EVNT vs QAI

EVNTCAltShares Event-Driven ETF

QAIANYLI Hedge Multi-Strategy Tracker ETF

In short

EVNT A hedge-fund playbook in an ETF wrapper: Water Island hunts announced and anticipated corporate deals, long and short, in stocks and bonds, so results hinge on how each event resolves more than on which way the market leans.

QAI The original hedge fund replication ETF, listed in 2009: a fund of roughly 50 exchange-traded products tracking an index built to mimic hedge fund styles, for 0.81% net of a fee waiver (1.03% gross).

Stated mandate

EVNT The Fund seeks returns through a long/short event-driven strategy investing in equity and debt securities whose prices may be affected by publicly announced or anticipated corporate events. It may pursue opportunities across industries, sectors, market capitalizations, credit qualities and countries.

QAI The Fund seeks to track the performance of the IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Index before fees and expenses. It uses passive indexing and invests primarily in exchange-traded products and related financial instruments representing the index.

Why people hold it

• EVNT Goes long or short, in equity or credit, on whichever side of a deal looks better priced. Merger arbitrage is the core, with special situations and convertible arb alongside.sec.gov
• Not a startup strategy. It ran as the Water Island Long/Short mutual fund from the end of 2014, then converted into this ETF in 2021 with its record carried over.sec.gov
• Aimed at idiosyncratic deal outcomes rather than market direction, and the prospectus points to 3-month Treasury bills as a yardstick closer to its risk than the S&P 500.sec.gov
• Roughly 60 positions spread across sectors, sizes, credit qualities and countries, so no single broken deal defines the portfolio.

• QAI Billed as the first US-listed hedge fund replication ETF when it launched in March 2009, so it carries a record across multiple market cycles rather than a backtest.asiaasset.com
• Costs 0.81% net of a fee waiver (1.03% gross), below the alternatives category median and under IALT's 0.99%.
• Plain plumbing for an exotic idea: it holds exchange-traded products and related instruments to passively track the IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Index, and trades on an exchange all day.
• Stands near the front of the roughly 30 alternatives funds in its peer group on our review.

Worth knowing

• EVNT 1.27% a year, above the alternatives category median and above peers like FLSP (0.65%) and HBDC (0.39%). Hands-on deal research is billed every year.
• A small fund that trades lightly, so spreads and order depth can matter as much as the fee when you move in or out.
• Short positions can lose more than they cost, and announced deals do collapse. That deal-break risk is the engine and the hazard here.sec.gov

• QAI Fund-of-funds design means your exposure runs through other ETFs and the index's mapping of them to hedge fund styles, with gross expenses of 1.03% against the 0.81% net line.
• Cheaper shelves sit nearby: FLSP at 0.65% and HBDC at 0.39%, though neither runs the same multi-strategy replication mandate.
• Moderately traded rather than a category volume leader, and payouts arrive annually or semiannually, so this is not an income-cadence vehicle.

Full EVNT profile⁠

Full QAI profile⁠