AVDS vs SSXU

AVDSAAvantis International Small Cap Equity ETF

SSXUDDay Hagan Smart Sector International 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.

SSXU An international stock fund with a brake pedal: it owns other managers' overseas ETFs and, when its models read reward-to-risk as poor, can shift up to half the portfolio into cash or Treasuries. The machinery costs 1.19% a year.

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.

SSXU The Fund seeks total return through income and capital appreciation. It actively invests mainly in unaffiliated international equity ETFs and adjusts geographic exposures relative to the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index.

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.

• SSXU Built-in brake: when the models co-developed with Ned Davis Research flag a low reward-to-risk setup, the fund can hold up to 50% in cash, Treasuries or money market funds, or hedge with derivatives.sec.gov
• One ticker, a world map: it holds unaffiliated international equity ETFs and tilts regions over- and underweight against the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index, developed and emerging markets alike.
• Rules over hunches: region-specific quantitative models set the allocation, the same Smart Sector framework Day Hagan has run in this ETF since its 2022 launch.dayhagan.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.

• SSXU Cost is the trade-off: 1.19% a year, above the median for its international peer group and well above DFIC (0.22%), AVDE (0.23%) and TACN (0%, net of a waiver through January 30, 2027).
• Small and thinly traded, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than on giant index ETFs, and payouts arrive once or twice a year rather than monthly.
• The defense cuts both ways: parking up to half in cash or hedges can soften a slide, and it can also leave the fund trailing when overseas markets run hot.sec.gov

Full AVDS profile⁠

Full SSXU profile⁠