The idea that a good hedge fund strategy cannot work in a mutual fund or ETF is getting harder to defend. Year to date through October 2026, managed futures ETFs in Morningstar’s Systematic Trend category outperformed their mutual fund peers by just over 100 basis points on average, roughly matching the fee differential. Both groups modestly trailed the SG CTA Index’s approximately 14% gain, although ETFs have outperformed both hedge funds and mutual funds on average over the past several years. These results suggest that added complexity has not consistently justified higher costs and fees, while strong performance across all three groups is good news for managed futures investors.
