Managed Futures Gain 1.55% While Volatility Products Face Headwinds

Weekly Channel Summary

The Alternative ETF channel remains a specialized but significant segment of the market, currently boasting $10.3 billion in total assets under management (AUM) across 46 ETFs and 28 issuers. For the week ending February 6, 2026, the channel experienced a slight cooling of sentiment with total net outflows of ($40 million). Despite this weekly dip, the year-to-date (YTD) picture remains resilient with $186 million in net inflows, while the trailing one-year period shows impressive strength with total net flows of $3.94 billion. The current week’s activity suggests a period of consolidation as investors navigate shifting volatility and trend-following regimes, particularly within the managed futures and volatility-linked strategies that dominate this composite.

This Week’s Performance Leaders and Laggards

Performance across the alternative space was largely defined by a divergence in volatility strategies and a strong showing from trend-following funds. Historically, “Volatility – Short” and “Volatility – Long” categories maintain a sharp inverse relationship; this week, both categories faced headwinds, with the Volatility – Short category returning -0.44% and the Volatility – Long category trailing at -0.62%. This simultaneous decline reflects a challenging environment for volatility-indexed products. On a year-to-date basis, Volatility – Long remains in positive territory at 2.03%, while its short counterpart sits at -2.44%. The standout leader this week was the Absolute Return – Managed Futures category, which delivered a robust 1.55% gain, continuing its YTD dominance.

Absolute Return Category Performance

Volatility Category Performance

Top & Bottom 5 ETFs by Weekly Performance

Drilling down into individual names, the top performer this week was SCLS (Stoneport Advisors Commodity Long Short ETF), which surged 6.26%. This outperformance stands in stark contrast to the week’s laggards, notably WZRD (Opportunistic Trader ETF), which plunged -20.05%, and QIS (Simplify Multi-QIS Alternative ETF), which fell -10.90%. The significant losses in these multi-strategy and opportunistic funds highlight the heightened idiosyncratic risks often found within the complex alternative category.

Analyzing the Weekly Flows

Net flows for the week totaled ($40 million), revealing a complex narrative of investor conviction. The Alternative: Volatility – Short category led the way with $22 million in inflows; interestingly, this represents contrarian behavior as investors added capital despite the category’s negative weekly return. Conversely, the Alternative: Volatility – Long category saw the largest outflows at ($41 million), which suggests a broader de-risking from tail-hedge strategies. Within the Absolute Return space, flows were generally negative, with Absolute Return – Managed Futures seeing ($14 million) in net withdrawals, potentially indicating some profit-taking following its strong performance lead.

Absolute Return Category Flows

Volatility Category Flows

Top & Bottom 5 ETFs by 5-Day Flow

At the fund level, SVIX (-1x Short VIX Futures ETF) was the top inflow leader, gathering $15 million, which represents a massive 10.18% of its existing AUM. On the flip side, long-volatility and inverse products saw heavy selling; UVIX (2x Long VIX Futures ETF) lost ($21 million) while VXX (iPath VIX Short-Term Futures) saw ($20 million) in net outflows.

Issuer League Table Update

The competitive landscape in Alternatives remains top-heavy, with IM holding the #1 position with a 23.04% market share ($2.36 billion), followed closely by Simplify at 18.50% ($1.90 billion). Simplify was the clear winner in weekly asset gathering, pulling in $14 million. Conversely, iPath faced the most significant redemption pressure this week, recording net outflows of ($20 million).

Top 5 Issuers by AUM

Top & Bottom 3 Issuers by 5-Day Flow