Data as of Nov 4, 2026.
HELO vs TAIL: Correlation to the S&P 500
Over the year to Nov 4, 2026, TAIL moved less with the S&P 500 than HELO: correlation −0.74 against +0.95.
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Net assets: $4.9bn on Nov 3, 2026 for JPMorgan Hedged Equity Laddered Overlay ETF, and $147m on Jul 31, 2026 for Cambria Tail Risk ETF.
HELO in the 26 weeks SPY fell, year to Nov 4, 2026: SPY averaged −1.07%, HELO −0.65%.
TAIL in the 26 weeks SPY fell, year to Nov 4, 2026: SPY averaged −1.07%, TAIL +0.17%.
Pair scorecard
HELO costs 0.10 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 20.3 points.
| Measure | HELO | TAIL |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +7.2% | −13.1% |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| Treasury bills, 52 weeks | +3.7% | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.50% | 0.60% |
| Net assets, HELO as of Nov 3, 2026 and TAIL as of Jul 31, 2026 | $4.9bn | $147m |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| Risk | ||
| Beta to the S&P 500 | +0.59: about 0.59% for each 1% | −0.36: about 0.36% for each 1% |
| Its average week when the S&P 500 fell | fell 0.65% | rose 0.17% |
How much it diversifies a stock portfolio, ranked against 22 equity hedged alternatives ETFs with a full year. 100 is best. How it is computed
One year of weekly moves against the S&P 500, within one strategy; it ignores what the fund returned. All alternatives ETFs ranked by it →
Risk and return
Oct 6, 2023 to Oct 30, 2026 · 160 weekly returns · each against VOOFrom Oct 2023 to Oct 2026, HELO returned more: +40.4% to −13.5%. HELO swung less: 7.8% to 12.9%. HELO fell less at its worst: −9.6% to −25.2%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | HELO | TAIL | VOO | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | |||||
| Total return | +40.4% | −13.5% | HELO | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. | |
| Annualized | +11.6% | −4.6% | HELO | Total return as a yearly rate. | |
| Price return | +37.7% | −20.9% | HELO | Price change alone, distributions left out. | |
| Risk | |||||
| Volatility | 7.8% | 12.9% | HELO | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. | |
| Downside deviation | 5.0% | 7.1% | HELO | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. | |
| Max drawdown | −9.6% | −25.2% | HELO | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. | |
| Upside capture | 44.7% | −22.7% | 100.0% | HELO | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. |
| Downside capture | 62.7% | −90.8% | 100.0% | TAIL | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. |
| Beta | 0.53 | −0.66 | 1.00 | TAIL lower | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.92 | 0.52 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | |||||
| Sharpe | 0.88 | −0.65 | HELO | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. | |
| Sortino | 1.37 | −1.18 | HELO | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. | |
| Treynor | 0.130 | 0.128 | 0.162 | Tie | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. |
| Calmar | 1.22 | −0.18 | HELO | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. | |
| Against the benchmark | |||||
| Benchmark | VOO | VOO | VOO | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −1.7% a year | +2.2% a year | 0.0% | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −1.32 | 0.43 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. | |
| Alpha range | −4.2% to +0.8% | −8.0% to +12.5% | Both include zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. | |
| Information ratio | −1.33 | −0.98 | TAIL | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 7.0% | 25.1% | 0.0% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 160 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Window by window
| Total return | vs its benchmark | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Window | HELO | TAIL | HELO | TAIL |
| 3 months | +0.2% | −2.7% | +0.3 pts vs VOO | −2.6 pts vs VOO |
| 6 months | +3.1% | −7.1% | −1.9 pts vs VOO | −12.1 pts vs VOO |
| 1 year | +7.2% | −13.1% | −7.6 pts vs VOO | −27.9 pts vs VOO |
| 3 years | +40.1% | −14.2% | −43.2 pts vs VOO | −97.5 pts vs VOO |
| Since launchNot the same days: HELO Sep 2023 · TAIL Jun 2017 | +42.5% | −51.5% | −43.9 pts vs VOO | −316.9 pts vs VOO |
Side by side
As of Nov 4, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
One strategy, two funds
HELO and TAIL both run a hedged equity strategy. Over the same 52 weeks to Nov 4, 2026, HELO’s weekly returns had a correlation of +0.95 with the S&P 500 and TAIL’s −0.74. In the 26 weeks the index fell, by 1.07% a week on average, HELO averaged −0.65% and TAIL +0.17%. Over the same weeks, HELO finished 3.4 percentage points ahead of cash and TAIL finished 16.0 points behind cash.
Client brief:
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HELO
HELO is a hedged equity fund. ETFIQ measures what every alternatives fund is sold on: whether it moves differently from the stock market. Over the year to Nov 4, 2026, its weekly returns had a correlation of +0.95 with the S&P 500’s and a beta of +0.59, so for each 1% the index moved it moved about 0.59% the same way. The S&P 500 fell in 26 of those 52 weeks, by 1.07% on average. In the same weeks HELO fell 0.65% on average, a down-week capture of 60.7%. Over the same 52 weeks HELO returned +7.0% and a Treasury bill fund +3.7%, so it finished 3.4 percentage points ahead of cash.
TAIL
TAIL is a hedged equity fund. Over the year to Nov 4, 2026, its weekly returns had a correlation of −0.74 with the S&P 500’s and a beta of −0.36, so for each 1% the index moved it moved about 0.36% the other way. In the same weeks TAIL rose 0.17% on average, a down-week capture of −15.9%. Over the same 52 weeks TAIL returned −12.4% and a Treasury bill fund +3.7%, so it finished 16.0 percentage points behind cash.
Questions people ask
- Which moved less with the S&P 500, HELO or TAIL?
- Over the 52 weeks to Nov 4, 2026, HELO’s weekly returns had a correlation of +0.95 with the S&P 500 and TAIL’s −0.74, so TAIL moved less with the index.
- Which did better when the S&P 500 fell, HELO or TAIL?
- In the 26 weeks the S&P 500 fell, by 1.07% a week on average, HELO averaged −0.65% and TAIL +0.17%, so TAIL returned more in those weeks.
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How this is computed
It is a place in a set, not a rating or a recommendation.
Every number is an ETFIQ calculation with distributions reinvested.
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ETFIQ, HELO against TAIL, data as of Nov 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/alternatives/helo-vs-tail
ETFIQ. (Nov 4, 2026). HELO against TAIL. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/alternatives/helo-vs-tail
[HELO against TAIL (ETFIQ, Nov 4, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/alternatives/helo-vs-tail)
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