Data as of Sep 19, 2026.
AHLT vs BND: how they differ
Over the year AHLT returned more, +32.0% to BND's −0.4%, and BND charges 0.03% to AHLT's 0.96%.
AHL Trend ETF and Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF.
| AHLT AHL Trend ETF | BND Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it sits | Alternatives ETF | Core fund |
| Issuer | American Beacon | Vanguard |
| What it is | Managed futures | Tracks an index of US aggregate bonds |
| Total return, 1 year | +32.0% | −0.4% |
| S&P 500 over the same days | +16.6% | +16.6% |
| Gap to the S&P 500 | +15.4 pts | −17.0 pts |
| Expense ratio | 0.96% | 0.03% |
| Holdings | not filed | 16296 |
| Net assets | $50m | $163.3bn |
AHLT in plain words
AHLT 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 Sep 18, 2026, its weekly returns had a correlation of +0.40 with the S&P 500’s and a beta of +0.42, so for each 1% the index moved it moved about 0.42% the same way. The S&P 500 fell in 22 of those 52 weeks, by 1.24% on average. In the same weeks AHLT fell 0.10% on average, a down-week capture of 8.0%. Over the same 52 weeks AHLT returned +31.6% and a Treasury bill fund +3.6%, so it finished 27.9 percentage points ahead of cash.
BND in plain words
BND 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 3.9% below its high of Aug 6, 2020 on Sep 18, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, AHLT or BND?
- In the year to Sep 19, 2026, with distributions reinvested, AHLT returned +32.0% and BND returned −0.4%, so AHLT returned more.
- Which is cheaper, AHLT or BND?
- AHLT charges 0.96% a year and BND charges 0.03%, so BND is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
- Are AHLT and BND the same kind of fund?
- No. AHLT is an alternatives ETF and BND is an index 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.
Cite this page. ETFIQ, AHLT against BND, data as of Sep 19, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ahlt-vs-bnd Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.
A comparison is not a recommendation. Standards and sources