Data as of Nov 4, 2026.
AGG vs QAI: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Nov 4, 2026, AGG returned +0.2% to QAI's +7.7%, and AGG charges 0.03% to QAI's 0.81%.
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Net assets: $139.1bn on Nov 4, 2026 for iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF, and $1.0bn on Jul 31, 2026 for NYLIM Hedge Multi-Strategy Tracker ETF.
Pair scorecard
AGG costs 0.78 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 7.5 points.
| Measure | AGG | QAI |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +0.2% | +7.7% |
| Total return, 52 weeks | +7.1% | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index | not published |
| Treasury bills, 52 weeks | +3.7% | |
| Against cash | 3.5 points ahead | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.03% | 0.81% |
| Net assets, AGG as of Nov 4, 2026 and QAI as of Jul 31, 2026 | $139.1bn | $1.0bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| Risk | ||
| Correlation with the S&P 500’s weekly returns | +0.89 | |
| Beta to the S&P 500 | +0.45: about 0.45% for each 1% | |
| Its average week when the S&P 500 fell | fell 0.54% | |
| Down-week capture | 50.9% | |
| Weeks the S&P 500 fell | 26 of 52, by 1.07% on average | |
Side by side
AGG and QAI on the fields both publish, as of Nov 4, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
AGG
AGG tracks an index of US aggregate bonds. Over the year to Nov 4, 2026 it returned +0.2% with distributions reinvested, against +0.2% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year.
QAI
QAI is a multi-strategy 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 +0.89 with the S&P 500’s and a beta of +0.45, so for each 1% the index moved it moved about 0.45% the same way. The S&P 500 fell in 26 of those 52 weeks, by 1.07% on average. In the same weeks QAI fell 0.54% on average, a down-week capture of 50.9%. Over the same 52 weeks QAI returned +7.1% and a Treasury bill fund +3.7%, so it finished 3.5 percentage points ahead of cash.
Questions people ask
- Are AGG and QAI in the same category?
- AGG is a bond ETF and QAI 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 QAI?
- In the year to Nov 4, 2026, with distributions reinvested, AGG returned +0.2% and QAI +7.7%.
- Which is cheaper, AGG or QAI?
- AGG is cheaper, by 0.78 percentage points a year. That is about $78 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.
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ETFIQ, AGG against QAI, data as of Nov 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/agg-vs-qai
ETFIQ. (Nov 4, 2026). AGG against QAI. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/agg-vs-qai
[AGG against QAI (ETFIQ, Nov 4, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/agg-vs-qai)
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