BlackRock Expands Liquid Alternatives Offering with Multi-Strategy Active ETF

Key Terms

etf financial

An ETF, or exchange-traded fund, is like a basket of different investments such as stocks or bonds that you can buy or sell easily on the stock market, just like a regular share. It allows people to invest in many companies at once, making it a simple way to grow savings without picking individual stocks.

liquid alternative financial

Liquid alternatives are investment funds traded like mutual funds or ETFs that give everyday investors access to nontraditional strategies — such as hedge-fund styles, commodities, long/short positions or real assets — while allowing shares to be bought or sold quickly. They matter because they aim to reduce portfolio swings or add new sources of return, similar to adding a specialty tool to a toolbox, but they can carry higher fees and different risks than plain stocks and bonds.

equity market neutral financial

An equity market neutral strategy is an investment approach that holds both long and short positions in stocks in roughly equal amounts so overall exposure to broad market moves is minimized; think of it as a seesaw kept level while the manager tries to profit from individual stock picks. It matters to investors because it aims to reduce the impact of market-wide swings, providing diversification and potentially steadier returns, though it can be complex and fee-intensive.

managed futures financial

Managed futures are investment strategies where professional managers trade futures contracts—agreements to buy or sell commodities, currencies, interest rates or stock indexes at set prices in the future—on behalf of clients. Investors use them to seek returns that move differently from stocks and bonds, like adding a separate engine to a car; this can help spread risk and hedge against downturns, though these strategies can be volatile and carry fees and leverage risks.

benchmark financial

A benchmark is a standard or yardstick—usually a market index, interest rate, or agreed performance target—used to measure how well an investment, portfolio, or fund is doing. It matters to investors because comparing returns against that benchmark shows whether a manager is adding value or simply matching market movements; like comparing a car’s mileage to an average, beating the benchmark suggests better performance while lagging suggests underperformance or higher costs.

alpha financial

Alpha is the extra return an investment or fund earns above what would be expected from overall market moves or a chosen comparison index; think of it as how much a chef’s unique recipe outperforms a standard cookbook dish. Investors use alpha to judge whether a manager’s decisions or a strategy are adding value beyond luck or general market trends, with positive alpha indicating outperformance and negative alpha showing underperformance.

large language models technical

Large language models are advanced AI systems trained on vast amounts of text to understand and generate human-like writing, like a very fast reader and writer that learns patterns in words and sentences. They matter to investors because they can change how companies operate—automating customer service, speeding analysis, cutting costs, creating new products—and they introduce risks around accuracy, security and regulation that can affect a firm’s revenue and reputation.

hedge funds financial

Hedge funds are private investment pools run by professional managers who use a wide range of tactics—such as borrowing, betting that a stock will fall, or using complex contracts—to try to earn higher returns than ordinary funds. They matter to investors because they can move large amounts of capital quickly, influence market prices and volatility, and offer the potential for outsized gains or losses along with higher fees and less transparency than typical mutual funds.

Seeks to deliver diversified exposure to alternative strategies aiming for total return, powered by BlackRock’s 40-year Systematic investing expertise

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Today, BlackRock bolstered its liquid alternative platform with the launch of the iShares Systematic Alternatives Active ETF (Nasdaq:IALT), a multi-strategy alternative fund designed to deliver differentiated sources of return across market cycles through the transparency and convenience of an ETF. BlackRock is the largest provider of liquid alternative strategies in the U.S., capturing over 50% of inflows year-to-date.¹

IALT aims to deliver absolute returns across market cycles with a lower correlation to traditional markets through a multi-asset approach that blends BlackRock's competitive alpha-seeking streams across various liquid alternative strategies such as equity market neutral, diversified bonds and managed futures. The Fund leverages a breadth of data sources to assess thousands of securities in near real time, dynamically recalibrating the portfolio to adjust to market conditions.

Fund Name	Ticker	Portfolio Managers	Benchmark
iShares Systematic Alternatives Active ETF	IALT	Raffaele Savi, Jeff Rosenberg, Richard Mathieson, and Stephanie Lee	ICE BofA 3-Month U.S. Benchmark Treasury Bill Index

“In an environment characterized by high market concentrations, elevated valuations and volatility, and more positive stock-bond correlations, investors are increasingly seeking new ways to build diversified portfolios that can withstand uncertainty while managing liquidity,” said Raffaele Savi, Global Head of BlackRock Systematic. “Resilience demands adaptability – IALT’s systematic approach provides access to unique sources of potential return at scale, making it a versatile tool for investors and portfolio builders aiming to diversify, manage risk, and pursue growth.”

Managed by the seasoned team behind flagship liquid alternative strategies like the BlackRock Global Equity Market Neutral Fund (BDMIX) and the BlackRock Systematic Multi-Strategy Fund (BIMBX), IALT draws on the deep capabilities of BlackRock’s $378 billion Systematic investment platform.² BlackRock Systematic combines human insight with advanced data analytics, leveraging AI and Large Language Models, to pursue consistent and repeatable alpha across a spectrum of strategies from enhanced, benchmark-aware return strategies to low-correlation, pure alpha hedge funds.

“IALT represents a strategic evolution of BlackRock’s liquid alternative offering, expanding access to a segment that was once exclusive to institutional investors,” said Jessica Tan, Head of Americas for Global Product Solutions at BlackRock. “IALT combines BlackRock Systematic’s 40-year legacy of alpha generation with the full breadth of BlackRock’s ETF capabilities in seeking to help more people invest better.”

With over $5 trillion in assets across its global ETF platform, including more than $100 billion in active ETFs, BlackRock remains committed to expanding investor choice amid today’s evolving market dynamics. As active ETFs continue to gain momentum, BlackRock projects that global assets in this category will more than quadruple to $4.2 trillion by 2030, highlighting their growing role in modern portfolio construction.

About BlackRock

BlackRock’s purpose is to help more and more people experience financial well-being. As a fiduciary to investors and a leading provider of financial technology, we help millions of people build savings that serve them throughout their lives by making investing easier and more affordable. For additional information on BlackRock, please visit www.blackrock.com/corporate | Twitter: @blackrock | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/blackrock

About iShares

iShares unlocks opportunity across markets to meet the evolving needs of investors. With more than twenty years of experience, a global line-up of approximately 1,700 exchange traded funds (ETFs) and approximately $5.2 trillion in assets under management as of September 30, 2025, iShares continues to drive progress for the financial industry. iShares funds are powered by the expert portfolio and risk management of BlackRock.

Carefully consider the Funds' investment objectives, risk factors, and charges and expenses before investing. This and other information can be found in the Funds' prospectuses or, if available, the summary prospectuses which may be obtained by visiting www.iShares.com or www.blackrock.com. Read the prospectus carefully before investing.

Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal.

This information should not be relied upon as research, investment advice, or a recommendation regarding any products, strategies, or any security in particular. This material is strictly for illustrative, educational, or informational purposes and is subject to change.

Actively managed funds do not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index, may have higher portfolio turnover, and may charge higher fees than index funds due to increased trading and research expenses. There is no guarantee that an active fund will meet its investment objective.

Alpha is a measure of performance on a risk-adjusted basis. Alpha takes the volatility (price risk) of a mutual fund and compares its risk-adjusted performance to a benchmark index. The excess return of the fund relative to the return of the benchmark index is a fund's alpha. Diversification and asset allocation may not protect against market risk or loss of principal.

Alternative investments present the opportunity for significant losses and some alternative investments have experienced periods of extreme volatility. Alternative investments may be less liquid than investments in traditional securities.

The iShares Funds are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by ICE Data Indices, LLC. nor does this company make any representation regarding the advisability of investing in the Funds. BlackRock is not affiliated with ICE Data Indices, LLC.

Prepared by BlackRock Investments, LLC, member FINRA.

© 2025 BlackRock, Inc. or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved. BLACKROCK and iSHARES are trademarks of BlackRock, Inc. or its affiliates. All other trademarks are those of their respective owners.

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1 BlackRock, Morningstar as of 10/31/2025. BlackRock is the largest provider of liquid alternative strategies, based on the AUM size of US-domiciled Open-End Funds within the Morningstar US Category Group: Alternative excluding Fund of Funds, Feeder, and Money Market Funds. Net Flows based on the US-domiciled Open-End Funds within the Morningstar US Category Group: Alternative excluding Fund of Funds, Feeder, and Money Market Fund and calculated by BlackRock.

2 BlackRock, as of September 30, 2025.

 

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Source: BlackRock