Data as of Nov 4, 2026.
BND vs ISMF: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Nov 4, 2026, BND returned +0.2% to ISMF's +10.9%, and BND charges 0.03% to ISMF's 0.80%.
askIQ about this page
askIQ about BND and ISMF
Net assets: $167.4bn on Oct 31, 2026 for Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF, and $37m on Nov 3, 2026 for iShares Managed Futures Active ETF.
Pair scorecard
BND costs 0.77 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 10.7 points.
| Measure | BND | ISMF |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +0.2% | +10.9% |
| Total return, 52 weeks | +10.5% | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index | not published |
| Treasury bills, 52 weeks | +3.7% | |
| Against cash | 6.8 points ahead | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.03% | 0.80% |
| Net assets, BND as of Oct 31, 2026 and ISMF as of Nov 3, 2026 | $167.4bn | $37m |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| Risk | ||
| Correlation with the S&P 500’s weekly returns | +0.48 | |
| Beta to the S&P 500 | +0.31: about 0.31% for each 1% | |
| Its average week when the S&P 500 fell | fell 0.38% | |
| Down-week capture | 35.9% | |
| Weeks the S&P 500 fell | 26 of 52, by 1.07% on average | |
Risk and return
Mar 21, 2025 to Oct 30, 2026 · 84 weekly returnsFrom Mar 2025 to Oct 2026, ISMF returned more: +19.7% to +3.9%. BND swung less: 4.1% to 6.8%. ISMF fell less at its worst: −3.6% to −4.4%.
Full scorecard
9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | BND | ISMF | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +3.9% | +19.7% | ISMF | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +2.4% | +11.8% | ISMF | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −2.4% | +12.5% | ISMF | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 4.1% | 6.8% | BND | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 3.2% | 5.0% | BND | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −4.4% | −3.6% | ISMF | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | −0.36 | 1.09 | ISMF | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | −0.46 | 1.48 | ISMF | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Calmar | 0.55 | 3.30 | ISMF | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 84 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
BND and ISMF on the fields both publish, as of Nov 4, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
Client brief:
The two-page PDF for this pair is coming. Save the comparison to follow its changes. Free. It needs an email sign-in, once.
BND
BND 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 Float Adjusted Index, measured by the closely related Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year.
ISMF
ISMF 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 Nov 4, 2026, its weekly returns had a correlation of +0.48 with the S&P 500’s and a beta of +0.31, so for each 1% the index moved it moved about 0.31% the same way. The S&P 500 fell in 26 of those 52 weeks, by 1.07% on average. In the same weeks ISMF fell 0.38% on average, a down-week capture of 35.9%. Over the same 52 weeks ISMF returned +10.5% and a Treasury bill fund +3.7%, so it finished 6.8 percentage points ahead of cash.
Questions people ask
- Are BND and ISMF in the same category?
- BND is a bond ETF and ISMF 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, BND or ISMF?
- In the year to Nov 4, 2026, with distributions reinvested, BND returned +0.2% and ISMF +10.9%.
- Which is cheaper, BND or ISMF?
- BND is cheaper, by 0.77 percentage points a year. That is about $77 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, BND against ISMF, data as of Nov 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/bnd-vs-ismf
ETFIQ. (Nov 4, 2026). BND against ISMF. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/bnd-vs-ismf
[BND against ISMF (ETFIQ, Nov 4, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/bnd-vs-ismf)
Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.