# Alternatives ETF Terms Explained in Plain Words

> What correlation, beta, down-week capture and return against T-bills mean on an alternatives ETF, measured weekly over one year.

Data as of Nov 4, 2026. Rebuilt every trading night.

## Reading an alternatives ETF: the vocabulary

What correlation, beta, down-week capture and return against T-bills mean on an alternatives ETF, measured weekly over one year.

An alternatives fund is sold on behaving differently from stocks. So the words here describe how a fund moved with the S&P 500, not what it returned. Each uses weekly returns over the last year. A fund holding futures or foreign shares prices at a different time from the New York close, and a week lets both sides see the same news.

Correlation How closely the fund’s weekly returns moved with the S&P 500’s over the last year, from −1 to 1. At 1 the two rise and fall together, at 0 there is no pattern, and below 0 the fund tended to move the other way. Beta How far the fund moved, on average, for each 1% move in the S&P 500 over the same weeks. At 0.3 it moved about 0.3% the same way; below 0 it moved the other way. Down week A week in which the S&P 500 fell, measured through SPY with dividends reinvested. A week that ended exactly level is not a down week. Down-week capture The fund’s average return in the S&P 500’s down weeks as a share of the index’s own average in those weeks. At 100% it fell as much, at 50% half as much, and below zero it rose. It is weekly and covers one year, so it is not the same number as Morningstar’s downside capture. Against T-bills The fund’s total return minus a short Treasury bill fund’s ( BIL ) over the same year, in percentage points. A fund can steady a portfolio and still earn less than cash.

### Where to next

Definitions as ETFIQ uses them for alternatives ETFs. Standards and sources

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Source: ETFIQ, independent ETF data. Recomputed nightly from public filings and prices.
Cite: ETFIQ, Reading an alternatives ETF: the vocabulary, data as of Nov 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/learn/alternatives
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