Over the year to September 23, 2026, ETFIQ measured 63 alternatives ETFs against the S&P 500's weekly moves. The index fell in 24 of the 52 weeks, losing an average of 1.17% in those down weeks. Across the group, 11 funds rose on average during those same weeks, and the median fund's down-week capture was 45%, meaning it lost roughly 45 cents for every dollar the index lost when stocks fell. That is the headline test for funds sold on behaving differently from stocks, and the data shows most, though not all, softened the blow to some degree.
The picture changes by strategy. Hedged equity, the largest group with 21 funds, had a median correlation to the S&P 500 of +0.93 and a median down-week capture of 69.4%, with 4 of 21 funds rising when the index fell. Managed futures, 18 funds, ran a much lower median correlation of +0.43 and a median down-week capture of 49.1%, with 3 of 18 rising. Long-short equity, 9 funds, carried a median correlation of +0.66 and a median capture of 77.1%, and none of the nine rose in down weeks. Multi-strategy funds had a median capture of 43.7%. Event driven funds, 5 in total, stood apart with a median correlation of just +0.30 and a median down-week capture of 1.2%, meaning the typical fund in that group was close to flat when stocks fell. The single market neutral fund, BTAL, had a correlation of −0.76 and a down-week capture of −145.3%, rising by more than the index fell.
Holding up in down weeks is a separate question from building wealth over the full year. Of the 63 funds, 50 finished ahead of T-bills over the same 52 weeks. Among the 11 funds that rose when the S&P 500 fell, only 6 also beat T-bills, showing that cushioning a downturn and outrunning cash returns are not the same achievement. BTAL, for example, had the strongest down-week capture of any fund at −145.3%, but finished 25.4 percentage points behind T-bills. By contrast, several managed futures funds combined positive down-week behavior with returns ahead of T-bills: KMLM rose an average 0.39% in down weeks with a capture of −33.6%, and finished 17.5 points ahead of T-bills; CTA rose 0.40% in down weeks with a capture of −34.2%, finishing 7.9 points ahead.
Individual results within each strategy varied widely. Among hedged equity funds, QBER and TAIL showed down-week captures of −15.7% and −12.9% respectively, both rising when the index fell, while others in the same strategy, such as THEQ at 73.2% capture or ACIO at 80.6%, moved much more closely with the market. Event driven funds MRGR and EVNT posted small gains in down weeks, at −12.5% and −8.4% capture, while RSBA in the same strategy had a capture of 20.0%.
A reader can check any individual ticker's correlation, down-week capture and performance against T-bills on the live desk to see how a specific fund behaved across the full 52-week span.