QDEC vs QTR

QDECCFT Vest Nasdaq-100 Buffer ETF - December

QTRBGlobal X Nasdaq 100 Tail Risk ETF

In short

QDEC December's rung on First Trust's ladder of Nasdaq-100 buffer funds. It absorbs the first 10% of a decline over each one-year outcome period, in exchange for giving up gains above a cap that resets every December.

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

QDEC The Fund seeks to match the price return of the Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1, before fees and expenses, subject to an 18.22% upside cap and protection against the first 10% of losses during the stated 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

• QDEC The deal is written down in advance: first 10% of a Nasdaq-100 decline absorbed, upside capped, over a one-year outcome period that resets each December.ftportfolios.com
• One of several First Trust Nasdaq-100 buffers on staggered reset months (QMAR, QJUN, QSPT), so the start date is a choice rather than whatever month you showed up.
• Running since December 2020 with multiple complete outcome periods behind it, and a few hundred million dollars in assets. Not a launch-year experiment.

• 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

• QDEC At 0.90% it sits above the buffer-cohort median, and cheaper Nasdaq-100 buffers exist: QBUF at 0.79%, PGIM's series at 0.50%, QTR at 0.25%.
• Thinly traded next to the category's biggest names, so the bid-ask spread is part of the cost, especially on larger orders.
• Buffer and cap apply before fees and run December to December. Buy mid-period and your own protection and ceiling differ from the stated terms.ftportfolios.com

• 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 QDEC profile⁠

Full QTR profile⁠