DBMF Is Quietly Beating the 60/40 Portfolio in 2026, and This $3 Billion Fund Leads the Pack

DBMF is a managed futures strategy ETF designed to replicate the pre-fee performance of large managed futures hedge funds. It takes long or short positions in 10 to 15 highly liquid futures contracts across commodities, interest rates, currencies, and equity indexes. The fund reverse-engineers average exposures from the CTA hedge fund universe and expresses them through futures rather than paying traditional hedge fund fees. Its return engine is trend following, going long on sustained dollar strength and short on sustained declines in assets like crude oil. The fund charges a 0.85% expense ratio and distributes a 5.2% yield largely supported by Treasury collateral. The strategy’s diversification case centers on 2022, when equities and investment-grade bonds fell together, while DBMF delivered a strong positive return.

"DBMF is designed to replicate the pre-fee performance of the largest managed futures hedge funds by taking long or short positions in 10 to 15 highly liquid futures contracts across commodities, interest rates, currencies, and equity indexes. The fund reverse-engineers the average exposures of the CTA hedge fund universe, then expresses them via cheap, liquid futures rather than paying the 2-and-20 fee structure underneath. The return engine is trend following. When the dollar rallies for months, the fund is long dollars. When crude oil grinds lower, it is short crude. The strategy makes money when markets move in sustained directions and loses money when they chop sideways."

"DBMF is up 11% year to date, while a 60/40 mix of the S&P 500 and the U.S. Aggregate Bond Index has returned roughly 5%, based on SPY at 9% and AGG at 0%. For retirees who watched bonds fail to cushion equity losses in 2022, the iMGP DBi Managed Futures Strategy ETF (NYSEARCA:DBMF) has changed the conversation by gathering roughly $3 billion in assets and delivering what the 60/40 portfolio failed to deliver then and is again outpacing in 2026: a return stream that does not move in lockstep with stocks and bonds."

"The fund charges an expense ratio of 0.85% and pays a distribution yield of 5.2%, the latter sourced largely from Treasury collateral backing the futures positions rather than from the trading strategy itself. Testing the Diversification Claim The core rationale for holding this unique strategy stems from its performance throughout 2022, when traditional equities and investment-grade fixed income collapsed simultaneously for the first time in modern financial history. DBMF delivered a stellar 21.5% total return during 2022, whereas standard balanced asset portfolios suffered catastrophic, double-digit losses."

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