PQOC vs QTR

PQOCBPGIM Nasdaq-100 Buffer 12 ETF - October

QTRBGlobal X Nasdaq 100 Tail Risk ETF

In short

PQOC Twelve points of downside cushion on the Nasdaq-100, reset every October. PGIM buffers the first 12% of a one-year loss on the big Nasdaq-100 ETF's own shares and caps the upside in exchange, 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

PQOC The Fund seeks to track the price return of the Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1 up to a cap while buffering the first 12% of losses during the 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

• PQOC Twelve points of cushion, not ten, and the fee is 0.50% against the 0.79% Innovator charges on its 10-point Nasdaq-100 buffer fund (QBUF).
• The reference is the shares of the Invesco QQQ Trust itself, not a custom index, so the thing being buffered is the Nasdaq-100 vehicle most investors already watch.
• One of four PGIM siblings on a quarterly calendar (PQJA starts in January, PQAP in April), so the October reset window is a choice, not a leftover.
• Priced below the typical shallow-buffer Nasdaq-100 fund, which matters in a structure where fees come straight out of a fixed pool of upside.

• 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

• PQOC Upside is capped. A new ceiling gets set at the start of each October outcome period, and any Nasdaq-100 rally past it does not come through.
• The 12% buffer is designed for the full October-to-September period. Enter or exit mid-stream and you own the options at whatever they are worth that day.
• A small, thinly traded fund, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than on plain Nasdaq-100 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 PQOC profile⁠

Full QTR profile⁠