PBOT vs QTUM

PBOTCPictet AI & Automation ETF

QTUMADefiance Quantum ETF

In short

PBOT Most AI ETFs hand the theme to an index. PBOT is a stock picker: Pictet's thematic team running global AI and automation, from robotics to semiconductors, launched as part of the two-century-old Geneva firm's first US ETF lineup.

QTUM Live since 2018, QTUM turns the quantum-computing story into a plain index fund: about 90 global names spanning quantum hardware and machine learning, for 0.40% a year.

Stated mandate

PBOT The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

QTUM The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the BlueStar® Quantum Computing and Machine Learning Index. It uses a passive indexing approach.

Why people hold it

• PBOT Active by design: at least 80% of assets in global AI and automation equities, measured against MSCI ACWI rather than a packaged AI theme index.businesswire.com
• The mandate covers the whole value chain (robotics, cybersecurity, semiconductors, software) and is global, so the manager isn't fenced into US megacaps.
• Pedigree behind the wrapper: Pictet Asset Management, part of an independent Geneva group with roughly two centuries of history, with PBOT in its first US-listed ETF range.businesswire.compictet.com

• QTUM 0.40% a year against a 0.68% median for its AI-theme cohort, and it undercuts peers like WTAI (0.45%) and ALAI (0.55%).
• Rules-based by design: it tracks the BlueStar Quantum Computing and Machine Learning Index, so no manager is hand-picking which quantum story wins.
• About 90 holdings across global markets, so the theme rides on a basket instead of two or three pure plays.
• Size and liquidity back it up: a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, and one of the stronger implementations in its thematic peer group.

Worth knowing

• PBOT At 0.70% a year you're paying active-manager pricing in a shelf where index versions cost less (XAIX at 0.35%, QTUM at 0.40%).
• It launched in October 2025, so the record is short, and with an active mandate the portfolio reflects the team's calls rather than a published theme index.businesswire.com
• As a recent entrant it's small and trades lightly next to the category's established names, which typically shows up as wider bid-ask spreads.

• QTUM Risk is the softest part of the profile. One narrow, early-stage theme in a single asset class means sharper swings than a broad-market fund.
• The index covers machine learning as well as quantum, so part of the basket is familiar AI exposure rather than quantum specialists.
• Distributions come quarterly, but a growth theme like this is not built around income.

Full PBOT profile⁠

Full QTUM profile⁠