AVDS vs SFTX

AVDSAAvantis International Small Cap Equity ETF

SFTXDHorizon International Managed Risk 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.

SFTX An international stock fund with a brake pedal. Horizon's Risk Assist strategy watches volatility and can pull the portfolio into Treasuries or cash equivalents, up to entirely, instead of riding a selloff all the way down.

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.

SFTX Seeks total return from developed- and emerging-market equity securities while systematically adjusting exposure to limit downside risk. Its Risk Assist framework can reallocate part of the portfolio to U.S. Treasury securities or cash equivalents during market volatility.

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.

• SFTX The de-risking is built into the mandate, not left to you. Risk Assist monitors volatility and falling global equity values and can shift assets to Treasuries or cash equivalents.horizonmutualfunds.com
• Wide net abroad: roughly 200 holdings spanning developed and emerging markets, reached directly or through ADRs and other ETFs.horizonmutualfunds.com
• It did not launch as a shell. The 2025 debut came with real size and moderate daily volume, so it trades like an established ticker rather than a thin one.

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.

• SFTX Downside management costs money: 0.82% a year, above the typical actively managed international fund. Pacer's PTIN runs a rules-based trend overlay for 0.02%.
• The brake works both ways. The prospectus notes the fund can sit primarily or entirely in cash equivalents, and that Risk Assist carries no guarantee against losses.horizonmutualfunds.com
• Young ETF, thin evidence. It launched in December 2025, so there is little live history showing how the strategy behaves across a full market cycle.

Full AVDS profile⁠

Full SFTX profile⁠