In an investment world marked by ongoing macro uncertainty, more investors are seeking alternative strategies to navigate murky markets. One of the funds capturing this shift is the Fidelity Managed Futures ETF (FFUT). That fund secured the award for Best New Alternatives ETF in the 2026 ETF.com Awards.
Launched in the middle of last year, FFUT’s industry recognition underscores a growing demand for diversification against stress in the convenience of an ETF investment vehicle. Furthermore, the rise of active ETFs is helping to spur demand for these more complex, nuanced products.
“Having an active portfolio manager overseeing the fund on a daily basis is important—it allows for real-time adjustments instead of simply ignoring the market while significant events are unfolding,” Craig Ebeling, Fidelity’s Head of ETF strategists, told TMX VettaFi during ETF Exchange 2026.
Capturing the Ups, Mitigating the Downs
The fund’s managed futures strategy uses derivatives to follow trends in the market – up or down – in various assets (equity, fixed income, currencies, and commodities) while providing a defensive barrier against prolonged market stress. Through a combination of proprietary modeling and active management by experienced portfolio managers, the complexity of derivatives becomes less daunting.
The dynamic element of this actively managed approach means the fund’s managers can capture alpha when markets trend higher through long futures positions. Alternatively, exposure to short positions means that the fund can also benefit when markets trend lower. That dual alpha strategy allows the fund to benefit in various market conditions, speaking to both its potential inflation hedge and its potential market stress outperformance.
Alternative Demand Rising
During the interview Ebeling addressed investors’ “hockey stick adoption.” After the fall of both stocks and bonds in 2022, investors were seeking alternate ways to mitigate volatility. That’s something the markets have reacquainted themselves with in the first quarter of 2026.
The higher-for-longer interest rate environment, along with geopolitical tensions, leads investors to seek additional ways of managing risk. The award-winning strategy of FFUT helps to bridge the gap between investors and sophisticated institutional strategies for enhanced diversification.
In a market where there’s a deficit in certainty, FFUT offers investors a disciplined, rules-based framework to remain invested through the noise as opposed to sitting on the sidelines with cash. The fund proves that sometimes the best defense against market volatility is a dynamically managed offense.
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Originally published on ETF Trends
