DYNF vs PFDE

DYNFAiShares U.S. Equity Factor Rotation Active ETF

PFDEBPathfinder Disciplined US Equity ETF

In short

DYNF Most factor funds make you pick a lane: value, momentum, quality. DYNF rotates across five styles instead, letting a factor model decide which one leads, and charges an index-fund-ish 0.26% to do it.

PFDE A US stock fund run on a risk budget: how much risk each factor, sector and stock is allowed to consume gets capped first, and the stock picking happens inside those limits. It opened at the end of 2025, so the record is still short.

Stated mandate

DYNF The Fund seeks to outperform the U.S. equity market through diversified, tactical exposure to style factors using a factor rotation model.

PFDE The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation. It is actively managed and normally invests at least 80% of net assets in equity securities of companies listed on a U.S. exchange, using factor-, sector-, and stock-level risk budgeting.

Why people hold it

• DYNF Five style factors in one ticket (value, quality, momentum, growth, low volatility), reweighted by a rotation model rather than locked to a single tilt.
• 0.26% is well under half the median fee in its active US equity peer group, which is unusual pricing for a strategy with a human-supervised model behind it.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund and one of the more actively traded names in its category, so getting in and out rarely becomes the hard part. Pays quarterly.
• Running since 2019 under one of the biggest ETF shops, and it stands among the strongest overall implementations in the active US equity group we track.

• PFDE At 0.59%, it comes in under the typical actively managed US equity fund, so the active bet starts from a lower cost hurdle.
• Risk budgets at the factor, sector and stock level decide how much risk any position may consume. At least 80% of net assets stays in US exchange-listed equities.
• A plain 1940 Act equity fund, actively managed and US-only: no index to drift from, no exotic wrapper to explain at tax time.
• Arriving late into a crowded active US equity field, it still lands in the upper half of that peer group on cost, trading and portfolio construction.

Worth knowing

• DYNF The yardstick isn't the S&P 500: it's a custom blend of 80% MSCI USA and 20% MSCI USA Minimum Volatility, so a low-vol tilt is baked into the benchmark itself.
• Active by design. The factor mix shifts, the book runs to a couple hundred stocks, and a rotation call can leave it out of step with a plain US market index fund.
• Cheap for active, not the cheapest shelf: systematic peers DFAU (0.12%), AVLC (0.15%), DFAC (0.17%) and FELC (0.18%) all undercut it on fee.

• PFDE Systematic rivals do factor-aware US equity for a fraction of the fee: DFAU at 0.12%, AVLC at 0.15%, DFAC at 0.17%, DYNF at 0.26%.
• It launched on the last day of 2025, so risk and behavior readings rest on a brief history rather than a full market cycle.
• Small, not one of the heavily traded names in its category, and distributions arrive only once or twice a year rather than monthly.

Full DYNF profile⁠

Full PFDE profile⁠