XMAR vs XNOV

XMARBFT Vest U.S. Equity Enhance & Moderate Buffer ETF - March

XNOVCFT Vest U.S. Equity Enhance & Moderate Buffer ETF - November

In short

XMAR Most accelerated ETFs double your upside and hand you the full downside. XMAR runs the accelerator with a net: about twice SPY's price gain up to a yearly cap, plus a 15% cushion against losses.

XNOV Most upside-boosted funds pay for the boost by dropping downside cover. XNOV runs both at once: roughly twice the price gain of the big S&P 500 ETF up to a cap, plus a 15% buffer, on a November-to-November clock that resets each year.

Stated mandate

XMAR The Fund seeks approximately twice the positive price return of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, subject to a 12.22% upside cap, while buffering the first 15% of losses over the March 23, 2026–March 19, 2027 outcome period.

XNOV The Fund seeks approximately twice the positive price return of the State Street® SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust, subject to an 11.06% upside cap, while protecting against the first 15% of losses during its November 2025–November 2026 outcome period.

Why people hold it

• XMAR The rare two-sided deal: roughly 2x any positive price move in SPY up to a cap, with the first 15% of SPY's losses absorbed, over a one-year outcome period.ftportfolios.com
• Innovator's accelerated funds (XDSQ, XTAP) give the 2x kicker with single exposure to the downside. XMAR keeps the kicker and adds the buffer.innovatoretfs.com
• No maturity date. The cap resets to prevailing market conditions when each March period rolls, so the position can be held across periods without re-buying.businesswire.com
• Among the stronger builds in a small field of accelerated SPY strategies, with a defined-risk profile that stands out in the group.

• XNOV Two-sided design: it aims for about twice the reference S&P 500 ETF's price gain up to a cap while absorbing the first 15% of losses across the outcome period.
• The payoff is written in FLEX options on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, so the terms are defined in the fund's documents up front, not left to a manager's judgment.ftportfolios.com
• One of a monthly series running the same recipe on different calendars (XMAR, XJUN, XDEC), so the 2x-plus-15%-buffer structure isn't tied to a single start date.
• Terms are mechanical and repeat: the doubled upside and 15% buffer carry into each new period, with a fresh cap struck every November since the 2023 launch.

Worth knowing

• XMAR Cap and buffer are engineered for the full March-to-March period. Step in or out mid-period and you get different terms than the headline math.ftportfolios.com
• It references SPY's price return, so S&P 500 dividends sit outside the payoff. Below the buffer, losses track the index one for one.ftportfolios.com
• 0.85% a year, above the 0.79% typical of its accelerated peers, and it trades thinly, so the spread is part of your cost.

• XNOV The fee is 0.85%, above the 0.79% typical in its accelerated-buffer peer group. Structured payoffs cost more than plain index exposure.
• It's thinly traded, so spreads and order handling matter more here than with mainstream S&P 500 funds.
• Upside stops at the cap, income isn't part of the design, and the buffer math applies over the full period. Enter mid-period and your own cap and buffer differ from the stated terms.ftportfolios.com

Full XMAR profile⁠

Full XNOV profile⁠