Buffer ETF Market Report: November 2026

By Adam Patti, Chief Executive Officer, VistaShares | November 2026

Data as of November 13, 2026 for fund counts, net assets and fees; flows run through November 12, 2026. Next update: around the 5th business day of December 2026.

ETFIQ tracked 524 buffer ETFs on November 13, 2026. The 431 single-period buffer ETFs with daily issuer terms held $75.2 billion in net assets and charged a median expense ratio of 0.79%. In the month from October 13 to November 12, 2026, buffer ETFs took in a net $1.2 billion across 297 funds with daily data.

Key figures

Figure	Value	As of	Source
Buffer ETFs tracked by ETFIQ	524	Nov 13, 2026	ETFIQ ETF statistics
Single-period buffer ETFs with daily issuer terms	431, from 8 issuers	Nov 13, 2026	ETFIQ ETF statistics
Net assets of those 431 funds	$75.2 billion	Latest to Nov 13, 2026	ETFIQ buffer ETFs
Median expense ratio of those 431 funds	0.79% a year	Nov 13, 2026	ETFIQ buffer ETFs
Net flows, one month	$1.2 billion in, across 297 funds with daily data	Oct 13 to Nov 12, 2026	ETFIQ fund flows
Funds with net inflows and net outflows, one month	143 in, 97 out	Oct 13 to Nov 12, 2026	ETFIQ buffer inflows, ETFIQ buffer outflows
Net flows, one week	$261 million in, across 374 funds with daily data	Week to Nov 12, 2026	ETFIQ fund flows
Largest buffer ETF (laddered)	$11.1 billion	Nov 12, 2026	ETFIQ laddered buffer ETFs
Largest single-period buffer ETF	$3.3 billion	Nov 12, 2026	ETFIQ largest buffer ETFs

Sources: ETFIQ pages linked in each row, read November 14, 2026. Counts cover the funds ETFIQ tracks, which is not every buffer ETF in the market. Flows are estimates from daily changes in shares outstanding and cover only funds with daily share data.

How big is the buffer ETF market?

The buffer ETF market counted 524 funds tracked by ETFIQ on November 13, 2026, about 10% of the 5,146 ETFs ETFIQ covers. Of these, 431 are single-period funds whose issuers publish daily outcome terms, from 8 issuers. Those 431 funds held $75.2 billion in net assets, with each fund’s figure dated to its latest report up to November 13, 2026.

ETFIQ does not publish a single net asset total for all 524 funds, so this report does not show one. The other 93 funds include laddered funds that hold several buffer ETFs, monthly funds, and single-period funds that ETFIQ places from their prospectus because their issuers do not publish daily terms. The median expense ratio of the 431 funds was 0.79% a year. Our guide on how buffer ETFs work explains caps, buffers and outcome periods.

How are buffer ETFs split by outcome period?

Buffer ETFs are mostly annual funds: 443 of the 524 had annual outcome periods on November 13, 2026.

Outcome period	Funds	Notes	Source
Annual	443	Includes 8 funds with 24-month periods; 52 are placed from their prospectus	ETFIQ annual buffer ETFs
Quarterly	49	Includes 10 funds with 6-month periods; 9 are placed from their prospectus	ETFIQ quarterly buffer ETFs
Laddered	30	25 looked through to the buffer funds they hold; 5 placed from their prospectus	ETFIQ laddered buffer ETFs
Monthly	2	Reset terms every month	ETFIQ monthly buffer ETFs

All counts as of November 13, 2026. The four groups add up to the 524 buffer ETFs on the ETFIQ statistics page.

Annual funds dominate because most issuers run monthly series: one fund starts a new 12-month period each month. Our article on laddering buffer ETFs explains how laddered funds spread money across those series.

Which types of buffer ETFs does ETFIQ track?

Buffer ETFs come in several structures, and floor funds were the largest named group on November 13, 2026, with 89 funds.

Structure	Funds	What it does	Source
Floor, including 100% buffer funds	89	Sets a maximum loss over the outcome period, in exchange for a lower cap	ETFIQ floor ETFs
Laddered	30	Holds several buffer ETFs that reset on different dates	ETFIQ laddered buffer ETFs
Dual directional	32	Can turn a decline inside the buffer into a positive outcome, up to the buffer, with a cap on gains	ETFIQ dual directional ETFs
Accelerated	16	Multiplies the index’s rise, usually two times, up to a cap, with a buffer on the downside	ETFIQ accelerated ETFs

All counts as of November 13, 2026. Structure groups and outcome-period groups overlap: a floor fund can also be quarterly or annual. The remaining funds are standard buffer funds; ETFIQ does not publish a separate count for them.

Floor funds include several reference assets beyond U.S. stocks, among them bitcoin and long-term Treasury funds. Our article on floors, dual directional and accelerated buffers compares the payoffs.

Where did buffer ETF money flow this month?

Buffer ETFs took in a net $1.2 billion in the month from October 13 to November 12, 2026, across 297 funds with daily data. Of those, 143 had net inflows and 97 had net outflows. In the week to November 12, the category took in $261 million across 374 funds.

Largest inflows, Oct 13 to Nov 12, 2026	Issuer	Net flow
GOCT, FT Vest U.S. Equity Moderate Buffer ETF – October	First Trust	$209 million in
BALT, Innovator Defined Wealth Shield ETF – Quarterly (22 of 23 days)	Innovator	$187 million in
POCT, Innovator U.S. Equity Power Buffer ETF – Oct (22 of 23 days)	Innovator	$101 million in
FOCT, FT Vest U.S. Equity Buffer ETF – October	First Trust	$84.7 million in
UOCT, Innovator U.S. Equity Ultra Buffer ETF – Oct (22 of 23 days)	Innovator	$75.6 million in

Largest outflows, Oct 13 to Nov 12, 2026	Issuer	Net flow
GMAY, FT Vest U.S. Equity Moderate Buffer ETF – May	First Trust	$78.4 million out
BMAY, Innovator U.S. Equity Buffer ETF – May (22 of 23 days)	Innovator	$54.9 million out
UMAY, Innovator U.S. Equity Ultra Buffer ETF – May (22 of 23 days)	Innovator	$52.7 million out
ZNOV, Innovator Equity Defined Protection ETF – 1 Yr November (20 of 23 days)	Innovator	$35.7 million out
KNOV, Innovator U.S. Small Cap Power Buffer ETF – Nov (21 of 23 days)	Innovator	$35.3 million out

Sources: ETFIQ buffer ETF inflows and ETFIQ buffer ETF outflows, one-month lists, data as of Nov 12, 2026. Round trips (money that came in and left within the window) are left aside, as ETFIQ shows them. A day count in parentheses means the fund’s daily data covered fewer than the 23 trading days in the window.

Four of the five largest inflows went to October series, and the fifth to a quarterly fund. Three of the five largest outflows came from May series and two from November series. A buyer receives a fund’s full stated cap and buffer only by buying on the first day of its outcome period and holding to the last.

Which buffer ETFs hold the most assets?

The largest buffer ETF is a laddered fund: BUFR, FT Vest Laddered Buffer ETF, held $11.1 billion on November 12, 2026. ETFIQ ranks single-period funds separately, and the table below shows the 10 largest on that list.

Fund	Net assets	Stated buffer	Reference	Period ends
BALT, Innovator Defined Wealth Shield ETF – Quarterly	$3.3 billion	20%	SPY	Dec 31, 2026
FJAN, FT Vest U.S. Equity Buffer ETF – January	$1.5 billion	10%	SPY	Jan 15, 2027
FMAY, FT Vest U.S. Equity Buffer ETF – May	$1.5 billion	10%	SPY	May 21, 2027
FAUG, FT Vest U.S. Equity Buffer ETF – August	$1.4 billion	10%	SPY	Aug 20, 2027
FJUN, FT Vest U.S. Equity Buffer ETF – June	$1.4 billion	10%	SPY	Jun 17, 2027
FSEP, FT Vest U.S. Equity Buffer ETF – September	$1.4 billion	10%	SPY	Sep 17, 2027
FJUL, FT Vest U.S. Equity Buffer ETF – July	$1.4 billion	10%	SPY	Jul 16, 2027
PJAN, Innovator U.S. Equity Power Buffer ETF – Jan	$1.4 billion	15%	SPY	Dec 31, 2026
FFEB, FT Vest U.S. Equity Buffer ETF – February	$1.4 billion	10%	SPY	Feb 19, 2027
FAPR, FT Vest U.S. Equity Buffer ETF – April	$1.4 billion	10%	SPY	Apr 16, 2027

Source: ETFIQ, the largest buffer ETFs ranked by net assets, page dated Nov 13, 2026; net assets from each issuer’s page as of Nov 12, 2026. Full fund names are in the notes. Laddered funds: ETFIQ laddered buffer ETFs, Nov 12, 2026.

All 10 of the largest single-period funds use SPY as the reference, and 8 of the 10 belong to one monthly series. Below them sits a long tail: on the ETFIQ buffer page, 18 of the 431 single-period funds held more than $1 billion and 271 held less than $100 million on November 13, 2026.

Which buffer ETFs launched recently?

ETFIQ’s October 2026 launch list places 2 new funds in its buffer category, both first traded on October 1, 2026.

Fund	Issuer	First traded	ETFIQ category
OCT, VanEck U.S. Equity Buffer ETF – October	VanEck	Oct 1, 2026	Buffer
OCTI, AllianzIM International Equity Buffer15 Uncapped ETF – Oct	AllianzIM	Oct 1, 2026	Buffer
RECD, Columbia RECS Laddered Deep Buffer ETF	Columbia	Nov 4, 2026	Not yet assigned
RECM, Columbia RECS Laddered Moderate Buffer ETF	Columbia	Nov 4, 2026	Not yet assigned

Sources: ETFIQ, new ETFs in October 2026 and ETFIQ, new ETFs in November 2026, both as of Nov 13, 2026. The November list runs through Nov 13, 2026.

The two November funds are laddered buffer funds by name; ETFIQ had not assigned them a category on November 13, 2026. Launch lists count a fund from its first trading day, checked against the exchange’s listing notice.

How to read these numbers

Three counts, three scopes: 524 is every buffer ETF ETFIQ tracks, from its statistics page. 431 is the single-period funds whose issuers publish daily terms, the set behind the $75.2 billion and the 0.79% median fee. ETFIQ’s flows page measures the category as a group of 523 funds, and the monthly flow covers the 297 of them with daily share data.

Flows are estimates: ETFIQ computes them from each fund’s daily change in shares outstanding times its prior-day net asset value. Funds without daily share data are not counted, so the flow figures cover part of the category, not all of it.

Dates differ by figure: counts and fees are as of November 13, 2026; most net assets are the issuer’s figure as of November 12, 2026; flows run through November 12, 2026. Every figure changes daily.

Sizes are not results: net assets show where money sits, not how a fund has done. This report does not show fund returns.

More buffer articles are in the Buffer ETF Guide.

Frequently asked questions

How many buffer ETFs are there?

ETFIQ tracked 524 buffer ETFs on November 13, 2026. Of these, 431 were single-period funds whose issuers publish daily outcome terms, from 8 issuers.

How much money is in buffer ETFs?

The 431 single-period buffer ETFs with daily issuer terms held $75.2 billion on November 13, 2026, by ETFIQ’s count. Laddered funds hold other buffer ETFs and are reported separately; the largest held $11.1 billion on November 12, 2026.

Did buffer ETFs take in money last month?

Yes. Buffer ETFs took in a net $1.2 billion from October 13 to November 12, 2026, across 297 funds with daily data. 143 funds had net inflows and 97 had net outflows.

What is the largest buffer ETF?

BUFR, FT Vest Laddered Buffer ETF, held $11.1 billion on November 12, 2026. The largest single-period fund was BALT, Innovator Defined Wealth Shield ETF, Quarterly series, with $3.3 billion.

What does a typical buffer ETF cost?

The median expense ratio of the 431 single-period buffer ETFs ETFIQ covers was 0.79% a year on November 13, 2026, per each fund’s prospectus.

Why are there so many buffer ETFs?

Most issuers run monthly series, with a new annual fund starting each month, so one strategy can account for 12 funds. On November 13, 2026, 443 of the 524 buffer ETFs had annual outcome periods.

Adam Patti, Chief Executive Officer of VistaShares, is also the founder of ETFIQ. ETFIQ does not accept payment from ETF issuers, and its figures are calculated from public filings and market data.

This material is provided for educational purposes only. It is not investment, legal or tax advice, and it is not a recommendation or an offer to buy or sell any security. Information is drawn from sources believed to be reliable as of the date of publication, is not guaranteed as to accuracy or completeness, and may change without notice. Figures attributed to third parties are their estimates. Projections and forecasts are not guarantees of future results. Investors should consult their own financial, legal and tax professionals before making investment decisions. Investments involve risk, including possible loss of principal. Strategies that use options involve additional risks, including limited participation in market gains, the risk that options do not perform as intended, and changes in distributions. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and on current law, which may change.

Investors should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. For a prospectus or summary prospectus with this and other information about the Fund, please call (844) 875-2288 or visit www.VistaShares.com. Read the prospectus or summary prospectus carefully before investing.

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