GMOM vs PTBD

GMOMBCambria Global Momentum ETF

PTBDAPacer Trendpilot US Bond ETF

In short

GMOM A go-anywhere trend follower in one ticker: GMOM ranks global stock, bond, commodity and currency ETFs, holds what is trending up, and can retreat to cash and short-term bonds when trends break. Live since 2014, 0.95% all-in.

PTBD Trend following, pointed at bonds instead of stocks. A published rulebook shifts PTBD between high yield corporates and intermediate Treasuries as their relative strength changes, dialing credit risk up or down by formula rather than by opinion.

Stated mandate

GMOM The fund seeks capital preservation and growth through a disciplined, globally diversified quantitative approach spanning equity, fixed income, commodities, and currencies, without depending on a particular market direction.

PTBD The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the Pacer Trendpilot US Bond Index through a rules-based strategy that alternates between high-yield corporate bonds and U.S. Treasury bonds.

Why people hold it

• GMOM Owns ETFs, not single names: a broad global menu of equity, bond, commodity and currency funds, sorted by momentum and long-term trend, with cash and bonds as the fallback.cambriafunds.com
• Of the 0.95% total expense ratio, 0.36 points is the fee on the ETFs it holds; the rest is the management fee. Near the typical cost in its tactical multi-asset group.cambriafunds.com
• Trading since November 2014 and run by Cambria founder Meb Faber on his own published tactical-allocation research, so the rulebook predates the fund.cambriafunds.comcambriafunds.com 2

• PTBD The rulebook is public and mechanical: high yield measured against Treasuries, compared to its 100-day average, with five straight closes needed to confirm. No manager hunch involved.paceretfs.com
• 0.60% a year, comfortably below the median for tactical multi-asset funds. Cheap for a strategy that does the reallocating for you.
• Holds roughly 1,000 bonds in whichever sleeve the signal points to, so no single issuer carries much weight. Income is distributed monthly.
• Trading since 2019, long enough to have run the rules through a rate shock and a credit wobble, and it sits in the upper tier of the tactical funds we cover.

Worth knowing

• GMOM Thinly traded next to the giants of multi-asset investing, so the bid-ask spread can matter more than the expense ratio on small orders.
• Trend rules look backward: the fund can sit out the start of a rally and can whipsaw in choppy, directionless markets. That is the mechanism working as written.cambriafunds.com
• Cambria's own ENDW sits in the same tactical multi-asset category at 0.22%, so this fund's trend engine is the costlier route from the same shop.

• PTBD Trend rules react, they don't anticipate. A sharp reversal can flip the signal after the move has happened, and the confirmation window means the switch lands days later.paceretfs.com
• In its risk-on position the portfolio is high yield corporate debt, full stop. That is credit risk, a different animal from Treasury rate risk.paceretfs.com
• Not one of the heavily traded names in its category, so the spread and a limit order matter more here than with a mega-fund.

Full GMOM profile⁠

Full PTBD profile⁠