Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
CTA vs TLT: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, CTA returned +18.4% to TLT's −7.9%, and TLT charges 0.15% to CTA's 0.75%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $1.4bn for Simplify Managed Futures Strategy ETF and $47.4bn for iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF.
Pair scorecard
TLT costs 0.60 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 26.3 points; TLT is far larger, $47.4bn against $1.4bn.
| Measure | CTA | TLT |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +18.4% | −7.9% |
| Total return, 52 weeks | +17.4% | |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 42.6%, high on Aug 4, 2020 | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | not published | ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index |
| Treasury bills, 52 weeks | +3.6% | |
| Against cash | 13.7 points ahead | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.75% | 0.15% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $1.4bn | $47.4bn |
| 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 −27.6%. TLT swung less: 14.7% to 16.8%. CTA fell less at its worst: −19.0% to −34.8%.
Full scorecard
9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | CTA | TLT | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +66.8% | −27.6% | CTA | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +11.7% | −6.7% | CTA | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +28.5% | −39.0% | CTA | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 16.8% | 14.7% | TLT | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 11.9% | 11.1% | TLT (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −19.0% | −34.8% | CTA | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.49 | −0.69 | CTA | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.69 | −0.91 | CTA | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Calmar | 0.62 | −0.19 | 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
CTA and TLT on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
CTA and TLT do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 CTA returned +18.4% and TLT −7.9% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 26.3 points.
- Cost. CTA charges 0.75% of assets a year and TLT 0.15%, a gap of 0.60 points.
- Size. CTA has $1.4bn in net assets and TLT $47.4bn (net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026); TLT is 33.9 times larger.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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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.
TLT
TLT tracks an index of 20+ year Treasuries. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −7.9% with distributions reinvested, against −7.8% for its benchmark, the ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year. It sat 42.6% below its high of Aug 4, 2020 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Are CTA and TLT in the same category?
- CTA is an alternatives ETF and TLT is a bond ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
- Which returned more over the last year, CTA or TLT?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, CTA returned +18.4% and TLT −7.9%.
- Which is cheaper, CTA or TLT?
- TLT is cheaper, by 0.60 percentage points a year. That is about $60 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
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ETFIQ, CTA against TLT, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/cta-vs-tlt
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). CTA against TLT. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/cta-vs-tlt
[CTA against TLT (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/cta-vs-tlt)
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