PTIN vs PTLC

PTINBPacer Trendpilot International ETF

PTLCAPacer Trendpilot US Large Cap ETF

In short

PTIN Pacer's Trendpilot rulebook, pointed overseas: a mechanical dial that shifts roughly 500 developed-market large caps toward 3-month T-bills when the 200-day trend rolls over. No manager discretion, no guesswork.

PTLC Most index funds ride out every drawdown. PTLC tracks an index with an exit ramp: a rules-based trend signal that shifts its large-cap exposure toward 3-month Treasury bills and back, with no manager judgment in the loop.

Stated mandate

PTIN The fund seeks to track the total return of the Pacer Trendpilot International Index before fees and expenses. Its rules-based trend-following process alternates exposure between international equities and 3-Month U.S. T-Bills using three indicators.

PTLC The Fund seeks to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Pacer Trendpilot US Large Cap Index. That index uses a rules-based trend-following approach that alternates exposure between equities and 3-Month US Treasury bills.

Why people hold it

• PTIN Three indicators, no judgment calls: fully invested above the 200-day average, half in T-bills after five closes below it, all T-bills once that average itself turns down.paceretfs.com
• The signal reads the developed ex-US market in local currency while the fund holds the unhedged dollar version, so currency swings alone don't flip the switch.paceretfs.com
• Broad base under the hood: roughly 500 large caps across developed markets outside the US, the international member of Pacer's long-running Trendpilot family.paceretfs.com
• Costs 0.65%, with no fee waiver propping that up, which sits near the median for trend-following index wrappers.

• PTLC The switch is mechanical. A rules-based trend signal alternates exposure between US large-cap equities and 3-month Treasury bills, so nobody is making a gut call mid-panic.paceretfs.com
• Underneath the signal sits plain large-cap America: roughly 500 stocks benchmarked to the S&P 500, not a niche factor slice.paceretfs.com
• Trading since 2015 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund, so the rules have run through live markets, not just backtests.
• Among the index-tracking funds we cover, it lands in the upper half, and it follows its own index closely.

Worth knowing

• PTIN Signals act on a lag (a switch takes effect a business day or two after it triggers), so choppy markets can mean stepping out after a drop and back in after a bounce.paceretfs.com
• Cheaper international trend-followers exist: WisdomTree's WIMA charges 0.42% against this fund's 0.65%.
• It trades lightly next to mainstream international index funds, so bid-ask spreads can run wider, and payouts come only once or twice a year.

• PTLC 0.60% a year is real money next to vanilla large-cap trackers like SCHK (0.03%) or VOOV (0.07%). The trend rules are what the extra buys.
• Trend signals read past prices. Moves into T-bills, or back into stocks, arrive after a market shift is already underway rather than ahead of it.
• Distributions land once or twice a year, so it isn't structured as a steady income drip.

Full PTIN profile⁠

Full PTLC profile⁠