Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
AGG vs CTA: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, AGG returned −1.4% to CTA's +18.4%, and AGG charges 0.03% to CTA's 0.75%.
askIQ about this page
askIQ about AGG and CTA
Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $139.4bn for iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF and $1.4bn for Simplify Managed Futures Strategy ETF.
Pair scorecard
AGG costs 0.72 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 19.8 points; AGG is far larger, $139.4bn against $1.4bn.
| Measure | AGG | CTA |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | −1.4% | +18.4% |
| Total return, 52 weeks | +17.4% | |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 3.4%, high on Aug 4, 2020 | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index | not published |
| Treasury bills, 52 weeks | +3.6% | |
| Against cash | 13.7 points ahead | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.03% | 0.75% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $139.4bn | $1.4bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| Risk | ||
| Correlation with the S&P 500’s weekly returns | −0.19 | |
| Beta to the S&P 500 | −0.36: about 0.36% for each 1% | |
| Its average week when the S&P 500 fell | rose 0.40% | |
| Down-week capture | −36.1% | |
| Weeks the S&P 500 fell | 26 of 52, by 1.10% on average | |
Risk and return
Mar 18, 2022 to Oct 23, 2026 · 240 weekly returnsCTA returned more: +66.8% to +4.0%. AGG swung less: 5.9% to 16.8%. AGG fell less at its worst: −12.1% to −19.0%.
Full scorecard
9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | AGG | CTA | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +4.0% | +66.8% | CTA | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +0.9% | +11.7% | CTA | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −11.2% | +28.5% | CTA | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 5.9% | 16.8% | AGG | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 4.4% | 11.9% | AGG | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −12.1% | −19.0% | AGG | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | −0.55 | 0.49 | CTA | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | −0.74 | 0.69 | CTA | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Calmar | 0.07 | 0.62 | CTA | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 240 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
AGG and CTA on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
AGG and CTA do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 AGG returned −1.4% and CTA +18.4% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 19.8 points.
- Cost. AGG charges 0.03% of assets a year and CTA 0.75%, a gap of 0.72 points.
- Size. AGG has $139.4bn in net assets and CTA $1.4bn (net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026); AGG is 99.6 times larger.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
The two-page PDF for this pair is coming. Save the comparison to follow its changes. Free. It needs an email sign-in, once.
AGG
AGG tracks an index of US aggregate bonds. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −1.4% with distributions reinvested, against −1.3% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. It sat 3.4% below its high of Aug 4, 2020 on Oct 28, 2026.
CTA
CTA is a managed futures fund. ETFIQ measures what every alternatives fund is sold on: whether it moves differently from the stock market. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, its weekly returns had a correlation of −0.19 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. The S&P 500 fell in 26 of those 52 weeks, by 1.10% on average. In the same weeks CTA rose 0.40% on average, a down-week capture of −36.1%. Over the same 52 weeks CTA returned +17.4% and a Treasury bill fund +3.6%, so it finished 13.7 percentage points ahead of cash.
Questions people ask
- Are AGG and CTA in the same category?
- AGG is a bond ETF and CTA is an alternatives ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
- Which returned more over the last year, AGG or CTA?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, AGG returned −1.4% and CTA +18.4%.
- Which is cheaper, AGG or CTA?
- AGG is cheaper, by 0.72 percentage points a year. That is about $72 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.
Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown
ETFIQ, AGG against CTA, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/agg-vs-cta
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). AGG against CTA. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/agg-vs-cta
[AGG against CTA (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/agg-vs-cta)
Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.