PTLC vs WIMA

PTLCAPacer Trendpilot US Large Cap ETF

WIMABWisdomTree International Adaptive Moving Average Fund

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.

WIMA Trend-following usually means US large caps. WIMA aims the same machinery at developed international stocks: hold equities while the 200-day trend holds, shift to US T-bills when it breaks, with a breadth check for getting back in.

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.

WIMA The Fund passively seeks to follow, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the WisdomTree International Adaptive Moving Average Index.

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.

• WIMA The rulebook is public: a 200-day average with a 1% buffer and two-day confirmation to damp whipsaw, plus a 5% stop-loss on breadth-triggered re-entries.wisdomtree.com
• Most 200-day systems re-enter late. This one adds a breadth trigger: when more than 15% of constituents are back above their own 200-day averages, equity exposure goes back on.wisdomtree.com
• Cheaper than the typical fund in its tactical bucket at 0.42% a year, versus a cohort median near 0.60% and Pacer's Trendpilot US Large Cap (PTLC) at 0.60%.
• The defensive leg is US Treasury bills, so when the signal goes risk-off the parking spot is dollar-denominated rather than foreign cash.wisdomtree.com

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.

• WIMA Launched in 2026, so the fund itself has not traded through a full market cycle and the live risk record is still short.
• Volume is light so far, which can mean wider spreads on the screen than in the category's largest funds.
• Buffers and the two-day lag are the price of fewer false alarms: exits land after a decline is underway, re-entries after a rebound has started.wisdomtree.com

Full PTLC profile⁠

Full WIMA profile⁠