FCTE vs TACU

FCTECSMI 3Fourteen Full-Cycle Trend ETF

TACUAT. Rowe Price Active Core U.S. Equity ETF

In short

FCTE Most active large-cap funds hold hundreds of names. FCTE holds about 20, pulled from the S&P 500 by a quality screen and then trend and momentum rules that get rerun every month. A concentrated, high-turnover swing at the index it measures itself against.

TACU T. Rowe Price's quant-plus-fundamental take on core large-cap U.S. stock, benchmarked to the Russell 1000. Gross fee 0.14%, fully waived to zero through January 30, 2027.

Stated mandate

FCTE The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by identifying and holding stocks that the Adviser believes can outperform the S&P 500.

TACU The fund seeks long-term capital growth through a primarily U.S. equity portfolio. It combines quantitative models with fundamental, bottom-up analysis and seeks excess returns relative to the Russell 1000 Index.

Why people hold it

• FCTE Roughly 20 equally weighted S&P 500 stocks, re-screened monthly on quality, trend and momentum. Genuine concentration, not a core index fund wearing an active label.3fourteensmi.comsec.gov
• The wrapper does real work: the issuer notes this is typically a high-turnover strategy, and the ETF structure can limit the capital gains that holding those 20 stocks directly would kick off.3fourteensmi.com
• The mandate is plain-spoken. US stocks the adviser believes can beat the S&P 500, drawn from the S&P 500, benchmarked against it. No ambiguity about what you are buying.3fourteensmi.com
• Run jointly by 3Fourteen Research and SMI Advisory Services, whose co-portfolio manager has helped steer the SMI fund family since it launched in 2005.3fourteensmi.com

• TACU Fee fully waived: 0.14% gross, zero net through January 30, 2027. That sits below every top-scoring peer in the category, including DFAU at 0.12% with no waiver.troweprice.com
• Quant models feed bottom-up stock picking with tilts to profitability, quality and value, chasing excess return over the Russell 1000 while holding tracking error tight.troweprice.com
• Several hundred large-cap names, so no single position runs the show. One of the stronger profiles in a crowded active U.S. equity field.troweprice.com

Worth knowing

• FCTE At 0.85% a year it sits above the typical active US equity fund's 0.65%, and far above the cheapest systematic peers in the group (DFAU at 0.12%, DYNF at 0.26%).
• Twenty names means one stock can swing the fund, and the monthly re-screen means today's lineup may not be next quarter's. Volatility comes with the concentration.3fourteensmi.com
• It opened in July 2024, so a strategy named for the full cycle has not yet lived through one, and shares trade thinly. Limit orders are your friend.

• TACU Launched in December 2025, so the live record is short and the risk read rests on limited history.
• Still a small fund that trades lightly, which can mean wider spreads than the category's giants.
• Distributions are annual at most, with no declared income target. This is a growth mandate, not a cash-flow one.

Full FCTE profile⁠

Full TACU profile⁠