QALT vs QIS

QALTASEI DBi Multi-Strategy Alternative ETF

QISDSimplify Multi-QIS Alternative ETF

In short

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.

QIS Investment banks build quant 'risk premia' strategies for pensions and hedge funds. QIS packages a basket of those third-party strategies into an ETF, using total return swaps, aiming for returns that move independently of stocks and bonds.

Stated mandate

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.

QIS The fund seeks positive absolute returns and income by investing in a diversified portfolio of quantitative strategies intended to provide an uncorrelated positive source of returns.

Why people hold it

• 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%.

• QIS Gets its exposure through total return swaps on third-party bank quant strategies spanning equities, interest rates, commodities and currencies.sec.govsimplify.us
• The mandate is absolute return and income from strategies meant to be uncorrelated with the rest of a portfolio, not to shadow an index.simplify.us
• Delivered in a plain 1940 Act ETF: daily liquidity, no lockups or capital calls, for a strategy set normally sold through institutional swap desks.sec.gov

Worth knowing

• 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.

• QIS At 1.21% a year it runs above the typical alternatives ETF, and cheaper peers exist: QALT at 0.80% and RNMN at 0.59%.
• Returns ride on swap counterparties and outside models, so the drivers are less visible than a stock fund's holdings list.sec.gov
• Launched in 2023, small and thinly traded next to the bigger alternatives funds, so the track record is short and execution costs can bite.

Full QALT profile⁠

Full QIS profile⁠