The S&P 500 fell in 19 of the 52 weeks to Oct 8, 2026, losing 1.54% on average in those weeks. ETFIQ tracked 66 alternatives ETFs over the same stretch to see how they behaved when stocks dropped. Of those, 13 rose on average during the market's down weeks. The median fund across all 66 posted a down-week capture of 45%, meaning it moved 45% as much as the index on the weeks the index fell. These funds are generally sold on the idea that they behave differently from stocks, and the data above is a direct measure of that claim over the past year.
The picture changes by strategy. Hedged equity, the largest group with 20 funds, had a median correlation of +0.90 with the S&P 500 and a median down-week capture of 60.0%, with 3 of its 20 funds rising when stocks fell. Managed futures, 17 funds, ran a lower median correlation of +0.40 and a median down-week capture of 45.4%, with 2 of 17 rising. Volatility funds stood apart: a median correlation of −0.65, a median down-week capture of −71.8%, meaning the typical fund in this group rose when stocks fell, and 5 of its 9 funds did rise. Long-short equity and multi-strategy funds had none of their funds (0 of 8 and 0 of 6) rise on the market's down weeks. Market neutral, with only 2 funds, had a median correlation of −0.31 and both funds rose when stocks fell. Event driven, 3 funds, sat closer to the market with a median correlation of +0.23. Global macro had a single fund in the sample, with a correlation of +0.75.
At the individual fund level, the three volatility ETFs with the largest declines in down-week capture were UVXY at −422.7%, VIXY at −288.4%, and VXX at −284.1%, each posting large average gains in the weeks the S&P 500 fell: +6.49%, +4.43%, and +4.36% respectively. BTAL, a market neutral fund, had a down-week capture of −82.5% with a +1.27% average return in down weeks. At the other end, funds such as RSST (down-week capture 152.3%), SVXY (153.5%), and QTR (119.7%) moved further than the index did on its down weeks.
Holding up in down weeks is not the same as producing a return ahead of cash. Of the 66 funds, 49 finished ahead of T-bills over the full 52 weeks. Among the 13 funds that rose when stocks fell, only 4 also finished ahead of T-bills. UVXY, for example, rose sharply in down weeks but trailed T-bills by 71.9 percentage points over the full year. KMLM, a managed futures fund with a down-week capture of −32.6%, finished 18.6 points ahead of T-bills.
Readers can check any individual fund's correlation, down-week capture, and performance against T-bills over the same 52 weeks on the live desk.