QALT vs SHRT

QALTASEI DBi Multi-Strategy Alternative ETF

SHRTDGotham Short Strategies 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.

SHRT One of the few ETFs built to lean against the market: Gotham's stock pickers run a long book and a bigger short book, targeting roughly 50% net short US equity exposure.

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.

SHRT The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation and positive returns during declining markets. It actively manages long and short equity and equity-related positions, primarily in companies traded on U.S. markets, targeting approximately 50% net short exposure.

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%.

• SHRT Net short by design, not by inverse swap: an actively picked book of US longs and shorts aiming for about 50% net short exposure.
• Run by Gotham Asset Management, the firm where Joel Greenblatt is a managing principal and co-CIO, so the short book is stock selection, not a market-wide bet.sec.gov
• Honest scorecard: shareholder reports measure it against both the S&P 500 Total Return Index and a 50% inverse of that index, the two yardsticks that actually fit the mandate.sec.gov
• History predates the ticker. The strategy dates to 2008 and ran as a mutual fund until a reorganization after the close on November 3, 2023 turned it into an ETF.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.

• SHRT Costs 1.35%, with no fee waiver in place, above the alternatives category median. FLSP, a systematic multi-strategy peer, charges 0.65%.
• A small, thinly traded fund, so spreads can be wide and larger orders can move the price.
• Leaning short cuts both ways: the net short target is built to work in falling markets and to fight rising ones, and short positions carry borrow costs.sec.gov

Full QALT profile⁠

Full SHRT profile⁠