buying mid-period means whatever cushion and cap remain, not the headline terms.pgim.com
• Tracks QQQ's price return, so Nasdaq-100 dividends stay out, gains stop at the cap, and losses past the 12% cushion pass through.pgim.com
• Among the smaller, thinly traded names in the buffer space, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads than mainstream index funds.

• QTR The puts sit 10% out of the money. The first 10% of an index drop is fully yours; the hedge only engages past that.
• You pay put premiums whether or not markets fall, a standing cost that weighs on results in calm and rising markets.
• A small fund that trades thinly next to the big buffer franchises, so spreads can run wider. Limit orders help.

Full PQJL profile⁠

Full QTR profile⁠