ETF IQ

Frustrated With Your Bond Hedge? How About a Buffer ETF?

Wall Street is pitching bond alternatives as traditional hedges disappoint

Bruce Bond of Innovator Capital Management, center, rings the opening bell on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York in 2018.Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

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By Katie Greifeld

March 13, 2026 at 4:41 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Welcome to ETF IQ, a weekly newsletter dedicated to the $19 trillion global ETF industry. I’m Bloomberg News reporter and anchor Katie Greifeld.

Bonds keep failing at one of their key jobs — cushioning stock losses. Wall Street has noticed, and it’s pushing an alternative: an $80 billion category of equity funds designed to provide the downside protection Treasuries may no longer reliably deliver.