Which returned more over the last year, AGG or ARB?

In the year to Sep 19, 2026, with distributions reinvested, AGG returned −0.4% and ARB returned +3.1%, so ARB returned more.

Which is cheaper, AGG or ARB?

AGG charges 0.03% a year and ARB charges 0.76%, so AGG is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Are AGG and ARB the same kind of fund?

No. AGG is an index ETF and ARB is an alternatives ETF, so they are built for different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and what each actually holds.

Data as of Sep 19, 2026.

ETFIQetfiq.com · independent ETF data

AGG vs ARB: how they differ

Over the year ARB returned more, +3.1% to AGG's −0.4%, and AGG charges 0.03% to ARB's 0.76%.

iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF and AltShares Merger Arbitrage ETF.

AGG and ARB on the fields both publish, as of Sep 19, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
	AGG iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF	ARB AltShares Merger Arbitrage ETF
Where it sits	Core fund	Alternatives ETF
Issuer	iShares	AltShares
What it is	Tracks an index of US aggregate bonds	Event driven
Total return, 1 year	−0.4%	+3.1%
S&P 500 over the same days	+16.6%	+16.6%
Gap to the S&P 500	−17.0 pts	−13.5 pts
Expense ratio	0.03%	0.76%
Holdings	13428	not filed
Net assets	$137.3bn	$103m

AGG in plain words

AGG tracks an index of US aggregate bonds. Over the year to Sep 18, 2026 it returned −0.4% with distributions reinvested, against +16.6% for the S&P 500 and +21.8% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. It sat 3.7% below its high of Aug 4, 2020 on Sep 18, 2026.

ARB in plain words

ARB is an event driven fund. ETFIQ measures what every alternatives fund is sold on: whether it moves differently from the stock market. Over the year to Sep 18, 2026, its weekly returns had a correlation of +0.04 with the S&P 500’s and a beta of +0.01, so for each 1% the index moved it moved about 0.01% the same way. The S&P 500 fell in 22 of those 52 weeks, by 1.24% on average. In the same weeks ARB rose 0.05% on average, a down-week capture of −4.0%. Over the same 52 weeks ARB returned +3.0% and a Treasury bill fund +3.6%, so it finished 0.6 percentage points behind cash.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, AGG or ARB?: In the year to Sep 19, 2026, with distributions reinvested, AGG returned −0.4% and ARB returned +3.1%, so ARB returned more.
Which is cheaper, AGG or ARB?: AGG charges 0.03% a year and ARB charges 0.76%, so AGG is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Are AGG and ARB the same kind of fund?: No. AGG is an index ETF and ARB is an alternatives ETF, so they are built for different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and what each actually holds.

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Where these figures came from

ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure. It is not affiliated with any issuer, and a link is not an endorsement.

AGG against ARB, ETFIQ, data as of Sep 19, 2026. Every figure is calculated from a named public source; the method is at etfiq.com/methodology. A comparison is not a recommendation.

Cite this page. ETFIQ, AGG against ARB, data as of Sep 19, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/agg-vs-arb Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.

A comparison is not a recommendation. Standards and sources