IALT vs QALT

IALTBiShares Systematic Alternatives Active ETF

QALTASEI DBi Multi-Strategy Alternative ETF

In short

IALT Hedge-fund-style machinery in an ETF wrapper: IALT runs long and short across global asset classes, with quant models hunting mispricings instead of an index calling the shots. It launched in 2025 and is already a multi-billion-dollar fund.

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

IALT The Fund seeks long-term total return through global asset classes and diversified alternative strategies. It combines long and short strategies and uses quantitative, model-driven methods to identify potentially mispriced securities and asset classes.

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

• IALT Goes both ways. Long and short positions across global asset classes, with quantitative models picking what looks mispriced rather than an index setting the lineup.
• Spread is the point. Roughly 1,800 positions across global markets and multiple asset classes, so no single name or region carries the fund.
• Strategies like this usually live in private funds. Here it is a 1940 Act ETF that trades on an exchange all day, and it is an actively traded, multi-billion-dollar fund.

• 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

• IALT At 0.99%, it costs several times what plain allocation funds charge (AOA at 0.19%, NTSX at 0.20%). The fee buys the short book and the models, not market exposure.
• Shorting cuts both ways, and a model rather than a benchmark makes the calls. Results can sit far from a standard stock-and-bond mix in either direction.
• It opened in December 2025, so there is little history showing how the models handle a full market cycle. Distributions come once or twice a year, not monthly.

• 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 IALT profile⁠

Full QALT profile⁠