PSFD vs PSFM

PSFDBPacer Swan SOS Flex (January) ETF

PSFMBPacer Swan SOS Flex (April) ETF

In short

PSFD Absorbs the first 20% of a drop in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust over each 12-month period, with your upside capped in exchange. One of the original 2020 Pacer/Swan buffer funds, and priced under most deep-buffer rivals.

PSFM A one-year hedge on the S&P 500, reset every April: PSFM buffers the first 20% of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust's losses and gives up gains above a cap set at each period's start. At 0.49%, it undercuts most 20%-buffer rivals.

Stated mandate

PSFD The fund seeks to match the returns of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust up to a stated cap while mitigating specified downside losses through a structured buffer strategy over an approximately one-year period.

PSFM The Fund seeks to match the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust’s return before fees and expenses, subject to a predetermined upside cap, while providing a downside-loss buffer over approximately one year.

Why people hold it

• PSFD 0.49% a year versus a 0.74% median for 20%-buffer S&P 500 funds, undercutting the AllianzIM month-series lineup (JANW, APRW, JUNW). When upside is capped, fees come straight out of the ceiling.
• Deep cushion, clean reset: FLEX options are structured to absorb the first 20% of underlying losses over the roughly one-year period, with a new cap struck at the start of each period.paceretfs.com
• Siblings run the same recipe on other calendars (PSFM in April, PSFJ in July), so start dates can be staggered instead of pinned to one January strike. Standing sits in the upper half of the deep-buffer group.

• PSFM Charges 0.49% a year against a 0.74% median for its 20%-buffer peer group, matching the cheapest fee in the Pacer Swan lineup and undercutting rivals like APRW and JUNW at 0.74%.
• The 20% buffer is deep for the category: it absorbs the first fifth of a decline in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust over the roughly one-year outcome period, before fees and expenses.paceretfs.com
• Top-quartile standing in its deep-buffer cohort, and April is one of several Pacer Swan start months (PSFJ runs July), so entry dates can be staggered across the calendar.paceretfs.com

Worth knowing

• PSFD Thinly traded. Spreads can be wider and larger orders harder to fill than in the giants of the buffer aisle.
• No income stream: the fund holds options on an S&P 500 tracker rather than the stocks, and it has not paid a distribution.paceretfs.com
• Buffer and cap run start to finish of the period and are set before fees and expenses. Shares bought mid-period carry different remaining cushion and headroom.paceretfs.com

• PSFM Upside is capped, and the cap is set fresh at the start of each April period, so the ceiling for a given year is not known in advance and changes from period to period.paceretfs.com
• Buffer and cap are designed to work over the full outcome period. Mid-period buyers get a different effective cap and remaining buffer than the headline terms.paceretfs.com
• One of the smaller, more thinly traded funds in its category, so spreads can run wider than at the largest buffer shops, and income is not part of the design.

Full PSFD profile⁠

Full PSFM profile⁠