HFGM vs QALT

HFGMCUnlimited HFGM Global Macro ETF

QALTASEI DBi Multi-Strategy Alternative ETF

In short

HFGM Most macro funds pick their own trades. HFGM reverse-engineers what global macro hedge funds are already positioned in, then runs that book at roughly twice the sector's volatility. Replication, with the dial turned up.

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

HFGM The Fund seeks capital appreciation by using a proprietary algorithm to build long and short positions in broad-based ETFs and futures, seeking to match recent gross returns of hedge funds’ Global Macro sector while targeting approximately twice its volatility.

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

• HFGM A proprietary algorithm infers what the global macro hedge fund sector is positioned in, then rebuilds those exposures with long and short broad-based ETFs and futures.nasdaq.com
• Charges 1.01%, gross and net, with no waiver in the mix. That sits below the alternatives category median, though peers like QALT (0.80%) and IALT (0.99%) ask less.
• It can go short as easily as long, across global asset classes, so a bearish macro view is expressed inside the portfolio rather than through the exit.
• Ordinary 1940 Act ETF plumbing: exchange trading and one flat expense ratio, not the subscription windows and performance-fee arithmetic of a private macro fund.nasdaq.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

• HFGM By design it targets about twice the volatility of the hedge fund sector it mirrors. That amplification applies to the down moves too, not just the up ones.
• Launched in April 2025, it is one of the newer names in its category, so there is limited live history for judging how the replication behaves across macro regimes.
• Among the thinner traders in its peer group, which makes the bid-ask spread a bigger slice of the round-trip cost than at the largest alternatives funds.

• 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 HFGM profile⁠

Full QALT profile⁠