DALI vs GMOD

DALICFirst Trust Dorsey Wright DALI Equity ETF

GMODAGMO Dynamic Allocation ETF

In short

DALI Tactical, but only inside the stock market. DALI uses Dorsey Wright relative-strength rankings to lean US or international, then buys ETFs to express the call. One decision, rules-based, no exit to cash.

GMOD GMO's 7-year asset class forecasts, finally wrapped in an ETF. It tilts toward what the firm's valuation models call cheap and away from what they call expensive, shifting between stocks, bonds and alternatives inside one ticker.

Stated mandate

DALI The fund seeks returns generally corresponding to the Nasdaq Dorsey Wright DALI EquityTM Index. The index uses relative-strength analysis to select between domestic and international equity and allocates among ETFs providing exposure to the selected asset class.

GMOD The Fund seeks positive total return. It allocates among asset classes using GMO's multi-year return forecasts and relative-risk assessments.

Why people hold it

• DALI The whole thesis is one call: US stocks or international. Relative-strength rules make it, and the fund holds ETFs to express it.ftportfolios.com
• Momentum is the advertised screen, run through Dorsey Wright's Dynamic Asset Level Investing framework, so shifts follow measured trend strength instead of a manager's read.ftportfolios.com
• Equity-only by design, spanning US, developed international and emerging markets. Trading since 2018, so the rules have run live through several very different markets.
• The 0.91% expense ratio sits slightly under the norm for tactical multi-asset funds, and distributions come quarterly.

• GMOD 0.50% all-in, about half the typical fee in its tactical-allocation peer group, and a contractual waiver offsets the fees of the GMO funds it holds so costs are not stacked.sec.gov
• GMO's first multi-asset strategy in an ETF, run by the asset allocation team behind the firm's long-running 7-year asset class forecasts.gmo.com
• The equity dial can swing between 40% and 80% of assets under normal conditions, so the fund handles the reallocating rather than you selling positions to do it.gmo.com
• Sits in the upper tier of a crowded tactical multi-asset group on cost and process clarity.

Worth knowing

• DALI 0.91% is only cheap by tactical standards. Rules-based rivals like ENDW at 0.22% and ONOF at 0.39% do their own switching for far less.
• Relative strength is backward-looking by construction: the signal turns after a trend shows up, so inflection points get caught late.
• It trades thinly, so spreads can run wider than in the category's most active names. A small fund by ETF standards, too.

• GMOD New in 2025 and lightly traded so far, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads than the big allocation ETFs.
• It owns other GMO funds, and the single 0.50% rate leans on a contractual waiver with an expiration date rather than a permanent cap.sec.gov
• Cheaper tactical allocators exist (ENDW at 0.22%, ONOF at 0.39%), though each runs a different process.

Full DALI profile⁠

Full GMOD profile⁠