Best Alternative Investment ETFs for Non-Traditional Assets
Alternative investments — often called “alts” — refer to anything outside the traditional buckets of stocks, bonds, and cash. Think hedge funds, commodities, real estate, managed futures, and merger arbitrage. These strategies were historically reserved for institutional and wealthy investors due to high minimums, complex fee structures, and limited liquidity. Alternative investment ETFs have changed that, packaging these non-traditional asset classes into exchange-traded funds with no upfront minimums and a fraction of the fees.
The alternative ETF space spans several distinct strategy types:
- Commodities: Funds like GLD (gold), USO (oil), and PDBC (broad multi-commodity) provide exposure to metals, energy, and agriculture without physical ownership.
- Managed futures: The largest alternatives category — funds like DBMF and CTA take long and short positions across equity, fixed-income, currency, and commodity futures to profit from price trends.
- Merger arbitrage: ETFs such as MNA and ARB capture returns from announced M&A deals while hedging broad market risk, targeting low-volatility, market-neutral returns.
- Hedge fund replication: Funds like QAI, HFND, and HDG aim to replicate hedge fund returns across styles including long/short equity, global macro, and event-driven strategies.
- Real estate: REIT ETFs like VNQ hold commercial and residential real estate securities, which have historically shown low correlation with the S&P 500 — roughly on par with gold at approximately 0.6.
- Multi-asset real return: Products like RLY combine commodities, TIPS, and real estate in a single fund designed to keep pace with inflation.
Long/short equity ETFs such as FTLS round out the space, taking both long and short equity positions to generate returns across varying market conditions. Some commodity-focused alternative ETFs also avoid K-1 tax forms, which simplifies filing for individual holders.
For broader context, you can also explore our real estate ETF list and our overview of ETFs by sector and industry.
Regulated brokerThe table below lists alternative investment ETFs across all major strategy types, with live pricing and performance data.
| Stock | Price | Change % | 52 Week Range |
|---|---|---|---|
 First Trust Long/Short Equity ETF FTLS | $74.50 | 0.12% | |
 iMGP DBi Managed Futures Strategy ETF DBMF | $30.92 | 0.82% | |
 Simplify Managed Futures Strategy ETF CTA | $27.20 | 0.07% | |
 NYLI Hedge Multi-Strategy Tracker ETF QAI | $36.73 | 0.77% | |
 SPDR SSgA Multi-Asset Real Return ETF RLY | $35.37 | 0.37% | |
 KFA Mount Lucas Managed Futures Index Strategy ETF KMLM | $27.82 | 0.18% | |
Franklin Systematic Style Premia ETF FLSP | $27.70 | 0.14% | |
Return Stacked U.S. Stocks & Managed Futures ETF RSST | $32.99 | 1.84% | |
 AGF U.S. Market Neutral Anti-Beta Fund BTAL | $10.96 | 2.92% | |
Convergence Long/Short Equity ETF CLSE | $34.18 | 0.29% | |
 NYLI Merger Arbitrage ETF MNA | $36.34 | 0.09% | |
 Simplify Interest Rate Hedge ETF PFIX | $43.52 | 0.78% | |
 WisdomTree Managed Futures Strategy Fund WTMF | $41.36 | 0.11% | |
Nicholas Fixed Income Alternative ETF FIAX | $17.52 | 0.22% | |
First Trust Managed Futures Strategy Fund FMF | $50.62 | 0.30% | |
Simplify Multi-QIS Alternative ETF QIS | $10.68 | 1.45% | |
Simplify Downside Interest Rate Hedge Strategy ETF RFIX | $40.32 | 0.17% | |
Return Stacked Bonds & Managed Futures ETF RSBT | $19.18 | 0.52% | |
PlanRock Market Neutral Income ETF PRMN | $27.03 | 0.28% | |
 AltShares Merger Arbitrage ETF ARB | $29.58 | 0.20% | |
 Capitol Series Trust Hull Tactical US ETF HTUS | $44.00 | 1.16% | |
 UPAR Ultra Risk Parity ETF UPAR | $16.78 | 0.57% | |
 Even Herd Long Short ETF EHLS | $26.79 | 0.05% | |
 Cambria Value & Momentum ETF VAMO | $35.47 | 0.19% | |
Hedged Equity ETF CBLS | $33.45 | 1.77% | |
Future Fund Long/Short ETF FFLS | $22.99 | 1.81% | |
 Twin Oak Short Horizon Absolute Return ETF TOAK | $28.81 | 0.03% | |
Timothy Plan Market Neutral ETF TPMN | $24.34 | 0.16% | |
Unlimited HFND Multi-Strategy Return Tracker ETF HFND | $24.68 | 0.81% | |
 Leatherback Long/Short Alternative Yield ETF LBAY | $24.78 | 0.63% | |
Beacon Selective Risk ETF BSR | $30.11 | 0.32% | |
PMV Adaptive Risk Parity ETF ARP | $32.83 | 1.04% | |
 Militia Long/Short Equity ETF ORR | $37.07 | 1.09% | |
First Trust Merger Arbitrage ETF MARB | $20.88 | 0.23% | |
ProShares Hedge Replication ETF HDG | $55.04 | 0.67% | |
ProShares Inflation Expectations ETF RINF | $32.50 | 0.15% | |
Formidable ETF FORH | $24.68 | 0.41% | |
 Volatility Premium Plus ETF ZVOL | $7.98 | 1.40% | |
Harbor Long-Short Equity ETF LSEQ | $35.33 | 0.37% | |
DGA Core Plus Absolute Return ETF HF | $22.24 | 0.71% | |
Virtus Alphasimplex Managed Futures ETF ASMF | $26.04 | 0.81% | |
Return Stacked Bonds & Merger Arbitrage ETF RSBA | $20.92 | 0.37% | |
NestYield Total Return Guard ETF EGGS | $43.76 | 2.10% | |
NestYield Dynamic Income ETF EGGY | $44.32 | 4.22% | |
Proshares Merger ETF MRGR | $45.36 | 0.28% | |
Frontier Asset Absolute Return ETF FARX | $29.01 | 0.41% | |
ProShares Long Online/Short Stores ETF CLIX | $56.31 | 1.78% | |
Simplify Market Neutral Equity Long/Short ETF EQLS | $22.33 | 0.04% | |
AltShares Event-Driven ETF EVNT | $12.00 | 0.03% | |
USCF Energy Commodity Strategy Absolute Return Fund USE | $28.20 | 0.67% | |
Vest 10 Year Interest Rate Hedge ETF RYSE | $23.99 | 0.25% | |
Global X Interest Rate Hedge ETF RATE | $17.32 | 0.63% | |
Vest 2 Year Interest Rate Hedge ETF HYKE | $25.71 | 0.38% |