Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
DBMF vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, DBMF returned +22.1% to SPY's +13.6%, and SPY charges 0.09% to DBMF's 0.85%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $5.2bn for iMGP DBi Managed Futures Strategy ETF and $814.8bn for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.
Pair scorecard
SPY costs 0.76 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 8.5 points; SPY is far larger, $814.8bn against $5.2bn.
| Measure | DBMF | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +22.1% | +13.6% |
| Total return, 52 weeks | +22.5% | |
| Against its benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | not published | S&P 500 Index |
| Treasury bills, 52 weeks | +3.6% | |
| Against cash | 18.8 points ahead | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.85% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $5.2bn | $814.8bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 100% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 38.1% | |
| Risk | ||
| Correlation with the S&P 500’s weekly returns | +0.26 | |
| Beta to the S&P 500 | +0.21: about 0.21% for each 1% | |
| Its average week when the S&P 500 fell | fell 0.21% | |
| Down-week capture | 19.1% | |
| Weeks the S&P 500 fell | 26 of 52, by 1.10% on average | |
Risk and return
May 17, 2019 to Oct 23, 2026 · 388 weekly returnsSPY returned more: +196.8% to +95.4%. DBMF swung less: 11.4% to 18.3%. DBMF fell less at its worst: −19.9% to −31.8%.
Full scorecard
9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | DBMF | SPY | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +95.4% | +196.8% | SPY | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +9.4% | +15.7% | SPY | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +27.6% | +165.9% | SPY | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 11.4% | 18.3% | DBMF | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 8.1% | 12.5% | DBMF | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −19.9% | −31.8% | DBMF | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.60 | 0.73 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.84 | 1.07 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Calmar | 0.47 | 0.49 | SPY (slight) | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 388 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
DBMF and SPY on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
DBMF and SPY do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 DBMF returned +22.1% and SPY +13.6% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 8.5 points.
- Cost. DBMF charges 0.85% of assets a year and SPY 0.09%, a gap of 0.76 points.
- Size. DBMF has $5.2bn in net assets and SPY $814.8bn (net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026); SPY is 156.7 times larger.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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DBMF
DBMF 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 +0.26 with the S&P 500’s and a beta of +0.21, so for each 1% the index moved it moved about 0.21% the same way. The S&P 500 fell in 26 of those 52 weeks, by 1.10% on average. In the same weeks DBMF fell 0.21% on average, a down-week capture of 19.1%. Over the same 52 weeks DBMF returned +22.5% and a Treasury bill fund +3.6%, so it finished 18.8 percentage points ahead of cash.
SPY
SPY tracks the S&P 500. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.6% with distributions reinvested, against +13.7% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 504 positions, with the top ten at 38.1%.
Questions people ask
- Are DBMF and SPY in the same category?
- DBMF is an alternatives ETF and SPY is a stock ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
- Which returned more over the last year, DBMF or SPY?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DBMF returned +22.1% and SPY +13.6%.
- Which is cheaper, DBMF or SPY?
- SPY is cheaper, by 0.76 percentage points a year. That is about $76 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
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ETFIQ, DBMF against SPY, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/dbmf-vs-spy
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). DBMF against SPY. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/dbmf-vs-spy
[DBMF against SPY (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/dbmf-vs-spy)
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