Data as of Sep 19, 2026.
TLT vs XTR: how they differ
Over the year XTR returned more, +12.0% to TLT's −4.7%, and TLT charges 0.15% to XTR's 0.25%.
iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF and Global X S&P 500 Tail Risk ETF.
| TLT iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF | XTR Global X S&P 500 Tail Risk ETF | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it sits | Core fund | Alternatives ETF |
| Issuer | iShares | Global X |
| What it is | Tracks an index of 20+ year Treasuries | Hedged equity |
| Total return, 1 year | −4.7% | +12.0% |
| S&P 500 over the same days | +16.6% | +16.6% |
| Gap to the S&P 500 | −21.3 pts | −4.6 pts |
| Expense ratio | 0.15% | 0.25% |
| Holdings | 49 | not filed |
| Net assets | $46.7bn | $5m |
TLT in plain words
TLT tracks an index of 20+ year Treasuries. Over the year to Sep 18, 2026 it returned −4.7% with distributions reinvested, against +16.6% for the S&P 500 and +21.8% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year. It sat 42.6% below its high of Aug 4, 2020 on Sep 18, 2026.
XTR in plain words
XTR is a hedged equity 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 +0.99 with the S&P 500’s and a beta of +0.90, so for each 1% the index moved it moved about 0.90% the same way. The S&P 500 fell in 22 of those 52 weeks, by 1.24% on average. In the same weeks XTR fell 1.20% on average, a down-week capture of 96.7%. Over the same 52 weeks XTR returned +11.4% and a Treasury bill fund +3.6%, so it finished 7.8 percentage points ahead of cash.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, TLT or XTR?
- In the year to Sep 19, 2026, with distributions reinvested, TLT returned −4.7% and XTR returned +12.0%, so XTR returned more.
- Which is cheaper, TLT or XTR?
- TLT charges 0.15% a year and XTR charges 0.25%, so TLT is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
- Are TLT and XTR the same kind of fund?
- No. TLT is an index ETF and XTR 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.
Cite this page. ETFIQ, TLT against XTR, data as of Sep 19, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/tlt-vs-xtr Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.
A comparison is not a recommendation. Standards and sources