FTLS vs QALT: Grades, Fees and Holdings Compared

First Trust Long/Short Equity ETF

FTLSBNYSE Arca

SEI DBi Multi-Strategy Alternative ETF

QALTANasdaq

Overlap

0.0%by weight

Expense ratio

QALT −0.58pt a year

FTLS1.38%QALT0.80%

Avg volume · 30D

FTLS 8.1×the volume

FTLS143KQALT17.7K

FTLS vs QALT Performance

Nov 7, 2025 – Nov 9, 2026

+6.8%FTLS+6.9%QALT

Expense ratio: FTLS 1.38%; QALT 0.80%, better
Fund size: FTLS $2.58B; QALT $194M
1Y total return: FTLS +6.8%; QALT +6.9%, better
Yield (12M): FTLS 0.89%; QALT No data
Holdings: FTLS 269; QALT 27
Avg volume (30D): FTLS 143K sh, better; QALT 17.7K sh
NAV per share: FTLS $74.10; QALT $25.77
52W range

ETF.net Grade

Pillar letters and Scores for FTLS, QALT, with each pillar’s weight
Pillar	FTLS	QALT
Cost30% weight	D34	A90Higher
Mission25% weight	Not scored	Not scored
Risk15% weight	B61	A70Higher
Tradability15% weight	A82Higher	B59
Holdings10% weight	B63	Not scored
Durability5% weight	A94Higher	B64

Rank among Alternative Strategies funds

How we build Categories ›

Same Category. FTLS and QALT are both graded against the same 29 Alternative Strategies funds, so their Grades compare head to head.

Alternative Strategies⁠

Category · 29 funds

See all 29 ›

QALT ranks 4th and FTLS 10th of 29 funds in the Alternative Strategies Category.

Rank 1AFLSPFranklin Systematic Style Premia ETFScore 78
Rank 1AHBDCHilton BDC Corporate Bond ETFScore 78
Rank 3AQAINYLI Hedge Multi-Strategy Tracker ETFScore 76
Rank 4AQALTSEI DBi Multi-Strategy Alternative ETFScore 75
Rank 5BRNMNRiverNorth Market Neutral ETFScore 68
Rank 9BLALTFirst Trust Multi-Strategy Alternative ETFScore 58
Rank 10BFTLSFirst Trust Long/Short Equity ETFScore 57
Rank 11BCLSEConvergence Long/Short Equity ETFScore 55

Our read on each fund

ETF.net Research

FTLSBFirst Trust Long/Short Equity ETF

QALTASEI DBi Multi-Strategy Alternative ETF

In short

FTLS Hedge-fund mechanics in an ETF wrapper: a long book of US stocks paired with a short book, and short proceeds never recycled into more longs. Live since 2014, it's one of the originals on the long/short shelf.

QALT One ticker, several hedge fund playbooks: SEI stacks sub-advisers running directional, event-driven and arbitrage strategies, and measures itself against 3-month T-bills instead of the S&P 500. It undercuts the typical alternatives fund on fees.

Stated mandate

FTLS The Fund seeks its objective through long and short positions in equity securities, with portfolio exposure managed across long and short positions.

QALT The fund seeks positive absolute returns across market cycles with reduced correlation to stocks and bonds. It pursues this through multiple underlying funds and sub-advisers using directional or tactical, event-driven, and arbitrage approaches.

Why people hold it

FTLS The short sleeve is a dial, not a fixture. Under normal conditions the portfolio runs 80-100% long and 0-50% short, and the manager can shrink the shorts or switch them off.mutualfunds.com
No leverage baked in: short proceeds aren't used to buy more longs, so net long exposure stays at or below 100%, which can leave a sizable cash position.mutualfunds.com
Trading since 2014 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund, it's one of the older long/short ETFs on the market, with steady if unspectacular daily volume.
Roughly 500 positions spread across the long and short books, so no single name drives the outcome. At least 80% of assets sit in US-listed equities or equity ETFs.usnews.com

QALT Charges 0.80% a year against a 1.07% median for alternatives funds. Multi-manager hedge fund exposure usually bills more than that.
Not a one-trick fund. Directional or tactical, event-driven and arbitrage sleeves run side by side through several underlying funds and sub-advisers.
The yardstick is 3-month T-bills, the cash hurdle hedge funds get judged on. The stated aim is positive absolute return with reduced correlation to stocks and bonds.
Screens near the top of its alternatives peer group, and comes in under pricier multi-strategy options such as HFGM and HDG at 0.95%.

Worth knowing

FTLS Cost is the trade-off: 1.38% a year, well above the typical actively managed US equity ETF. Shorting carries stock-borrow and dividend expenses that long-only funds don't.
Against the full active US equity field it lands in the lower half, largely on price: core rivals like DFAU (0.12%) and DFAC (0.17%) run long-only for a sliver of the fee.
The short book cuts both ways by design: it gains when shorted names fall and loses when they rise, so results can diverge sharply from a plain long-only equity fund.mutualfunds.com

QALT Launched in 2025, so there is no long record showing how this manager lineup behaves through a full market cycle.
Trading is thin next to big index ETFs, which can mean wider spreads when you get in or out.
Not the cheapest seat in the aisle: RNMN (0.59%) and CCEF (0.74%) charge less, though each runs a narrower strategy set than a multi-manager book.

Full FTLS profile⁠

Full QALT profile⁠

FTLS vs QALT Holdings

How FTLS and QALT differ

Overlap by weight

0.0%

Level by level

Asset classStocks, Alternatives0.0%
Holdings0 in both0.0%
Countryby domicile74.2%
Sector11 Sectors85.5%

Sector

Sector weights in FTLS and QALT, widest gap first
Sector	Gap	FTLS	QALT
Industrials	QALT +7.5 points	8.4%	15.9%
Technology	FTLS +7.3 points	34.7%	27.4%
Communication	FTLS +3.6 points	7.8%	4.2%
Financials	QALT +2.3 points	11.3%	13.6%
Utilities	QALT +1.8 points	0.3%	2.1%
Energy	FTLS +1.7 points	5.6%	3.9%
Consumer Staples	FTLS +1.6 points	4.6%	3.0%
Materials	QALT +1.0 points	3.4%	4.4%
Health Care	QALT +1.0 points	12.4%	13.3%
Real Estate	QALT +1.0 points	3.2%	4.2%
Consumer Discretionary	FTLS +0.3 points	8.3%	8.0%

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Country weights in FTLS and QALT, widest gap first
Country	Gap	FTLS	QALT
United States	FTLS +22.9 points	94.6%	71.7%
Taiwan	QALT +4.2 points	0.9%	5.1%
South Korea	QALT +3.8 points	0.0%	3.8%
China	QALT +3.3 points	0.1%	3.4%
Canada	FTLS +2.9 points	3.1%	0.2%
Japan	QALT +2.5 points	0.0%	2.5%
India	QALT +1.9 points	0.0%	1.9%
United Kingdom	QALT +1.6 points	0.5%	2.1%
Other countries (31)	QALT +8.4 points	0.8%	9.2%

Outside the US: QALT 39% developed, 61% emerging.

Concentration

Weight in the 10 largest Holdings

FTLS65.3%
QALT82.3%

Securities held

FTLS268
QALT26

Asset class

FTLS: Stocks
QALT: Alternatives

Holdings

Only in FTLS268
In both0
Only in QALT26

Only in FTLS

268 securities, 100% of FTLS by weight

Apple Inc.6.75%
NVIDIA Corporation6.31%
Microsoft Corporation5.02%
Alphabet Inc. (Class A)4.08%
Amazon.com, Inc.3.17%
Analog Devices, Inc.1.55%
Visa Inc. (Class A)1.55%
Mastercard Incorporated1.38%
Seagate Technology Holdings Plc1.32%
Texas Instruments Incorporated1.27%
Meta Platforms, Inc. (Class A)1.16%
Gilead Sciences, Inc.1.06%
Broadcom Inc.1.06%
Verizon Communications Inc.1.04%
Salesforce, Inc.1.03%
AbbVie Inc.0.99%
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (ADR)0.97%
McKesson Corporation0.97%
Eli Lilly and Company0.91%
Shopify Inc. (Class A)0.89%
Chevron Corporation0.87%
Caterpillar Inc.0.86%
Citigroup Inc.0.84%
CME Group Inc.0.82%
Cisco Systems, Inc.0.80%
Merck & Co., Inc.0.78%
Tesla, Inc.0.77%
The Coca-Cola Company0.75%
Snowflake Inc. (Class A)0.75%
Valero Energy Corporation0.73%
Bank of America Corporation0.69%
Ross Stores, Inc.0.67%
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company0.64%
Dell Technologies Inc. (Class C)0.63%
Chubb Limited0.62%
Pfizer Inc.0.62%
Micron Technology, Inc.0.60%
AT&T Inc.0.59%
General Motors Company0.58%
Intuitive Surgical, Inc.0.57%
T-Mobile US, Inc.0.57%
Autodesk, Inc.0.57%
Howmet Aerospace Inc.0.55%
Vanguard Morningstar Small-Cap Value ETF0.55%
Fortinet, Inc.0.55%
Cardinal Health, Inc.0.54%
Vanguard Morningstar Small-Cap ETF0.54%
iShares Core S&P SmallCap ETF0.54%
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company0.53%
Schwab U.S. Small-Cap ETF0.53%

Only in QALT

26 securities, 29.9% of QALT by weight

Coca-Cola Co 0CP 11/20/261.46%
Sanofi 0 % Cp 12/14/20261.45%
Roche Holdings 0 11/12/261.45%
Toyotamotor 0CP 01/21/271.36%
Fhlbdn 01/05/271.34%
Fhlbdn 12/04/261.33%
Ciscosystems 0CP 12/16/261.29%
Caterpillar 0 Cp 11/10/261.29%
Walmartinc 0CP 12/21/261.28%
Fhlbdn 12/28/261.25%
NESTLEFINANCE0CP 11/19/261.24%
PROCTER&GAMBL0CP 10/13/261.21%
Unilever Capital Corp1.18%
Fhlbdn 12/22/261.17%
Fhlbdn 01/19/271.16%
John Deere 0CP 12/18/20261.14%
Svenska Handelsbanken 0CP1.13%
Apple Inc1.13%
Fhlbdn 11/13/261.10%
Archer DANIELS0CP 12/9/261.09%
TORONTODOMINIO0CP 12/7/261.05%
Fhlbdn 01/14/271.04%
Fhlbdn 11/18/261.03%
Fhlbdn 12/07/260.93%
JOHNSON&JOHNS Cp 11/16/260.78%
B 01/05/270.05%

Weight gaps

FTLS and QALT share no securities.

All 515 FTLS holdings⁠All 42 QALT holdings⁠

How we measure overlap

Each holding counts at its smaller weight in the two funds, summed over the full Holdings. Sector, country and asset class use the same rule on each fund’s split. Cash, FX and derivative lines stay out of the counts. Two bond funds get no overlap figure.

FTLS vs QALT Cost

Overpaying FTLS vs QALT

$9,208

On $10,000 over 30 years. 7% growth a year before fees, expense ratio only.

FTLS 1.38%
$24,554
QALT 0.80%
$15,346

Amount$10,000

Years30 years

Cost over time

FTLS 1.38%
QALT 0.80%
Overpaying

Year by year

Year	FTLS	QALT	Overpaying
10	$2,395	$1,422	$973
20	$8,848	$5,393	$3,455
30	$24,554	$15,346	$9,208

Expense ratio

1.38%FTLS
0.80%QALT, cheaper

QALT0.80%FTLS1.38%

0.39%10.91%

Middle half of Alternative Strategies funds
Median 1.13%

QALT 4th cheapest of 29 funds

FTLS 20th cheapest of 29 funds

FTLS vs QALT Dividends

Last 12 months to Nov 9, 2026

Yield (12M): FTLS 0.89%; QALT No data
Payout (12M): FTLS $0.67; QALT No data
Last payment: FTLS $0.18; QALT $0.17
Ex-dividend: FTLS Sep 24, 2026; QALT Oct 5, 2026
Paid on: FTLS Sep 30, 2026; QALT Oct 6, 2026
Frequency: FTLS Quarterly; QALT Quarterly

Distribution history

Per share, 2017 to 2026, same scale for both

FTLSQuarterly · 33 paymentsAll FTLS payments⁠

QALTQuarterly · 5 paymentsAll QALT payments⁠

FTLS vs QALT Risk

Fall from peak · 5 years

This chart needs five years of history for both funds.

Risk facts

VolatilityStd dev, 3 years: FTLS 7.1%QALT 7.2%since Sep 2025
Return per unit of riskSharpe ratio, 3 years: FTLS 1.33QALT 0.77since Sep 2025
Worst fallMax drawdown, 5 years: FTLS −11.7%QALT −4.9%since Aug 2025
Market sensitivityBeta, 5 years: FTLS 0.47QALT 0.24; Market = 1

FTLS and QALT in the news

All news⁠

Category Review
The largest alternatives fund has no one-year record
Updated Sep 28, 2026FTLS

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