Which returned more over the last year, BND or BTAL?

In the year to Sep 19, 2026, with distributions reinvested, BND returned −0.4% and BTAL returned −18.8%, so BND returned more.

Which is cheaper, BND or BTAL?

BND charges 0.03% a year and BTAL charges 1.40%, so BND is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Are BND and BTAL the same kind of fund?

No. BND is an index ETF and BTAL 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

BND vs BTAL: how they differ

Over the year BND returned more, −0.4% to BTAL's −18.8%, and BND charges 0.03% to BTAL's 1.40%.

Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF and AGF U.S. Market Neutral Anti-Beta Fund.

BND and BTAL on the fields both publish, as of Sep 19, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
	BND Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF	BTAL AGF U.S. Market Neutral Anti-Beta Fund
Where it sits	Core fund	Alternatives ETF
Issuer	Vanguard	AGF Investments
What it is	Tracks an index of US aggregate bonds	Market neutral
Total return, 1 year	−0.4%	−18.8%
S&P 500 over the same days	+16.6%	+16.6%
Gap to the S&P 500	−17.0 pts	−35.3 pts
Expense ratio	0.03%	1.40%
Holdings	16296	not filed
Net assets	$163.3bn	$283m

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.

BTAL in plain words

BTAL is a market neutral 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 −0.69 with the S&P 500’s and a beta of −0.98, so for each 1% the index moved it moved about 0.98% the other way. The S&P 500 fell in 22 of those 52 weeks, by 1.24% on average. In the same weeks BTAL rose 1.18% on average, a down-week capture of −95.2%. Over the same 52 weeks BTAL returned −19.1% and a Treasury bill fund +3.6%, so it finished 22.7 percentage points behind cash.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, BND or BTAL?: In the year to Sep 19, 2026, with distributions reinvested, BND returned −0.4% and BTAL returned −18.8%, so BND returned more.
Which is cheaper, BND or BTAL?: BND charges 0.03% a year and BTAL charges 1.40%, so BND is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Are BND and BTAL the same kind of fund?: No. BND is an index ETF and BTAL 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.

BND against BTAL, 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, BND against BTAL, data as of Sep 19, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/bnd-vs-btal Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.

A comparison is not a recommendation. Standards and sources