Over the year to September 25, 2026, ETFIQ tracked 64 alternatives ETFs through the 21 weeks in which the S&P 500 fell, averaging a 1.29% weekly decline. In those weeks, 21 of the 64 funds rose on average rather than fell, and the median fund's decline came to 29% of the index's, a number ETFIQ calls down-week capture. These funds are marketed on the idea that they behave differently from stocks, and the down-week weeks are where that claim gets tested most directly.
The results split sharply by strategy, and the strategy table has to come first because the funds inside it are not doing the same thing. The median hedged equity fund moved with the S&P 500 closely, a correlation of +0.91, and its median down-week capture of 59.5% shows it falling by more than half of the index's own decline in bad weeks, only 4 of its 21 funds rose during those weeks. Managed futures sat at the other end, a median correlation of +0.30 and a median down-week capture of 9.6%, with 8 of its 18 funds rising when stocks fell. Long-short equity, multi-strategy, event driven, global macro and market neutral each had their own mix: event driven's median down-week capture was slightly negative at −4.4%, and market neutral, the smallest group at two funds, showed a median correlation of −0.46 and a median down-week capture of −54.0%, with both of its funds rising in the S&P 500's down weeks.
Individual funds ranged widely within these groups. BTAL, a market neutral fund, had a correlation of −0.69 with the S&P 500 and a down-week capture of −90.0%, meaning it rose on average as stocks fell, though it still finished 26.4 points behind T-bills over the same weeks. Among managed futures funds, CTA and KMLM also showed down-week capture below zero, at −71.2% and −61.5%, and each finished ahead of T-bills. At the opposite end, funds such as XTR, QTR and HFEQ posted down-week capture numbers above 100%, meaning they fell by more than the index did in its own down weeks, though several of these still finished ahead of T-bills over the full period, XTR by 9.5 points and HFEQ by 13.0 points.
Holding up in falling weeks and outrunning cash over the year are separate outcomes, and the data keeps them separate. Of the 64 funds, 52 finished ahead of T-bills over the 52 weeks measured, and among the 21 funds that rose in the S&P 500's down weeks, 15 also cleared that bar. BTAL and TAIL, for example, both showed negative down-week capture, meaning they rose when stocks fell, yet both finished behind T-bills over the full year, by 26.4 and 17.8 points respectively. QIS, a multi-strategy fund with a down-week capture of 55.0%, finished 43.4 points behind T-bills, the widest gap in the table.
Readers working from the live desk can check any fund's own correlation, down-week capture and gap against T-bills against the same 52 weekly closes ETFIQ used here, and see where it sits against the median for its own strategy.