AQR
Tax-aware long/short (Flex SMAs and TA private funds)
OpenAdvisor-only. Fidelity paused new long/short SMA accounts and new funding in Dec 2025 (indefinite). Schwab, 2026-04-23: long/short SMAs capped at 30% of an RIA's Schwab assets and new enrollments capped at 200/100. Schwab, 2026-09-16: $10M minimum for new long/short SMAs.
- Assets
- $68.8B
- Fee a year
- Not disclosed
- Minimum
- Not disclosed
- Tracking error
- ≈2–6%
- Investors
- Not disclosed
- Open to
- Not disclosed
- Leverage
- Not published (AQR research models 150/50 to 250/150)
- Lock-up
- None (SMA)
- Holdings
- Not disclosed
- Benchmark
- Client-selected
- Custodians
- Schwab, Fidelity
- Access
- Through an advisor
- Launched
- 2023
- Assets, in detail
- As of 2026-03. AQR: $68.8B of client assets in long/short tax-aware private commingled vehicles and SMAs (2026-03-31), from the AQR Tax-Aware Investing page (Wayback capture 2026-04-13). AQR says that this is invested capital, not gross Form ADV RAUM. Total Flex AUM was about $55B on the same date (flex.aqr.com), and Cerulli lists AQR at more than $55B in retail long/short SMAs (Q1 2026). Not included: $27B in tax-aware mutual funds (long-short and long-only) and long-only SMAs. By 2026-07, AQR removed the AUM figures from both pages.
- Fee schedule
- Not published. Advisor fee is extra.
- Other costs
- Margin financing and short-borrow costs are extra.
- Tracking error, method
- From the 1% to 6% tracking-error levels in AQR's 2023 research (Beyond Direct Indexing) for 150/50 to 250/150. AQR does not publish a target for the Flex product.
- Capacity and queue
- Minimum not published. Frec's comparison lists $1M-$3M. A third-party advisor describes it as for qualified purchasers. Custodian limits apply (see status note).
- Loss harvesting
- AQR simulations (Liberman et al. 2023): average cumulative net capital loss reaches 100% of capital in about 7 years at 150/50 (2% TE), under 3 years at 200/100 (4% TE), and under 2 years at 250/150 (6% TE). Direct indexing at 1% TE levels off near 30%. Research results, not product results.
Assets over time
Sources
Checked 2026-10. Confidence: high. Basis estimated the tracking error from public data.
- AQR Tax-Aware Investing, Wayback capture 2026-04-13 (figures as of 2026-03-31)
- AQR Tax-Aware Investing, Wayback capture 2026-01-21 (figures as of 2025-12-31)
- AQR Tax-Aware Investing, Wayback capture 2025-12-11 (figures as of 2025-09-30)
- AQR Flex home page AUM image, Wayback capture 2026-04-29 (about $55B, as of 2026-03-31)
- AQR Tax-Aware Investing (live page, figures as of 2026-06-30, no AUM)
- AQR Flex site
- Liberman, Krasner, Sosner, Freitas: Beyond Direct Indexing: Dynamic Direct Long-Short Investing (JBIS, Fall 2023)
- The Daily Upside: advisor interest in long-short SMAs nearly doubles (2026-09-01, Cerulli data for Q1 2026)
- Cache: list of tax-aware long-short providers (third party)
- Frec: tax-aware long short providers 2026 comparison (third party)
- InvestmentNews: Schwab tightens tax-aware long-short account rules (Sept 2026)
- InvestmentNews: custodians curb long-short SMA strategies
Where to get it
The same product costs a different amount through each door. The all-in fee adds the access provider's own fee to the product fee. Placement fees, financing, and fund expenses are extra.
| Through | Their fee | All-in fee | Minimum | Onboarding and queue | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charles Schwab (RIA custody)Custodian | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | $10M | Not disclosed | Restricted |
| Fidelity (RIA custody)Custodian | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | No reopening date. Fidelity says it will support transfers to other providers. | Paused |
Other tax-aware long/short
- Quantinno DEALS (Core / Exchange / Overlay)$48.3B
- Aperio (BlackRock) Long/Short SMAs (130/30 Quality Value, Tax-Managed Dynamic Factor)$19B
- Cache (Brooklyn Indexing / Nuveen) Cache Long/Short$3.98B
- Two Sigma Beacon Fund (tax-aware long/short private fund)$976M
- Frec Long Short Direct Indexing and Long Short Diversify0.50%–1.30%
- Franklin Templeton (Canvas) Canvas Tax Aware Long Short
- Parametric (Morgan Stanley) Custom Extension