FMF vs IMF

FMFCFirst Trust Managed Futures Strategy Fund

IMFAInvesco Managed Futures Strategy ETF

In short

FMF One of the original managed futures ETFs, trading since 2013: long, short or flat across commodity, currency, equity index and Treasury futures, aiming at returns that don't track stocks or bonds.

IMF —No data

Stated mandate

FMF The Fund seeks positive returns that are not directly correlated with broad equity or fixed-income market returns. It primarily uses exchange-listed futures, including through a wholly owned Cayman Islands subsidiary, and may take long or short positions across global futures markets.

IMF —No data

Why people hold it

• FMF Running since 2013, one of the earliest ETFs to package a trend-following futures playbook that had mostly lived inside hedge funds.etfstrategy.com
• Goes long, short or flat across commodity, currency, equity index and global debt futures, including Treasuries, so falling trends are tradable too.ftportfolios.com
• Actively run against a diversification mandate: positive returns not directly correlated to broad equity or fixed income markets. No index to hug.
• Holds its futures through a wholly owned Cayman subsidiary, the plumbing that lets a fund wrapper carry this much derivatives exposure. Pays quarterly.

IMF —No data

Worth knowing

• FMF At 0.98% a year it prices above the category median of 0.82%, with cheaper takes on the same idea in WTMF (0.65%) and JPFP (0.59%).
• Thinly traded for an ETF, so the spread and a limit order matter more here than on a mega-cap index fund.
• Manager signals drive the outcome, and it sits in the lower half of a crowded managed futures group on our overall read.

IMF —No data

Full FMF profile⁠

Full IMF profile⁠