The S&P 500 fell in 22 of the 52 weeks to Sep 18, 2026, by an average of 1.24% in those down weeks. ETFIQ tracked 63 alternatives ETFs with a full year of data against that backdrop. Twenty of the 63 rose on average in the weeks the index fell, and the median fund across all 63 captured 30% of the index's average down-week move, meaning it lost less than stocks did in a typical bad week.
The seven strategies behaved differently, which is why the strategy table comes first. The median hedged equity fund, the largest group at 21 funds, had a correlation of +0.91 with the S&P 500 and a median down-week capture of 60.2%, with 4 of 21 rising when the index fell. Managed futures, the next largest group at 18 funds, showed a median correlation of +0.30 and a median down-week capture of 7.8%, with 8 of 18 rising in down weeks. Long-short equity funds carried a median correlation of +0.63 and a 38.3% down-week capture, with 1 of 9 rising. Multi-strategy funds had a median correlation of +0.45 and a 29.0% capture, with 2 of 7 rising. Event driven funds, a smaller group of five, had the lowest median correlation among the multi-fund strategies at +0.15 and a down-week capture of −4.0%, meaning the median fund in this group rose slightly on average in the weeks stocks fell, with 4 of 5 funds rising. The single market neutral fund, BTAL, posted a correlation of −0.69 and a down-week capture of −95.2%, rising an average of 1.18% in the weeks the S&P 500 fell.
Among individual funds, BTAL had the most negative correlation to the index at −0.69 and the largest down-week capture in the negative direction, at −95.2%. CTA and KMLM, both managed futures funds, showed down-week captures of −78.5% and −60.3%. At the other end, QTR and HFEQ posted down-week captures of 134.8% and 139.9%, meaning their average losses in down weeks exceeded the index's average loss.
Holding up in down weeks did not always mean beating cash. Of the 63 funds, 50 finished ahead of T-bills over the same 52 weeks. Among the 20 funds that rose on average when the index fell, 13 also finished ahead of T-bills. BTAL, for example, rose in down weeks but trailed T-bills by 22.7 percentage points over the full year. QIS, a multi-strategy fund, trailed T-bills by 41.5 percentage points despite a down-week capture of 59.6%.
Readers can check any fund's correlation, down-week capture, and result against T-bills on the live desk, updated as new weekly closes arrive.