Trading · ranked by cost to trade $10,000 one way, half the 30-day median bid-ask spread, lowest first, among alternatives ETFs

Cheapest alternatives ETFs to trade

As of Oct 22, 2026, SVXY’s 30-day median bid-ask spread is 0.02%, so a $10,000 order costs $1.00 one way. See 17 funds ranked by cost to trade $10,000 one way, half the 30-day median bid-ask spread, lowest first, among alternatives ETFs. Updated Oct 22, 2026.

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Cheapest alternatives ETFs to trade
#	Ticker	Fund	Score	Tier	Cost to trade ↑	At $10,000	Full cost to own · 1 yr	Fee	Flags	Net assets
1	SVXY	ProShares Short VIX Short-Term Futures ETF	Not scored	No tier	0.010%	$1.00	Not measured	0.95%	None	$212m
2	KMLM	KraneShares Mount Lucas Managed Futures Index Strategy ETF	Not scored	No tier	0.030%	$3.00	Not measured	0.90%	None	$591m
3	UVXY	ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures ETF	Not scored	No tier	0.030%	$3.00	Not measured	0.95%	None	$281m
4	VIXY	ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures ETF	Not scored	No tier	0.030%	$3.00	Not measured	0.85%	None	$240m
5	VIXM	ProShares VIX Mid-Term Futures ETF	Not scored	No tier	0.040%	$4.00	Not measured	0.85%	None	$48m
6	CSM	ProShares Large Cap Core Plus	74	Liquid	0.045%	$4.50	0.59%	0.45%	None	$553m
7	LALT	First Trust Multi-Strategy Alternative ETF	Not scored	No tier	0.060%	$6.00	Not measured	1.18%	None	$436m
8	MRGR	ProShares Merger ETF	73	Liquid	0.065%	$6.50	1.06%	0.75%	Small but liquid	$16m
9	HOLD	Harbor Alpha Layering ETF	Not scored	No tier	0.075%	$7.50	Not measured	0.70%	One dealer	$4m
10	THEQ	T. Rowe Price Hedged Equity ETF	Not scored	No tier	0.082%	$8.22	Not measured	0.46%	None	$38m
11	KSPY	KraneShares Hedgeye Hedged Equity Index ETF	Not scored	No tier	0.085%	$8.50	Not measured	0.88%	None	$131m
12	FTLS	First Trust Long/Short Equity	Not scored	No tier	0.12%	$12	Not measured	1.38%	One dealer	$2.6bn
13	NTRL	First Trust Equity Market Neutral ETF	Not scored	No tier	0.12%	$12	Not measured	0.95%	None	$16m
14	FMF	First Trust Managed Futures Strategy Fund	Not scored	No tier	0.19%	$19	Not measured	0.98%	None	$291m
15	LSEQ	Harbor Long-Short Equity ETF	Not scored	No tier	0.19%	$19	Not measured	2.28%	None	$17m
16	HDG	ProShares Hedge Replication ETF	51	Thin	0.23%	$24	1.54%	0.95%	One dealer	$22m
17	IMF	Invesco Managed Futures Strategy ETF	Not scored	No tier	0.28%	$28	Not measured	0.65%	One dealer	$306m

Cheapest alternatives ETFs to trade, ranked by cost to trade $10,000 one way, half the 30-day median bid-ask spread, lowest first, among alternatives ETFs, as of Oct 22, 2026. Scores and tiers as of Oct 22, 2026. Cost to trade is one way for a $10,000 order, half the issuer’s median spread over the 30 days to Oct 22, 2026. Full cost to own is for $10,000 held a year, with the median premium over 12 months to Oct 22, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

Method

Every ETF ETFIQ places among alternatives ETFs whose issuer states a 30-day median bid-ask spread, by the cost to trade a $10,000 order one way: half that spread. A tie is broken by net assets. 17 of the 4,708 ETFs that may be listed qualify tonight.

The rest of the method

The IQ Liquidity Score measures trading conditions, not the fund, and no list here is a recommendation. The list sorts one published figure, with no scoring or weighting. Too new and closing funds are left out, as are funds no longer listed.

How these figures are computed →Standards and sources →

Where to next

ETF trading costs and liquidity→How the IQ Liquidity Score is built→Most liquid ETFs100 →Most liquid small ETFs53 →Low-volume ETFs with deep liquidity6 →ETFs whose full cost to own is far above the fee8 →Widest ETF premiums and discounts, last 30 days100 →ETFs with the most days more than 1% from NAV100 →ETFs with one active authorized participant100 →ETFs with the most authorized participants100 →The trading score file→

Where these figures came from

Rule 6c-11, what every ETF must publish daily: its spread, premium and holdings ↗SEC EDGAR, full-text search of fund filings ↗SEC Form N-PORT, what a fund filed it holds ↗Rule 19a-1, what a distribution notice must say ↗

ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure; a link is not an endorsement. A ranking is not a recommendation or an opinion.

Questions people ask

What does an ETF’s bid-ask spread cost?

Half the spread each way, on average, when you trade at the quote. A limit order at the midpoint plus half the spread caps it.

Which ETF tops this list as of Oct 22, 2026?

SVXY, at 0.010% one way, $1.00 on $10,000, from a 30-day median spread of 0.02% to Oct 22, 2026.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, Cheapest alternatives ETFs to trade, ranked by cost to trade $10,000 one way, half the 30-day median bid-ask spread, lowest first, among alternatives ETFs, data as of Oct 22, 2026. https://etfiq.com/rankings/trading-cheapest-alternatives-etfs-to-trade

Open data →

Free to use with attribution for figures ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms. The underlying files are at Open data.