PSMO vs SPBU

PSMOBPacer Swan SOS Moderate (October) ETF

SPBUDAllianzIM Buffer15 Uncapped Allocation ETF

In short

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.

SPBU Most buffer ETFs cap your upside. SPBU skips the ceiling: its twelve underlying funds take a stated spread off the S&P 500 ETF's return instead, while buffering the first 15% of losses. Laddered monthly, so no single start date defines your year.

Stated mandate

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.

SPBU The Fund seeks to achieve its objective through a laddered portfolio of twelve AllianzIM U.S. Equity Buffer15 Uncapped ETFs. The underlying strategy seeks to track SPY market-price returns over specified one-year periods while protecting against the first 15% of SPY losses, subject to a stated spread.

Why people hold it

• 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

• SPBU No upside cap. The underlying Buffer15 Uncapped funds subtract a stated spread from the S&P 500 ETF's one-year return rather than stopping gains at a ceiling.
• Twelve overlapping one-year outcome periods in one ticket, so the portfolio staggers its resets instead of hanging on a single entry date.
• The 15% buffer is written into the design: the underlying strategy absorbs the first 15% of S&P 500 ETF losses over each one-year period.
• At 0.79%, the fee sits right at the median for its buffered S&P 500 peer group, so the uncapped twist costs no premium over standard capped 15% buffers.

Worth knowing

• 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.

• SPBU The spread is what you pay for no cap. Upside arrives as the index return minus that stated spread, so the fund trails plain S&P 500 exposure in strong years.
• Cost isn't the edge here. Another laddered buffer fund in the same group, BUFF, charges 0.10% at the fund level.
• Launched in 2025 and thinly traded, so the track record is short and the gap between bid and ask can matter as much as the expense ratio.

Full PSMO profile⁠

Full SPBU profile⁠