AVDS vs PRAE

AVDSAAvantis International Small Cap Equity ETF

PRAEDPlanRock Alternative Growth ETF

In short

AVDS Avantis casts a wide net: roughly 3,000 non-US developed small caps, weighted with an eye on price, profitability and how much cash companies plow back in. Active management that looks a lot like an index fund with its thumb on the scale.

PRAE A tactical long/short playbook in a plain ETF wrapper: PRAE rotates across global equity segments on trend and momentum rules and can flip short with futures. Cost is the trade-off at 1.49% net of a waiver through February 1, 2027 (3.99% gross).

Stated mandate

AVDS The ETF seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in a broad group of non-U.S. small-cap companies and considering valuation, profitability, and investment levels when selecting and weighting securities.

PRAE Seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in common stocks and other equity securities.

Why people hold it

• AVDS Charges 0.30% a year, about half the typical fee in its active international peer group. Cheap is a durable edge in a corner of the market where fees usually run high.
• Roughly 3,000 holdings, so no single stock or country steers the outcome. This is small-cap breadth, not a concentrated stock-picking bet.
• The tilts are the whole design: valuation, profitability and investment levels shape both what it owns and how much of each, measured against MSCI World ex USA Small Cap.avantisinvestors.com
• Sits among the strongest builds in a crowded field of active international equity funds. Broad, systematic, low-fee: the boxes that tend to stay ticked.

• PRAE Trend, momentum and valuation rules decide which global equity segments get weight, and the fund can take short positions with index futures when a trend turns down.sec.gov
• The book is compact, roughly 40 positions, and reaches past common stocks into other ETFs, equity index futures, commodities and currency futures.sec.gov
• Its documented aim is low correlation to broad global equities, a different job from the cap-weighted international funds sitting beside it in the category.planrockfunds.com

Worth knowing

• AVDS Thinly traded compared with the big international names. Limit orders and a look at the spread earn their keep here.
• Launched in 2023, so the live record is short even though the approach behind it is not new.
• Costs more than Avantis' broad international fund AVDE (0.23%). Small caps abroad are pricier to research and trade, and they swing harder.

• PRAE Fees are the headline trade-off: 1.49% net of a waiver through February 1, 2027 (3.99% gross), above the category median, with leaders like DFIC at 0.22% and AVDE at 0.23%.
• A small, thinly traded fund, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than in the category's household names.
• Trading since December 2023, and the rotation rules are proprietary, so there is less public detail on how positions get picked than with index-tracking peers.sec.gov

Full AVDS profile⁠

Full PRAE profile⁠