Over the year to September 24, 2026, ETFIQ tracked 64 alternatives ETFs through 52 weekly returns, 18 of which were down weeks for the S&P 500, with the index falling an average of 1.60% in those weeks. Nine funds rose, on average, during those same down weeks. Across all 64, the median fund's down-week capture was 47%, meaning the typical fund moved about half as much as the index did when the index fell. Down-week capture measures a fund's average return in the index's down weeks as a share of the index's own average decline in those weeks; a negative number means the fund rose while the index fell.
The picture changes by strategy. Hedged equity, the largest group with 21 funds, had a median correlation of +0.91 with the S&P 500, close to the index itself, and a median down-week capture of 62.3%, meaning most of these funds still fell, just by less. Three of the 21 rose in down weeks. Managed futures, with 18 funds, had a lower median correlation of +0.39 and a median down-week capture of 41.0%, with three funds rising. Long-short equity and multi-strategy funds sat in between, with correlations of +0.59 and +0.51 and down-week captures of 49.7% and 31.8%, and neither group had a fund that rose on average in down weeks. Event driven funds, only five in total, had the lowest median correlation among the larger groups at +0.32 and a down-week capture of 5.6%, with one of five rising. The two market neutral funds, BTAL and MKTN, had a median correlation of -0.33 and a median down-week capture of -46.6%, meaning they rose on average in the weeks the index fell; both are also the only strategy group where every fund rose.
At the fund level, BTAL had the most negative down-week capture, -83.7%, meaning it rose 1.34% on average when the S&P 500 fell 1.60%. CTA, KMLM, TAIL and QBER also posted negative down-week captures, each rising slightly in the average down week. At the other end, RSST had the highest down-week capture recorded, 147.8%, meaning it fell more than the index did in down weeks, and its correlation was +0.85.
Falling less, or even rising, is a separate question from returns over the full period. Of the 64 funds, 52 finished ahead of T-bills over the same 52 weeks. Among the nine funds that rose on average in down weeks, five were also ahead of T-bills. BTAL, which had the most negative down-week capture, finished 25.3 percentage points behind T-bills. TAIL finished 18.1 points behind. CTA and KMLM, both managed futures funds, were ahead of T-bills by 7.6 and 17.8 points respectively.
Readers can check any fund's weekly correlation, its down-week capture, and its result against T-bills on the live desk, filtered by strategy or by ticker.