VanEck Australian Long Short Complex ETF
Performance
Total return to 23 Oct 2026, distributions reinvested, before franking. ASX figures are to 30 Sept 2026 and gross of franking, so they run higher for franked Australian funds.
What it costs to hold
Management fee plus trading costs, compared with similar funds.
A typical fund among Australian equity funds would cost $187 (0.37% a year), so ALFA is $44 dearer.
Spread is the average gap between buying and selling prices on the ASX. Fees are shown on a flat balance, not compounded on growth. Excludes tax and any adviser or platform fees.
Calendar-year returns
Where the money is
The issuer does not publish machine-readable holdings for this fund, so exposures and holdings overlap are not available. Return correlations still are.
Monthly returns
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 5.9 | 6.1 | −4.9 | 2.6 | 3.9 | −5.3 | −1.3 | 2.5 | −0.3 | −2.0 | 6.7YTD | ||
| 2025 | −1.7 | −11.2 | 7.3 | 11.3 | −0.7 | −2.2 | 9.5 | 2.8 | −3.2 | −7.4 | 0.6 | 2.8 |
Total return each month in %, distributions reinvested, before franking. The latest month runs to the last price date. The first year starts from listing.
Most similar funds
Overlap is the share of the portfolio held in common, look-through. Correlation is of daily returns. High overlap means close substitutes.
ALFA questions answered
Written from the latest data on this page. General information only, not financial advice.
How diversified is VanEck Australian Long Short Complex ETF?
The issuer of VanEck Australian Long Short Complex ETF doesn't publish its holdings in a form we can read, so we can't measure how diversified it is. It is classed as equity with a Australia focus; the product disclosure statement (PDS) and the issuer's fact sheet list what it owns.
Which ETFs does ALFA double up with most?
We can't compare holdings for ALFA, as the issuer doesn't publish them in a form we can read, and no fund's returns track it closely, so it offers a fairly distinct exposure.
How is VanEck Australian Long Short Complex ETF managed – active or passive?
VanEck Australian Long Short Complex ETF is passively managed: it follows an index and holds what that index holds, rather than relying on a manager's stock picks.
Among Australian equity funds, active funds charge a median 0.85% a year and index funds 0.34%.
What will I pay in fees for ALFA?
ALFA charges a management fee of 0.39% a year, about $39 for every $10,000 invested. That is cheaper than 55% of the 471 ASX ETFs we track, where the median fee is 0.44%. Among Australian equity funds, the median is 0.35%.
Lower-cost funds with a similar focus include Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF (VAS) at 0.07%, Betashares Australia 200 ETF (A200) at 0.04% and iShares Core S&P/ASX 200 ETF (IOZ) at 0.05%.
If you would rather have a manager choose the investments, active options such as Airlie Australian Share Fund - Active ETF (AASF) at 0.78% and Ausbil Active Sustainable Equity Fund - Active ETF (ASUS) at 1.00% cost more.
The fee is taken from the fund's assets and is already reflected in its returns. You'll also pay brokerage when you buy or sell, and the bid-ask spread, which has averaged 0.36% for ALFA.
Does VanEck Australian Long Short Complex ETF follow a theme?
No. VanEck Australian Long Short Complex ETF is a broad equity fund: it aims to cover a wide slice of its market (Australia) rather than one theme or sector.
What is under the hood of ALFA?
The issuer doesn't publish ALFA's holdings in a form we can read. Its website and fact sheet list the full portfolio.
It follows an index. Most broad share indices weight companies by market size, so the largest companies take the biggest share; the exact rules for ALFA's index are in the issuer's PDS.
How well has VanEck Australian Long Short Complex ETF performed?
Based on its category, VanEck Australian Long Short Complex ETF aims to grow your capital in line with the index it tracks.
To 23 Oct 2026, with distributions reinvested, it returned −2.5% over 1 year (median 0.6%; ranked 44 of 65). The medians and rankings compare it with Australian equity funds. Since listing in 2025 it has returned 6.6% a year.
Tracking difference is the gap between a fund's return and its index's return. We don't hold index returns, so we can't measure it for ALFA; the issuer reports it in the monthly fact sheet. As a guide, a well-run index fund trails its index by about its fee, here 0.39% a year, and a much bigger gap is a warning sign.
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.