# How JPMorgan Ultra-Short Income ETF (JPST) compares with the whole market and its popular alternatives

> Source: EasyCompare research, https://easycompare.io/research/jpst
> Data as of October 20, 2026. Total returns include reinvested dividends. Past performance does not predict future results; nothing here is investment advice.

Built by QuantCommons' quantitative engine, this page is about relative opportunity, not data on JPST alone. It places JPST (JPMorgan Ultra-Short Income ETF) against 20+ popular alternatives, its neighboring categories and the entire market of over 10,000 U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs, and surfaces what has done better on consistent outperformance, return for the risk taken, behavior in real market crashes and diversification. The result is a clearer view of where JPST stands in the market, and of the alternatives worth a closer look.

Period covered: JPST's full trading record, from May 2017 through September 2026. The crash tests reach back to 2000 using older funds and the S&P 500. All returns include reinvested dividends. Data as of October 20, 2026.

## Key findings

- **Right now:** Over the past 6 months, JPST rose 1.6% against 9.1% for the S&P 500 and 11.2% for the Nasdaq 100. That said, both JPST and the S&P 500 are within a few percent of a record high.
- **Fund or market?:** JPST rose 0.7% over the past 3 months, 2.5 points ahead of the US bond market ETF AGG (iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF), which fell 1.7%. The S&P 500 rose 3.9%.
- **Long term:** JPST turned $10,000 into $12,100 over the past 5 years, against $18,200 in the S&P 500.
- **Diversification:** Against the S&P 500, JPST has a correlation of 0.28 over 5 years, less closely than 94% of ETFs with at least $100 million in assets. Next to an index fund it is a real diversifier. JPST fell in three of the 22 months the S&P 500 fell over the past 5 years: it often held up.
- **Better options**
  - **Popular alternatives:** SGOV (iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF) matched JPST's return over the past 5 years (3.8% a year against 3.9%) with 53% less volatility.
  - **Whole market:** Nothing in the whole market did better on both counts: none of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than JPST with less volatility over the past 5 years.

## How much would $10,000 in JPST have grown?

This chart tracks a hypothetical $10,000 investment in JPST over the past 9 years, with dividends reinvested, alongside the same amount in the S&P 500, investments that ended ahead of JPST over the same span and JPST's popular alternatives, among those that traded for the entire period.

- $10,000 invested in JPST at the end of September 2017 would have grown to $13,101 by September 2026, less than the $34,839 it would have become in SPY, an S&P 500 fund.
- Five of the eight other investments on the chart ended ahead of JPST, and NVDA finished highest, at $519,069.

## JPST at a glance

This section summarizes the key facts about the fund, its returns over periods from one to ten years and the risk it has carried, with dividends reinvested throughout.

- JPST has not had a losing calendar year since it began trading in 2017; it gained in all eight full years, at worst 0.1% in 2021.
- JPST is trading within 1% of its all-time high.
- JPST's deepest decline since it began trading in 2017 was 3.3%, in March 2020. It took two months from the low to climb back to its old high.

- Type: ETF, Bonds (Asset Management - Bonds)
- Trading since: May 19, 2017
- Assets: $43B
- Expense ratio: 0.18%
- Volatility (5 years): 0.6%; Sharpe ratio: 6.34
- Worst decline ever: −3.3%, from March 4, 2020 to March 25, 2020; back at its high by May 20, 2020

| Period | JPST total return |
| --- | --- |
| 1 month | +0.3% |
| 3 months | +0.7% |
| 6 months | +1.6% |
| year to date | +2.5% |
| 1 year | +3.4% |
| 3 years | +15.5% |
| 5 years | +20.8% |

## JPST against the whole market

Where JPST ranks among every stock and fund, and what across the market has done better.

### How does JPST rank among all ETFs?

This section ranks JPST on return, volatility, risk-adjusted return and worst decline against every ETF worth at least $100 million with enough history.

- On return for the risk taken (the Sharpe ratio), JPST ranks in the top 1% of the 1,560 ETFs with at least $100 million in assets.
- JPST's 3-year return ranks in the bottom 11% of the 1,949 ETFs with at least $100 million in assets with 3 years of history.

| Measure | JPST | Rank |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1-year return | +3.4% | 1,707 of 2,485 (top 69%) |
| 3-year return | +15.5% | 1,737 of 1,949 (top 90%) |
| 5-year return | +20.8% | 1,105 of 1,560 (top 71%) |
| Volatility, 5 years | 0.6% | 13 of 1,560 (top 1%) |
| Sharpe ratio, 5 years | 6.34 | 12 of 1,560 (top 1%) |

### What has beaten JPST on both return and risk?

Each dot is an investment, placed by how much it earned a year over the past 5 years (higher is better) and how much its price swung, its volatility (further left is calmer).

- None of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than JPST over the past 5 years with less volatility: nothing sits in the green region.

### Is there a better investment than JPST?

The table below lists investments that beat JPST over the past 5 years on at least one of these measures: a higher annual return with lower volatility, a higher annual return at similar volatility, a similar return with lower volatility, a higher Sharpe ratio with a smaller worst decline, a higher total return in most periods from 3 months to 10 years, or smaller losses in recent market crashes, and, for funds, the same exposure at a lower expense ratio.

- Among JPST's popular alternatives, SGOV matched JPST's return over the past 5 years (3.8% a year against 3.9%) with 53% less volatility.
- Nothing in the whole market did better on both counts: none of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than JPST with less volatility over the past 5 years.

## JPST against its popular alternatives

The investments people most often weigh against JPST, compared period by period and year by year.

### How do JPST's risk and return compare with its alternatives?

This map plots each investment's annual return over the past 5 years against its volatility, the size of its typical price swings.

- Only USFR and ICSH were both more rewarding and calmer than JPST over the past 5 years, earning a higher annual return with lower volatility.
- Over the past 5 years, JPST returned 3.9% a year, less than the S&P 500's 12.7%, with lower volatility (0.6% against 17.1%).

### Has JPST consistently beaten its popular alternatives?

This section compares JPST with the investments people most often weigh against it, checking each one over seven periods from one month to five years.

- Three of the 25 popular alternatives, JAAA, FLOT and FLRN, outperformed JPST in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 2 long-term timeframes.
- BIL, SGOV and SHV earned more for the risk they took than JPST (a higher Sharpe ratio) and fell less in their worst decline of the past 10 years.

| Investment | 1Y return | 3Y return | 5Y return | Periods ahead of JPST | Verdict | Sharpe |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| JPST: JPMorgan Ultra-Short Income ETF (this page) | +3.4% | +15.5% | +20.8% |  |  | 6.34 |
| JAAA: Janus Henderson AAA CLO ETF | +4.9% | +19.5% | +28.0% | 3/5 short-term, 2/2 long-term | consistent | 2.98 |
| FLOT: iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF | +4.3% | +16.9% | +24.5% | 3/5 short-term, 2/2 long-term | consistent | 2.48 |
| FLRN: State Street SPDR Bloomberg Investment Grade Floating Rate ETF | +4.3% | +16.9% | +24.4% | 3/5 short-term, 2/2 long-term | consistent | 2.58 |
| PULS: PGIM Ultra Short Bond ETF | +4.1% | +16.6% | +24.0% | 2/5 short-term, 2/2 long-term |  | 6.07 |
| USFR: WisdomTree Floating Rate Treasury Fund | +4.0% | +14.5% | +21.6% | 2/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | 9.69 |
| GSY: Invesco Ultra Short Duration ETF | +3.7% | +16.4% | +21.1% | 0/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | 6.38 |
| VUSB: Vanguard Ultra-Short Bond ETF | +3.4% | +16.1% | +19.7% | 0/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | 4.22 |
| SPSB: State Street SPDR Portfolio Short Term Corporate Bond ETF | +2.0% | +16.3% | +14.9% | 0/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | 1.38 |
| [VCSH](https://easycompare.io/research/vcsh): Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF | +0.7% | +17.0% | +12.1% | 0/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | 0.80 |
| [AGG](https://easycompare.io/research/agg): iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | −1.9% | +16.2% | −1.5% | 0/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | -0.02 |
| TFLO: iShares Treasury Floating Rate Bond ETF | +4.0% | +14.3% | +21.4% | 2/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 10.49 |
| MINT: PIMCO Enhanced Short Maturity Active Exchange-Traded Fund | +4.2% | +15.8% | +20.3% | 2/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 6.29 |
| ICSH: iShares Ultra Short Duration Bond Active ETF | +3.5% | +15.3% | +21.1% | 0/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 7.61 |
| FLUD: Franklin Ultra Short Bond ETF | +3.7% | +15.8% | +20.9% | 0/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 2.74 |
| NEAR: iShares Short Duration Bond Active ETF | +1.6% | +15.5% | +20.9% | 0/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 2.71 |
| [SGOV](https://easycompare.io/research/sgov): iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF | +3.4% | +13.8% | +20.3% | 0/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 13.25 |
| ULST: State Street Ultra Short Term Bond ETF | +3.1% | +14.9% | +20.2% | 0/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 3.73 |
| [BIL](https://easycompare.io/research/bil): State Street SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF | +3.7% | +13.9% | +19.9% | 0/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 14.05 |
| SHV: iShares Trust iShares 0-1 Year Treasury Bond ETF | +3.6% | +13.9% | +19.4% | 0/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 12.09 |
| BILS: State Street SPDR Bloomberg 3-12 Month T-Bill ETF | +3.6% | +13.9% | +19.2% | 0/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 11.25 |
| MEAR: iShares Short Maturity Municipal Bond Active ETF | +1.7% | +9.8% | +12.8% | 0/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 2.37 |
| SHY: iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF | +1.1% | +12.1% | +9.3% | 0/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.89 |
| SUB: iShares Short-Term National Muni Bond ETF | +1.4% | +9.8% | +7.3% | 0/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.85 |
| [BND](https://easycompare.io/research/bnd): Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF | −2.1% | +15.7% | −1.8% | 0/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | -0.03 |
| YEAR: Alliance Bernstein - AB Ultra Short Income ETF | +2.8% | +14.7% | — | 0/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | — |

### How did JPST do year by year?

This table shows each investment's total return in every full calendar year since 2018, along with where JPST ranked among its popular alternatives each year.

- JPST finished ahead of the S&P 500 in two of its eight full calendar years, and behind it in each of the last three.
- Among its popular alternatives, JAAA came out ahead of JPST most often, in three of the five years both traded.
- Ranked against its popular alternatives each year, JPST finished in the top quarter in two of eight years and in the bottom quarter in no. In 2025, it ranked 8 of 19.

| Year | JPST | SPY |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2025 | +5.0% | +17.7% |
| 2024 | +5.6% | +24.9% |
| 2023 | +5.1% | +26.2% |
| 2022 | +1.1% | −18.2% |
| 2021 | +0.1% | +28.7% |
| 2020 | +2.2% | +18.3% |
| 2019 | +3.3% | +31.2% |
| 2018 | +2.2% | −4.6% |

## Risk and diversification

How JPST has fallen, how it held up in crashes beside the S&P 500 and its popular alternatives, and what moves independently of it.

### How did JPST do in stock market crashes?

This section measures how far JPST, the S&P 500 and each alternative fell from peak to trough during every major market crash since 2000.

- JPST fell less than the S&P 500 in all five crashes it has traded through. The clearest case was the Covid crash, when JPST fell 3.2% and the S&P 500 fell 33.7%.
- None of its popular alternatives fell less than JPST in most of the crashes they both traded through.
- JPST began trading after the 2008 financial crisis, but three of its popular alternatives lived through it. The mildest fall among them was SHV's 0.4%, against 55.2% for the S&P 500.

| Crash | Dates | JPST fall | SPY fall |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Dot-com bust | March 10, 2000 to October 9, 2002 | not trading | −47.5% |
| Global financial crisis | October 9, 2007 to March 9, 2009 | not trading | −55.2% |
| Flash crash | May 6, 2010 to May 7, 2010 | not trading | −1.5% |
| Euro debt crisis | July 22, 2011 to October 3, 2011 | not trading | −17.9% |
| China devaluation & oil rout | August 10, 2015 to February 11, 2016 | not trading | −12.8% |
| Volmageddon | February 2, 2018 to February 9, 2018 | −0.1% | −6.5% |
| Q4 2018 selloff | September 21, 2018 to December 24, 2018 | −0.1% | −19.3% |
| COVID crash | February 19, 2020 to March 23, 2020 | −3.2% | −33.7% |
| 2022 bear market | January 4, 2022 to October 12, 2022 | −0.6% | −24.5% |
| SVB / regional bank stress | March 8, 2023 to March 13, 2023 | 0.0% | −3.4% |

### How closely does JPST move with the S&P 500?

Upside capture measures how much of the S&P 500's gains an investment kept in the months the market rose, and downside capture how much of its losses it took in the months the market fell.

- Over the past 5 years, JPST captured 9% of the S&P 500's gains in rising months and -6% of its losses in falling months, with a beta of 0.01. That is a defensive profile: it gave up some of the market's upside in exchange for smaller losses.

Measured over the past 5 years of monthly returns against SPY.

| Investment | Upside capture | Downside capture | Beta |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| JPST: JPMorgan Ultra-Short Income ETF (this page) | 9.0% | −6.0% | 0.01 |
| JAAA: Janus Henderson AAA CLO ETF | 13.0% | −7.0% | 0.04 |
| FLOT: iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF | 11.0% | −8.0% | 0.02 |
| USFR: WisdomTree Floating Rate Treasury Fund | 9.0% | −8.0% | 0.00 |
| GSY: Invesco Ultra Short Duration ETF | 10.0% | −5.0% | 0.02 |
| VUSB: Vanguard Ultra-Short Bond ETF | 10.0% | −3.0% | 0.03 |
| SPSB: State Street SPDR Portfolio Short Term Corporate Bond ETF | 13.0% | 7.0% | 0.08 |
| [VCSH](https://easycompare.io/research/vcsh): Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF | 15.0% | 15.0% | 0.13 |
| [AGG](https://easycompare.io/research/agg): iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | 19.0% | 39.0% | 0.26 |
| MINT: PIMCO Enhanced Short Maturity Active Exchange-Traded Fund | 10.0% | −5.0% | 0.02 |
| ICSH: iShares Ultra Short Duration Bond Active ETF | 9.0% | −6.0% | 0.01 |
| FLUD: Franklin Ultra Short Bond ETF | 10.0% | −5.0% | 0.02 |
| NEAR: iShares Short Duration Bond Active ETF | 11.0% | −2.0% | 0.03 |
| [SGOV](https://easycompare.io/research/sgov): iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF | 8.0% | −7.0% | 0.01 |
| ULST: State Street Ultra Short Term Bond ETF | 10.0% | −4.0% | 0.02 |
| SHV: iShares Trust iShares 0-1 Year Treasury Bond ETF | 8.0% | −6.0% | 0.01 |
| MEAR: iShares Short Maturity Municipal Bond Active ETF | 8.0% | 0.0% | 0.03 |
| SHY: iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF | 8.0% | 5.0% | 0.05 |
| SUB: iShares Short-Term National Muni Bond ETF | 10.0% | 10.0% | 0.08 |

### What diversifies JPST?

Correlation measures how closely two investments move together, on a scale from 1 (in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to -1 (in opposite directions).

- Among large ETFs, LVHI, DXJ and EMLP have moved largely independently of JPST over the past 5 years, with correlations of 0.30 or lower, and each still earned a positive 5-year return.
- Among large stocks, CAH, CLS and FIX have moved largely independently of JPST over the past 5 years, with correlations of 0.11 or lower, and each still earned a positive 5-year return.

| Investment | Correlation with JPST | 5Y return | Volatility | Sharpe |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| LVHI: Franklin International Low Volatility High Dividend Index ETF | 0.30 | +119% | 11.1% | 1.48 |
| DXJ: WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund | 0.12 | +225% | 19.1% | 1.34 |
| EMLP: First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund | 0.09 | +101% | 14.5% | 1.04 |
| HDV: iShares Core High Dividend ETF | 0.14 | +83.3% | 13.0% | 1.00 |
| [SMH](https://easycompare.io/research/smh): VanEck Semiconductor ETF | 0.21 | +323% | 36.9% | 0.97 |
| DBEF: Xtrackers MSCI EAFE Hedged Equity ETF | 0.31 | +85.0% | 13.8% | 0.96 |
| [GLD](https://easycompare.io/research/gld): SPDR Gold Shares | 0.35 | +126% | 18.9% | 0.96 |
| SPMO: Invesco S&P 500 Momentum ETF | 0.24 | +136% | 20.8% | 0.93 |

## Common questions

### What was JPST's worst drawdown?

JPST's deepest decline since it began trading in 2017 was 3.3%, in March 2020. It took two months from the low to climb back to its old high. Because JPST launched in May 2017, that record does not include the dot-com bust, the 2008 financial crisis or three other sell-offs.

### What were JPST's best and worst years?

Over eight full calendar years, JPST's best year was 2024, when it returned 5.6%. Its worst was 2021, with a return of +0.1%.

### Is there a better investment than JPST?

Among JPST's popular alternatives, SGOV matched JPST's return over the past 5 years (3.8% a year against 3.9%) with 53% less volatility. Nothing in the whole market did better on both counts: none of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than JPST with less volatility over the past 5 years.

### Is JPST more volatile than the S&P 500?

No. JPST's volatility over the past 5 years was 0.6%, 4% of the S&P 500's 17.1%. Volatility measures how widely returns swing around their average: in roughly two years out of three, JPST's return lands within 0.6% of its average, either way. The higher it is, the rougher the ride and the harder it is to hold through a slump.

### What is JPST's Sharpe ratio?

JPST's Sharpe ratio over the past 5 years was 6.34, against 0.79 for the S&P 500, so JPST earned more for each unit of risk than an index fund did. The Sharpe ratio is the return earned above cash for each unit of volatility: two investments with the same return are not equal if one got there with far bigger swings.

### How correlated is JPST with the S&P 500?

Over the past 5 years, JPST's monthly returns had a correlation of 0.28 with the S&P 500. Correlation runs from 1 (moving in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to −1 (moving in opposite directions). They are only loosely linked, which makes it a real diversifier next to an index fund. In the table, the correlation column measures each option against JPST instead: the lower it is, the more that option would diversify a JPST holding.

### What are the best alternatives to JPST?

Of the 25 popular alternatives we compared, three outperformed JPST in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 2 long-term timeframes, with dividends reinvested: JAAA, FLOT and FLRN.

### Did JPST outperform the S&P 500?

JPST finished ahead of the S&P 500 (SPY) in two of eight full calendar years. In 2025, it returned +5.0%, against +17.7% for the index.

### How did JPST do in stock market crashes?

JPST fell less than the S&P 500 (SPY) in five of the five major crashes it has traded through, and further in no. The clearest case was the Covid crash, when JPST fell 3.2% and the S&P 500 fell 33.7%.

### What diversifies JPST?

These had a low correlation with JPST over the past 5 years and still earned a positive 5-year return: among large ETFs, LVHI (correlation 0.30), DXJ (correlation 0.12) and EMLP (correlation 0.09); among large stocks, CAH (correlation 0.11), CLS (correlation 0.10) and FIX (correlation 0.01). A correlation near zero means the two have moved largely independently.

## More research

- [Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF (VCSH) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/vcsh)
- [iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/agg)
- [iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/sgov)
- [State Street SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF (BIL) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/bil)
- [Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/bnd)
- [Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/schd)
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## Explore further

- Full page with charts: https://easycompare.io/research/jpst
- All research pages: https://easycompare.io/llms.txt
- Compare the entire market against JPST live: https://betterthanspy.com/?b=JPST&utm_source=easycompare&utm_medium=research