Over the year to October 9, 2026, ETFIQ measured 66 alternatives ETFs against the S&P 500 in the 21 weeks out of 52 that the index fell, by an average of 1.18% in its typical down week. Of those 66 funds, 24 rose on average in those same weeks, and the median fund across the group fell by 24% as much as the index, a number known as down-week capture. A reading below zero means a fund's average return in down weeks was positive.
The results differ sharply by strategy. The volatility group, with 9 funds, had a median down-week capture of −65.0%, the only strategy group with a negative median, meaning the typical fund in that group rose when stocks fell. Five of its nine funds rose in down weeks. The three volatility funds at the top of the full table, ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures ETF, iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Future, and ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures ETF, each showed negative correlation with the S&P 500 (−0.72) and large negative down-week capture, with average down-week returns of +4.18%, +2.89% and +2.85% respectively. Market neutral, with 2 funds, had a median correlation of −0.48 and a median down-week capture of −58.3%.
At the other end, 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 59.3%, meaning the typical fund in that group still fell, just less than the index. Only 3 of its 20 funds rose in down weeks. Managed futures, with 17 funds, sat in between, with a median correlation of +0.30 and a median down-week capture of 0.6%, close to flat, and 8 of its 17 funds rose when stocks fell.
Holding up in down weeks is a separate question from building wealth over the full year. Across all 66 funds, 49 finished ahead of T-bills over the same 52 weeks. Among the 24 funds that rose in down weeks, only 14 also finished ahead of T-bills. In the managed futures group, 16 of 17 funds beat T-bills, the highest share of any strategy, while in hedged equity, 14 of 20 did, and in volatility, only 4 of 9 did, despite that group's defensive behavior in down weeks. The event driven group, with 3 funds, had only 1 beat T-bills, and global macro's single fund did beat T-bills while its correlation of +0.80 and down-week capture of 62.4% put it closer to the pattern of the hedged equity group than to defensive behavior.
Individual fund numbers show the range within each strategy. Cambria Tail Risk ETF, classified as hedged equity, had a correlation of −0.74 and a down-week capture of −27.1%, while Swan Hedged Equity US Large Cap ETF, also hedged equity, had a correlation of +0.97 and a down-week capture of 60.9%. Within managed futures, KraneShares Mount Lucas Managed Futures Inde had a correlation of −0.23 and a down-week capture of −65.1%, against Return Stacked U.S. Stocks & Managed Futures at +0.87 correlation and 104.6% down-week capture, a number above 100% meaning it fell by more than the index did in its down weeks.
Readers can check any individual fund's correlation, down-week capture and performance against T-bills on ETFIQ's fund pages, filtered by strategy or by ticker.