PTLC vs PTNQ

PTLCAPacer Trendpilot US Large Cap ETF

PTNQBPacer Trendpilot 100 ETF

In short

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.

PTNQ The Nasdaq-100 with an automatic ejector seat: PTNQ holds the index while it sits above its 200-day average, then shifts half or all of the money into 3-month T-bills when the trend breaks. Rules decide, not a manager's gut.

Stated mandate

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.

PTNQ The fund seeks to track the total return of the Pacer NASDAQ-100 Trendpilot Index before fees and expenses. Its rules-based trend-following strategy changes exposure among the NASDAQ-100 Index and 3-Month U.S. Treasury bills using three indicators.

Why people hold it

• 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.

• PTNQ Three states, all rules-based: all Nasdaq-100, 50/50 with 3-month T-bills, or all T-bills. Each switch needs five straight closes on the wrong side of the 200-day average.paceretfs.compaceretfs.com 2
• No discretion, no gut calls. Pacer publishes the Trendpilot rules and the current position for the series, so you can see what moves the exposure and where it sits.paceretfs.compaceretfs.com 2
• Live since 2015, so the rulebook has run through real market stress rather than a backtest, and it has grown into a multi-billion-dollar fund along the way.
• At 0.65%, the fee sits right at the median for active US equity funds, so the signal machinery costs no premium over the typical active peer.

Worth knowing

• 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.

• PTNQ That 0.65% is still several times what plain core index funds charge (DFAU 0.12%, AVLC 0.15%). The rulebook is the thing you are paying for.
• The 200-day signal lags by design. A sharp V-shaped rebound can catch it in T-bills, and it cannot go from all-T-bills back to 50/50 without first hitting the equity trigger.paceretfs.compaceretfs.com 2
• It trades lighter than the largest Nasdaq-100 trackers, so spreads can run wider; limit orders are the usual fix. Payouts arrive annually or semiannually, not quarterly.

Full PTLC profile⁠

Full PTNQ profile⁠