485BPOS

AS FILED WITH THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION ON SEPTEMBER 28, 2018

FILE NO. 002-86082

FILE NO. 811-03833-01

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM N-1A

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933	þ
Post-Effective Amendment No.  102

AND

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT OF 1940	þ
Amendment No. 103

MAINSTAY VP FUNDS TRUST

(exact name of registrant as specified in charter)

51 MADISON AVENUE,

NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10010

(address of principal executive office)

REGISTRANT’S TELEPHONE NUMBER: (212) 576-7000

Copy to:

J. Kevin Gao, Esq. MainStay VP Funds Trust 30 Hudson Street Jersey City, NJ 07302 Thomas C. Bogle, Esq. Corey F. Rose, Esq. Dechert LLP 1900 K Street, NW Washington, DC 20006

(NAME AND ADDRESS OF AGENT FOR SERVICE)

It is proposed that this filing will become effective

x immediately upon filing pursuant to paragraph (b) of Rule 485

¨ on              pursuant to paragraph (b)(1) of Rule 485

¨ 60 days after filing pursuant to paragraph (a)(1) of Rule 485

¨ on              pursuant to paragraph (a)(1) of Rule 485

¨ 75 days after filing pursuant to paragraph (a)(2) of Rule 485

¨ on              pursuant to paragraph (a)(2) of Rule 485

If appropriate, check the following box: 

¨ This Post-Effective Amendment designates a new effective date for a previously filed post-effective amendment.

Attached for filing are exhibits containing interactive data format risk/return summary information that reflects the risk/return summary information for the MainStay VP IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Portfolio Prospectus dated September 10, 2018, submitted to the SEC on September 7, 2018 (Accession Number 0001144204-18-048618). The purpose of this filing is to submit an XBRL interactive data file in the manner provided by Rule 405 of Regulation S-T and General Instruction C.3.(g) of Form N-1A.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Registrant certifies that it meets all of the requirements for effectiveness of this Registration Statement under Rule 485(b) under the Securities Act and that it has duly caused this Post-Effective Amendment No. 102 to its Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Jersey City in the State of New Jersey, on the 28^th day of September, 2018.

MAINSTAY VP FUNDS TRUST
By:	/s/ Kirk C. Lehneis
	Kirk C. Lehneis
	President and Principal Executive Officer

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Post-Effective Amendment No. 102 to the Registration Statement has been signed below by the following persons in the capacities indicated on September 28, 2018.

SIGNATURE	TITLE
/s/ Kirk C. Lehneis	President and Principal Executive Officer
Kirk C. Lehneis
/s/ Susan B. Kerley*	Trustee and Chairman of the Board
Susan B. Kerley
/s/ David H. Chow*	Trustee
David H. Chow
/s/ Yie-Hsin Hung*	Trustee
Yie-Hsin Hung
/s/ Alan R. Latshaw*	Trustee
Alan R. Latshaw
/s/ Richard H. Nolan, Jr.*	Trustee
Richard H. Nolan, Jr.
/s/ Jacques P. Perold*	Trustee
Jacques P. Perold
/s/ Richard S. Trutanic*	Trustee
Richard S. Trutanic
/s/ Jack R. Benintende	Treasurer and Principal Financial
Jack R. Benintende	and Accounting Officer
By: /s/ J. Kevin Gao	Secretary
J. Kevin Gao
As Attorney-in-Fact

* Pursuant to Powers of Attorney previously filed.

EXHIBIT INDEX

Exhibit No.

EX-101.INS	XBRL Instance Document
EX-101.SCH	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
EX-101.CAL	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document
EX-101.DEF	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document
EX-101.LAB	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Labels Linkbase Document
EX-101.PRE	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document

XML

Label	Element	Value
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Document Type	dei_DocumentType	485BPOS
Document Period End Date	dei_DocumentPeriodEndDate	Dec. 31, 2017
Entity Registrant Name	dei_EntityRegistrantName	MAINSTAY VP FUNDS TRUST
Entity Central Index Key	dei_EntityCentralIndexKey	0000887340
Amendment Flag	dei_AmendmentFlag	false
Document Creation Date	dei_DocumentCreationDate	Sep. 10, 2018
Document Effective Date	dei_DocumentEffectiveDate	Sep. 10, 2018
Prospectus Date	rr_ProspectusDate	Sep. 10, 2018

XML

MainStay VP IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Portfolio (Prospectus Summary) | MainStay VP IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Portfolio

MainStay VP IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Portfolio

Investment Objective

The Portfolio seeks investment returns that correspond (before fees and expenses) generally to the price and yield performance of its underlying index, the IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Index. The IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Index seeks to achieve performance similar to the overall hedge fund universe by replicating the "beta" portion of the hedge fund return characteristics (i.e., that portion of the returns that are non-idiosyncratic, or unrelated to manager skill) by using the following hedge fund investment styles: long/short equity; global macro; market neutral; event-driven; fixed-income arbitrage; and emerging markets.

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

The table below describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Portfolio. The table does not include any separate account or policy fees or charges imposed under the variable annuity policies and variable universal life insurance policies for which the Portfolio is an investment option. If they were included, your costs would be higher. Investors should consult the applicable variable annuity policy or variable universal life insurance policy prospectus for more information.

Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses (fees paid directly from your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses - - MainStay VP IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Portfolio		Initial Class	Service Class
Management Fees (as an annual percentage of the Portfolio's average daily net assets)		0.75%	0.75%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees		none	0.25%
Other Expenses	[1]	0.07%	0.07%
Acquired (Underlying) Fund Fees and Expenses	[1]	0.25%	0.25%
Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses		1.07%	1.32%
Waiver / Reimbursement	[2]	(0.12%)	(0.12%)
Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses After Waiver	[2]	0.95%	1.20%

Example

The Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example does not include any separate account or policy fees or charges imposed under the variable annuity policies and variable universal life insurance policies for which the Portfolio is an investment option. If they were included, your costs would be higher. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated whether or not you redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio's operating expenses remain the same. The Example reflects the contractual fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement arrangement, if applicable, for the current duration of the arrangement only.

Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example - - MainStay VP IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Portfolio - USD ($)	Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year	Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years
Initial Class	97	328
Service Class	122	406

Portfolio Turnover

The Portfolio pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Portfolio operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio's performance. Because the Portfolio has not yet commenced operations as of the date of this Prospectus, no portfolio turnover rate information is available.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Portfolio invests, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in the investments included in the IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Index (the “Underlying Index”). The Portfolio, by seeking to achieve performance similar to the overall hedge fund universe, is expected to provide investment returns that typically have a low correlation to traditional equity and fixed-income indices, lower volatility than traditional equity indices, and similar volatility to traditional investment grade fixed-income indices.

The Underlying Index typically consists of 70 to 140 component securities (“Underlying Index Components”) selected in accordance with the rules-based methodology for construction of the Underlying Index. The Underlying Index Components primarily include exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) and/or other exchange-traded vehicles issuing equity securities organized in the U.S., such as exchange-traded commodity pools (“ETVs”), and may include exchange-traded notes (“ETNs”) (such ETFs, ETVs and ETNs are referred to collectively as “exchange-traded products” or “ETPs”). The Portfolio is a “fund of funds” that seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing primarily in ETPs, but may also invest in one or more financial instruments, including but not limited to, futures contracts, reverse repurchase agreements, options, and swap agreements (collectively, “Financial Instruments”) in order to seek to achieve exposure to investment strategies and/or asset classes that are similar to those of the Underlying Index. To the extent that the Underlying Index concentrates (i.e., holds 25% or more of its total assets) in the securities of a particular industry or group of industries, the Portfolio will concentrate its investments to approximately the same extent as the Underlying Index.

The Portfolio may invest up to 20% of its net assets in investments that are not Underlying Index Components, but which IndexIQ Advisors LLC, the Portfolio's Subadvisor and an affiliate of New York Life Investment Management LLC (“New York Life Investments”), believes will help the Portfolio track its Underlying Index. For example, the Portfolio may hold the underlying portfolio constituents of one or more ETPs that are Underlying Index Components, or a representative sample thereof. The Portfolio may also purchase ETPs that are not Underlying Index Components.

The Portfolio employs a “passive management” - or indexing - investment approach designed to track the performance of the Underlying Index, which was developed by IndexIQ LLC (“IndexIQ”), an affiliate of New York Life Investments and the Subadvisor. The Underlying Index generally is based on the premise that hedge fund returns, when aggregated among hedge funds with similar investment styles, display over time significant exposures to a set of common asset classes. The Underlying Index seeks to achieve performance similar to the overall hedge fund universe by replicating the “beta” portion of the hedge fund return characteristics (i.e., that portion of the returns that are non-idiosyncratic, or unrelated to manager skill) by using hedge fund investment styles, over longer term periods and not on a daily basis. The Underlying Index does not seek to replicate the “alpha” portion of the return characteristics of the overall hedge fund universe. These hedge fund investment styles are long/short equity, global macro, market neutral, event-driven, fixed-income arbitrage, and emerging markets. The Portfolio does not invest in hedge funds, and hedge funds are not components of the Underlying Index. The Portfolio is not a fund of hedge funds, although the Portfolio may be expected to provide certain benefits often associated with hedge funds, such as exposure to sources of return not generally available through traditional equity and fixed-income indices and diversification.

The Underlying Index may include both long and short positions in ETFs and ETVs. As opposed to taking long positions in which an investor seeks to profit from increases in the price of a security, short selling (or “selling short”) is a technique used by the Portfolio to try and profit from the falling price of a security. Short selling involves selling a security that has been borrowed from a third party with the intention of buying the identical security back at a later date to return to that third party. The basic principle of short selling is that one can profit by selling a security now at a high price and later buying it back at a lower price. The short seller hopes to profit from a decline in the price of the security between the sale and the repurchase, as the seller will pay less to buy the security than it received on selling the security.

The Portfolio, by seeking to track the Underlying Index, seeks exposure to the following hedge fund investment styles:

·Long/short hedge funds typically diversify their risks by limiting the net exposure to particular regions, industries, sectors and market capitalization bands, allowing them to focus on company-specific anomalies. At the same time, long/short managers often hedge against un-diversifiable risk, such as market risk (i.e., the returns of the overall market). Certain long/short managers focus on specific sectors, regions or industries, on particular investment styles, such as value or growth, or certain types of stocks, such as small or large.

·Macro hedge funds typically employ top-down macro analysis (e.g., political trends, macroeconomics, etc.) to identify dislocations in equity, fixed-income, currency and commodity markets that are expected to lead to large price movements.

·Market Neutral hedge funds typically invest in both long and short positions in stocks while minimizing exposure to the systematic components of risk. These market neutral strategies seek to have a zero “beta” (or “market”) exposure to one or more systematic risk factors including the overall market (as represented by the S&P 500 Index), economic sectors or industries, market capitalization, region and country. Market neutral strategies that effectively neutralize the market exposure are not impacted by directional moves in the market.

·Event-Driven hedge funds typically invest in a combination of credit opportunities and event-driven equities. Within the credit-oriented portion, sub-strategies include long/short high yield credit (below investment grade corporate bonds or “junk” bonds), leveraged loans (bank debt, mezzanine, or floating rate loans), capital structure arbitrage (debt vs. debt or debt vs. equity), and reorganization equity. Within the equity portion, sub-strategies include risk (or merger) arbitrage, holding company arbitrage, special situations and value equities where a change in management, significant product launch, or some other economic catalyst is expected to unlock shareholder wealth. Event-driven managers invest across multiple asset classes and may also seek to exploit shifts in economic cycles.

·Emerging Market hedge funds typically invest in financial instruments such as equities, sovereign and corporate debt issues and currencies of countries in “emerging” markets (i.e., countries and economies in a transitional state from developing to developed).

·Fixed Income Arbitrage hedge funds typically employ strategies that seek to take advantage of price differentials and inefficiencies between fixed-income securities that are related either economically or statistically. Such funds may limit volatility by hedging out interest rate risk and market exposure.

The Underlying Index Components generally provide exposures to:

·U.S. large-capitalization equity;

·U.S. small-capitalization equity;

·U.S. growth equity;

·U.S. value equity;

·Emerging market equity, debt and sovereign debt, including small-capitalization equity;

·Foreign equity (Europe, Australasia & Far East), including small-capitalization equity;

·U.S. and foreign preferred securities;

·U.S. investment grade corporate debt;

·U.S. government short- and intermediate-term maturity obligations;

·U.S. high yield (or “junk”) debt;

·U.S. Treasury Inflation Protection Securities (“TIPS”);

·U.S. mortgage-backed debt

·U.S. convertible debt;

·U.S. floating rate bank loans;

·Municipal bonds;

·Foreign sovereign debt;

·Foreign currencies and currency futures;

·U.S. and foreign real estate investment trusts;

·Commodities; and

·The implied volatility of the S&P 500^® Index.

The Subadvisor anticipates that, generally, the Portfolio will hold all of the investments that comprise the Underlying Index in approximate proportion to their weightings in the Underlying Index. However, the Portfolio may use a “representative sampling” strategy in seeking to track the performance of its Underlying Index when an Underlying Index Component is not available or when the Subadvisor believes it would be beneficial for the Portfolio to use a representative sampling strategy, such as when the use of a representative sampling strategy would reduce portfolio trading and implementation costs for the Portfolio. When using a representative sampling strategy, the Portfolio will invest in a sample of its Underlying Index Components where risk, return and other characteristics closely resemble the risk, return and other characteristics of the Underlying Index as a whole.

Principal Risks of the Portfolio

You can lose money by investing in the Portfolio. An investment in the Portfolio is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. The investments selected by the Portfolio’s Subadvisor may underperform the market or other investments. The Portfolio may receive large purchase or redemption orders which may have adverse effects on performance if the Portfolio were required to sell securities, invest cash or hold a relatively large amount of cash at times when it would not otherwise do so.

The principal risks of investing in the Portfolio are summarized below. These may also be principal risks of an ETP in which the Portfolio invests.

Exchange-Traded Fund ("ETF") Risk: The risks of owning an ETF generally reflect the risks of owning the securities in which the ETF invests or is designed to track, although lack of liquidity in an ETF could result in it being more volatile than its underlying portfolio securities. Disruptions in the markets for the securities underlying ETFs purchased or sold by the Portfolio could result in losses on the Portfolio's investment in ETFs. ETFs also have management fees and transaction costs that may make them more expensive than owning the underlying securities directly.

Index Risk: The performance of the Underlying Index may deviate from that of the markets the Underlying Index seeks to track due to changes that are reflected in the sector more quickly than the Underlying Index’s monthly rebalancing process can track. Securities in the Underlying Index may also underperform in comparison to the general securities markets. In addition, there is no assurance that the Underlying Index’s methodology will generate or produce the intended results, including achieving exposure to the overall hedge fund universe.

Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are investments whose value depends on (or is derived from) the value of an underlying instrument, such as a security, asset, reference rate or index. Derivative strategies may expose the Portfolio to greater risk than if it had invested directly in the underlying instrument and often involve leverage, which may exaggerate a loss, potentially causing the Portfolio to lose more money than it originally invested and would have lost had it invested directly in the underlying instrument. Derivatives may be difficult to sell, unwind or value. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the counterparty (the party on the other side of the transaction) on a derivative transaction will be unable to honor its contractual obligations to the Portfolio. Futures may be more volatile than direct investments in the instrument underlying the contract, and may not correlate perfectly to the underlying instrument. Futures and other derivatives also may involve a small initial investment relative to the risk assumed, which could result in losses greater than if they had not been used. Due to fluctuations in the price of the underlying asset, the Portfolio may not be able to profitably exercise an option and may lose its entire investment in an option. Uncleared swaps are particularly subject to counterparty credit, correlation, valuation, liquidity and leveraging risks. Additionally, applicable regulators have adopted rules imposing certain margin requirements, including minimums on uncleared swaps, which may result in the Portfolio and its counterparties posting higher margin amounts for uncleared swaps. Certain standardized swaps are subject to mandatory central clearing and exchange trading. Central clearing, which interposes a central clearinghouse to each participant’s swap, and exchange trading are intended to reduce counterparty credit risk and increase liquidity but neither makes swap transactions risk-free. Derivatives may also increase the expenses of the Portfolio.

Large Transaction Risks: To minimize disruptions to the operations of the Portfolio, the Subadvisor seeks to maintain existing allocations and to implement small changes to target allocations through the netting of purchases and redemptions of Portfolio shares. These practices may temporarily affect the Subadvisor's ability to fully implement the Portfolio's investment strategies.

Leverage Risk: To the extent the Portfolio employs certain strategies and instruments (e.g., derivatives) that result in economic leverage, the Portfolio may be more volatile and sensitive to market movements than a fund that does not employ leverage. The use of leverage creates additional investment exposure as well as the potential for greater loss and may require the Portfolio to liquidate investments when it may be disadvantageous to do so.

Liquidity and Valuation Risk: Securities purchased by the Portfolio may be illiquid at the time of purchase or liquid at the time of purchase and subsequently become illiquid due to, among other things, events relating to the issuer of the securities, market events, operational issues, economic conditions, investor perceptions or lack of market participants. The lack of an active trading market may make it difficult to sell or obtain an accurate price for a security. If market conditions or issuer specific developments make it difficult to value securities, the Portfolio may value these securities using more subjective methods, such as fair value pricing. In such cases, the value determined for a security could be different than the value realized upon such security's sale. As a result, an investor could pay more than the market value when buying Portfolio shares or receive less than the market value when selling Portfolio shares. This could affect the proceeds of any redemption or the number of shares an investor receives upon purchase. Liquidity risk may also refer to the risk that the Portfolio may not be able to pay redemption proceeds within the allowable time period because of unusual market conditions, unusually high volume of redemptions, or other reasons. To meet redemption requests or to raise cash to pursue other investment opportunities, the Portfolio may be forced to sell securities at an unfavorable time and/or under unfavorable conditions, which may adversely affect the Portfolio.

Market Risk: The value of the Portfolio's investments may fluctuate because of changes in the markets in which the Portfolio invests, which could cause the Portfolio to underperform other funds with similar investment objectives and strategies. Changes in these markets may be rapid and unpredictable. From time to time, markets may experience periods of stress for potentially prolonged periods that may result in: (i) increased market volatility; (ii) reduced market liquidity; and (iii) increased redemptions of Portfolio shares. Such conditions may add significantly to the risk of volatility in the net asset value of the Portfolio's shares.

Cash Flow Risk: The amount of cash that the Portfolio has available to distribute to shareholders will depend on the ability of the ETPs in which the Portfolio has an interest to make distributions or pay dividends to their investors and the tax character of those distributions or dividends.

Portfolio Management Risk: The investment strategies, practices and risk analyses used by the Subadvisor may not produce the desired results. The Portfolio may be particularly susceptible to this risk to the extent that the Subadvisor employs a “representative sampling” strategy. In addition, the Portfolio may not achieve its investment objective and the Portfolio may not achieve performance similar to the overall hedge fund universe or the Underlying Index (i.e. the Portfolio’s returns may not equal or exceed those of the Underlying Index).

Passive Management Risk: Unlike many investment companies, the Portfolio seeks to track its Underlying Index and is not “actively” managed. Therefore, the Portfolio would not necessarily sell a security because the security’s issuer was in financial trouble unless that security is removed from (or was no longer useful in tracking a component of) the Underlying Index.

Short Selling and Short Exposure Risk: To the extent the Portfolio obtains short exposure through the use of derivatives, the Portfolio would be subject to leverage risk, counterparty risk and other risks associated with the use of derivatives. If a security sold short increases in price, the Portfolio may have to cover its short position at a higher price than the short sale price, resulting in a loss. The Portfolio may have substantial short positions and must borrow those securities to make delivery to the buyer. The Portfolio may not be able to borrow a security that it needs to deliver or it may not be able to close out a short position at an acceptable price and may have to sell related long positions before it had intended to do so. Thus, the Portfolio may not be able to successfully implement its short sale strategy due to limited availability of desired securities or for other reasons. The Portfolio also may be required to pay a premium and other transaction costs, which would increase the cost of the security sold short. The amount of any gain will be decreased, and the amount of any loss increased, by the amount of the premium, dividends, interest or expenses the Portfolio may be required to pay in connection with the short sale.

Until the Portfolio replaces a borrowed security, it is required to maintain a segregated account of cash or liquid assets with the Portfolio's custodian to cover the Portfolio's short position. Generally, securities held in a segregated account cannot be sold unless they are replaced with other liquid assets. The Portfolio's ability to access the pledged collateral may also be impaired in the event the broker fails to comply with the terms of the contract. In such instances the Portfolio may not be able to substitute or sell the pledged collateral. Additionally, the Portfolio must maintain sufficient liquid assets (less any additional collateral held with the broker), marked-to-market daily, to cover the short sale obligations. This may limit the Portfolio's investment flexibility, as well as its ability to meet redemption requests or other current obligations. Because losses on short sales arise from increases in the value of the security sold short, such losses are theoretically unlimited. By contrast, a loss on a long position arises from decreases in the value of the security and is limited by the fact that a security's value cannot go below zero.

By investing the proceeds received from selling securities short, the Portfolio could be deemed to be employing a form of leverage, which creates special risks. The use of leverage may increase the Portfolio's exposure to long positions and make any change in the Portfolio's net asset value greater than it would be without the use of leverage. This could result in increased volatility of returns. There is no guarantee that the Portfolio will leverage its portfolio, or if it does, that the Portfolio's leveraging strategy will be successful or that it will produce a higher return on an investment.

Correlation Risk: The investment results of the Portfolio may not equal or exceed those of the Underlying Index for a number of reasons, including operating expenses, transaction costs and trading risks (when rebalancing the Portfolio’s securities holdings to reflect changes in the Underlying Index or for other similar reasons), cash flows and operational inefficiencies. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Portfolio’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels to track the Underlying Index. In addition, the Portfolio may use a “representative sampling” approach, which may cause the Portfolio’s investment results to not be as well correlated with those of the Underlying Index as would be the case if the Portfolio purchased all of the securities in the Underlying Index in the proportions represented in the Underlying Index. Errors in the Underlying Index data, the Underlying Index computations and/or the construction of the Underlying Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the provider of the Underlying Index for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Portfolio and its shareholders. As a result, the Portfolio’s returns may be lower than the returns of the Underlying Index.

Fund of Funds Risk: The Portfolio’s investment performance, because it is a fund of funds, depends on the investment performance of the ETPs in which it invests.

Focused Portfolio Risk: To the extent that the Underlying Index concentrates (i.e., holds 25% or more of its total assets) in an industry or group of industries, the Portfolio will concentrate its investments to approximately the same extent as the Underlying Index. In such instances, the Portfolio may be subject to more risks than if it was more broadly diversified over numerous industries and sectors. General changes in market sentiment towards companies in the industries and sectors in which the Portfolio invests may adversely affect the Portfolio, and the performance of such industries and sectors may lag behind the broader market as a whole.

Investments in Other Investment Companies Risk: The Portfolio's investment in another investment company may subject the Portfolio indirectly to the risks of that investment company. The Portfolio also will bear its share of the underlying investment company's fees and expenses, which are in addition to the Portfolio's own fees and expenses.

New Fund Risk: The Portfolio is a new fund which may result in additional risk. There can be no assurance that the Portfolio will grow to an economically viable size, in which case the Portfolio may cease operations. In such an event, investors may be required to liquidate or transfer their investments at an inopportune time.

Principal Risks of the ETPs

The principal risks of the ETPs, which could adversely affect the performance of the Portfolio, may include the risks summarized below:

Equity Securities Risk: Investments in common stocks and other equity securities are particularly subject to the risk of changing economic, stock market, industry and company conditions and the risks inherent in the portfolio managers' ability to anticipate such changes that can adversely affect the value of the ETP's holdings. Opportunity for greater gain often comes with greater risk of loss.

Geographic Focus Risk: Issuers that operate in a single country, a small number of countries, or a particular geographic region can react similarly to market, currency, political, economic, regulatory, geopolitical and other conditions, and the ETP’s performance will be affected by the conditions in the countries or regions to which the ETP is exposed. To the extent the ETP focuses its investments in a particular country or region, its performance will be more susceptible to adverse developments in such country or region than a more geographically diversified fund.

Growth Stock Risk: If growth companies do not increase their earnings at a rate expected by investors, the market price of the stock may decline significantly, even if earnings show an absolute increase. Growth company stocks also typically lack the dividend yield that can cushion stock prices in market downturns.

Value Stock Risk: Value stocks may never reach what an ETP's portfolio managers believe is their full value or they may go down in value. In addition, different types of stocks tend to shift in and out of favor depending on market and economic conditions, and therefore an ETP's performance may be lower than that of funds that invest in other types of equity securities.

Market Capitalization Risk: To the extent the ETP invests in securities issued by small-, mid-, or large-cap companies, the ETP will be subject to the risks associated with securities issued by companies of the applicable market capitalization.  Securities of small-cap and mid-cap companies may be subject to greater price volatility, significantly lower trading volumes, cyclical, static or moderate growth prospects and greater spreads between their bid and ask prices than securities of larger companies. Smaller capitalization companies frequently rely on narrower product lines and niche markets and may be more vulnerable to adverse business or market developments.  Securities issued by larger companies may have less growth potential and may not be able to attain the high growth rates of successful smaller companies, especially during strong economic periods.  In addition, larger companies may be less capable of responding quickly to competitive challenges and industry changes, including those resulting from improvements in technology, and may suffer sharper price declines as a result of earnings disappointments.  There is a risk that the securities issued by companies of a certain market capitalization may underperform the broader market at any given time.

Foreign Securities Risk: Investments in foreign securities may be riskier than investments in U.S. securities. Differences between U.S. and foreign regulatory regimes and securities markets, including less stringent investor protections and disclosure standards of some foreign markets, less liquid trading markets and political and economic developments in foreign countries, may affect the value of the ETP's investments in foreign securities. Foreign securities may also subject the ETP's investments to changes in currency rates. Changes in the value of foreign currencies may make the return on an investment go up or down, unrelated to the quality or performance of the investment itself.

Emerging Markets Risk: The risks related to investing in foreign securities are generally greater with respect to securities of companies that conduct their business activities in emerging markets or whose securities are traded principally in emerging markets. The risks of investing in emerging markets include the risks of illiquidity, increased price volatility, smaller market capitalizations, less government regulation, less extensive and less frequent accounting, financial and other reporting requirements, risk of loss resulting from problems in share registration and custody, substantial economic and political disruptions and the nationalization of foreign deposits or assets.

Convertible Securities Risk: Convertible securities may have a lesser claim on assets than other securities. In part, the total return for a convertible security depends upon the performance of the underlying stock into which it can be converted. Also, issuers of convertible securities are often not as strong financially as those issuing securities with higher credit ratings, are more likely to encounter financial difficulties and typically are more vulnerable to changes in the economy, such as a recession or a sustained period of rising interest rates, which could affect their ability to make interest and principal payments. If an issuer stops making interest and/or principal payments, the ETP could lose its entire investment.

Currency Risk: Changes in the value of foreign (non-U.S.) currencies relative to the U.S. dollar may adversely affect the ETP’s investments in foreign currencies or in securities that trade in, and receive revenues in, or in derivatives that provide exposure to, foreign currencies. These changes in value can make the return on an investment go up or down, entirely apart from the quality or performance of the investment itself.

Depositary Receipts Risk: Investments in depositary receipts may entail the special risks of foreign investing, including currency exchange fluctuations, government regulations, and the potential for political and economic instability.

Debt Securities Risk: The risks of investing in debt or fixed-income securities include (without limitation): (i) credit risk, e.g., the issuer or guarantor of a debt security may be unable or unwilling (or be perceived as unable or unwilling) to make timely principal and/or interest payments or otherwise honor its obligations; (ii) maturity risk, e.g., a debt security with a longer maturity may fluctuate in value more than one with a shorter maturity; (iii) market risk, e.g., low demand for debt securities may negatively impact their price; (iv) interest rate risk, e.g., when interest rates go up, the value of a debt security generally goes down, and when interest rates go down, the value of a debt security generally goes up (long-term debt securities are generally more susceptible to interest rate risk than short-term debt securities); (v) call or prepayment risk, e.g., during a period of falling interest rates, the issuer may redeem a security by repaying it early, which may reduce the ETP’s income if the proceeds are reinvested at lower interest rates ; and (vi) extension risk, e.g., if interest rates rise, repayments of debt securities may occur more slowly than anticipated by the market, which may drive the prices of these securities down because their interest rates are lower than the current interest rate and they remain outstanding longer.

Interest rates in the United States are near historic lows, and the ETP currently faces a heightened level of interest rate risk. To the extent the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Federal Reserve Board”) continues to raise the federal funds rate, there is a risk that interest rates across the financial system may rise, possibly significantly and/or rapidly. Rising interest rates or lack of market participants may lead to decreased liquidity and increased volatility in the fixed-income or debt markets, making it more difficult for the ETP to sell its fixed-income or debt holdings at a time when it wishes to sell. Decreased liquidity in the fixed-income or debt markets also may make it more difficult to value some or all of the ETP’s fixed-income or debt holdings.

Not all U.S. government debt securities are guaranteed by the U.S. government—some are backed only by the issuing agency, which must rely on its own resources to repay the debt.

High-Yield Securities Risk: Investments in high-yield securities or non-investment grade securities (commonly referred to as "junk bonds") are considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss than higher quality securities. Such securities may, under certain circumstances, be less liquid than higher rated securities. These securities pay investors a premium (a high interest rate or yield) because of the potential illiquidity and increased risk of loss. These securities can also be subject to greater price volatility. In times of unusual or adverse market, economic or political conditions, these securities may experience higher than normal default rates.

Floaters and Variable Rate Notes Risk: Floaters and variable rate notes provide for a periodic adjustment in the interest rate paid on the securities. The rate adjustment intervals may be regular and range from daily up to annually, or may be based on an event, such as a change in the prime rate. Floating and variable rate notes may be subject to greater liquidity risk than other debt securities, meaning that there may be limitations on the ETP's ability to sell the securities at any given time. Securities with floating interest rates generally are less sensitive to interest rate changes, but may decline in value if their interest rates do not rise as much or as fast as interest rates in general. Such securities also may lose value.

Mortgage-Related and Other Asset-Backed Securities Risk: Investments in mortgage-related securities (such as mortgage-backed securities) and other asset-backed securities generally involve a stream of payments based on the underlying obligations. These payments, which are often part interest and part return of principal, vary based on the rate at which the underlying borrowers repay their loans or other obligations. Asset-backed securities are subject to the risk that borrowers may default on the underlying obligations and that, during periods of falling interest rates, these obligations may be called or prepaid and, during periods of rising interest rates, obligations may be paid more slowly than expected. Impairment of the underlying obligations or collateral, such as by non-payment, will reduce the security's value. Enforcing rights against such collateral in events of default may be difficult or insufficient. The value of these securities may be significantly affected by changes in interest rates, the market's perception of issuers, and the creditworthiness of the parties involved. These securities may have a structure that makes their reaction to interest rate changes and other factors difficult to predict, making their value highly volatile.

Mortgage Pass-Through Securities Risk: Investments in mortgage pass-through securities are subject to similar market risks as fixed-income securities, which include, but are not limited to, interest rate risk, credit risk, prepayment risk, and extension risk.

Commodities and Commodity-Linked Derivatives Risk: Exposure to the commodities markets, such as precious metals, industrial metals, gas and other energy products and natural resources, may subject the ETP to greater volatility than investments in traditional securities. The commodities markets may fluctuate widely based on a variety of factors including changes in overall market movements, political and economic events and policies, war, acts of terrorism, weather and natural disasters, and changes in interest rates or inflation rates. Because the value of a commodity-linked derivative instrument and structured note typically are based upon the price movements of physical commodities, the value of these securities will rise or fall in response to changes in the underlying commodities or related index of investment.

Preferred Stock Risk: Preferred stock is subject to many of the risks associated with debt securities, including interest rate risk. In addition, preferred stocks may not pay dividends, an issuer may suspend payment of dividends on preferred stock at any time, and in certain situations an issuer may call or redeem its preferred stock or convert it to common stock. To the extent that the ETP invests a substantial portion of its assets in convertible preferred stocks, declining common stock values may also cause the value of the ETP’s investments to decline.

Real Estate Investment Trust ("REIT") Risk: Investments in REITs involve risks associated with direct ownership of real estate, including decline in property values, extended vacancies, increases in property taxes and changes in interest rates. Additionally, the appreciation of securities issued by a REIT depends, in part, on the skills of the REIT’s manager. REITs may not be diversified, may experience substantial cost in the event of borrower or lessee defaults and are subject to heavy cash flow dependency.

Repurchase Agreement Risk: Repurchase agreements are subject to the risks that the seller will become bankrupt or insolvent before the date of repurchase or otherwise will fail to repurchase the security as agreed, which could cause losses.

Rights and Warrants Risk: Rights and warrants may provide a greater potential for profit or loss than an equivalent investment in the underlying securities. Prices of these investments do not necessarily move in tandem with the prices of the underlying securities, and warrants are speculative investments. If a right or warrant is not exercised by the date of its expiration, the ETP will lose its entire investment in such right or warrant.

Distressed Securities Risk: Investments in distressed securities are subject to substantial risks in addition to the risks of investing in other types of high-yield securities. Distressed securities are speculative and involve substantial risk that principal will not be repaid. Generally, the ETP will not receive interest payments on such securities and may incur costs to protect its investment. In addition, the ETP's ability to sell distressed securities and any securities received in exchange for such securities may be restricted.

Event-Driven Arbitrage Risk: An ETP’s investments in securities and companies in anticipation of a “special situation” (e.g., a merger) carry the risk that the special situation does not occur as anticipated, when anticipated, or at all, or if it is perceived to be less likely to occur. The market price of the security purchased by an ETP may decline sharply and result in losses to the ETP if, for example, such securities are ultimately sold, transferred or exchanged for securities or cash, the value of which is less than the purchase price.

Floating Rate Loans Risk: The floating rate loans in which an ETP invests are usually rated below investment grade, or if unrated, determined by the ETP or its advisor to be of comparable quality (commonly referred to as "junk bonds") and are generally considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt instruments. Moreover, such investments may, under certain circumstances, be particularly susceptible to liquidity and valuation risks. Although certain floating rate loans are collateralized, there is no guarantee that the value of the collateral will be sufficient or available to satisfy the borrower’s obligation. In times of unusual or adverse market, economic or political conditions, floating rate loans may experience higher than normal default rates. In the event of a recession or serious credit event, among other eventualities, the value of an ETP's investments in floating rate loans are more likely to decline. The secondary market for floating rate loans is limited and, thus, an ETP’s ability to sell or realize the full value of its investment in these loans to reinvest sale proceeds or to meet redemption obligations may be impaired. In addition, floating rate loans generally are subject to extended settlement periods that may be longer than seven days. As a result, an ETP may be adversely affected by selling other investments at an unfavorable time and/or under unfavorable conditions or engaging in borrowing transactions, such as borrowing against its credit facility, to raise cash to meet redemption obligations or pursue other investment opportunities.

In certain circumstances, floating rate loans may not be deemed to be securities. As a result, an ETP may not have the protection of the anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws. In such cases, the ETP generally must rely on the contractual provisions in the loan agreement and common-law fraud protections under applicable state law.

Municipal Bond Risk: Municipal bond risks include the inability of the issuer to repay the obligation, the relative lack of information about certain issuers, and the possibility of future tax and legislative changes, which could affect the market for and value of municipal securities. Municipalities continue to experience economic and financial difficulties in the current economic environment. The ability of a municipal issuer to make payments and the value of municipal bonds can be affected by uncertainties in the municipal securities market. Such uncertainties could cause increased volatility in the municipal securities market and could negatively impact the ETP’s net asset value.

Loan Participation Interest Risk: There may not be a readily available market for loan participation interests, which in some cases could result in the ETP disposing of such interests at a substantial discount from face value or holding such interests until maturity. In addition, the ETP may be exposed to the credit risk of the underlying corporate borrower as well as the lending institution or other participant from whom the ETP purchased the loan participation interests.

Zero Coupon Bond Risk: Because zero-coupon securities bear no interest and compound semi-annually at the rate fixed at the time of issuance, their value generally is more volatile than the value of other fixed-income securities. An investment in zero-coupon and delayed interest securities may cause the ETP to recognize income, and therefore the ETP may be required to make distributions to shareholders before the ETP receives any cash payments on its investment.

Past Performance

Since the Portfolio does not have a full calendar year of performance as of the date of this Prospectus, no calendar year performance information is available.

[1] Based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.

[2] New York Life Investment Management LLC ("New York Life Investments") has contractually agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses so that Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses (excluding taxes, interest, litigation, extraordinary expenses, brokerage and other transaction expenses relating to the purchase or sale of portfolio investments, and acquired (underlying) portfolio/fund fees and expenses) of Initial Class shares and Service Class shares do not exceed 0.70% and 0.95%, respectively, of average daily net assets. This agreement will remain in effect until May 1, 2020, and shall renew automatically for one-year terms unless New York Life Investments provides written notice of termination prior to the start of the next term or upon approval of the Board of Trustees of the Portfolio.

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MainStay VP IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Portfolio (Prospectus Summary) | MainStay VP IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Portfolio

Risk/Return:

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Risk/Return, Heading

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MainStay VP IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Portfolio

Investment Objective, Heading

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Investment Objective

investment Objective, Primary

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The Portfolio seeks investment returns that correspond (before fees and expenses) generally to the price and yield performance of its underlying index, the IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Index. The IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Index seeks to achieve performance similar to the overall hedge fund universe by replicating the "beta" portion of the hedge fund return characteristics (i.e., that portion of the returns that are non-idiosyncratic, or unrelated to manager skill) by using the following hedge fund investment styles: long/short equity; global macro; market neutral; event-driven; fixed-income arbitrage; and emerging markets.

Expense, Heading

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Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

Expense, Narrative

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The table below describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Portfolio. The table does not include any separate account or policy fees or charges imposed under the variable annuity policies and variable universal life insurance policies for which the Portfolio is an investment option. If they were included, your costs would be higher. Investors should consult the applicable variable annuity policy or variable universal life insurance policy prospectus for more information.

Operating Expenses, Caption

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Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses (fees paid directly from your investment)

Portfolio Turnover, Heading

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Portfolio Turnover

Portfolio Turnover

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The Portfolio pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Portfolio operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio's performance. Because the Portfolio has not yet commenced operations as of the date of this Prospectus, no portfolio turnover rate information is available.

Other Expenses, New Fund, Based on Estimates

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Based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.

Expense Example, Heading

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Example

Expense Example, Narrative

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The Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example does not include any separate account or policy fees or charges imposed under the variable annuity policies and variable universal life insurance policies for which the Portfolio is an investment option. If they were included, your costs would be higher. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated whether or not you redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio's operating expenses remain the same. The Example reflects the contractual fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement arrangement, if applicable, for the current duration of the arrangement only.

Expense Example, By Year, Caption

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Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Investment Strategy, Heading

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Principal Investment Strategies

Investment Strategy, Narrative

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The Portfolio invests, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in the investments included in the IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Index (the “Underlying Index”). The Portfolio, by seeking to achieve performance similar to the overall hedge fund universe, is expected to provide investment returns that typically have a low correlation to traditional equity and fixed-income indices, lower volatility than traditional equity indices, and similar volatility to traditional investment grade fixed-income indices.

The Underlying Index typically consists of 70 to 140 component securities (“Underlying Index Components”) selected in accordance with the rules-based methodology for construction of the Underlying Index. The Underlying Index Components primarily include exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) and/or other exchange-traded vehicles issuing equity securities organized in the U.S., such as exchange-traded commodity pools (“ETVs”), and may include exchange-traded notes (“ETNs”) (such ETFs, ETVs and ETNs are referred to collectively as “exchange-traded products” or “ETPs”). The Portfolio is a “fund of funds” that seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing primarily in ETPs, but may also invest in one or more financial instruments, including but not limited to, futures contracts, reverse repurchase agreements, options, and swap agreements (collectively, “Financial Instruments”) in order to seek to achieve exposure to investment strategies and/or asset classes that are similar to those of the Underlying Index. To the extent that the Underlying Index concentrates (i.e., holds 25% or more of its total assets) in the securities of a particular industry or group of industries, the Portfolio will concentrate its investments to approximately the same extent as the Underlying Index.

The Portfolio may invest up to 20% of its net assets in investments that are not Underlying Index Components, but which IndexIQ Advisors LLC, the Portfolio's Subadvisor and an affiliate of New York Life Investment Management LLC (“New York Life Investments”), believes will help the Portfolio track its Underlying Index. For example, the Portfolio may hold the underlying portfolio constituents of one or more ETPs that are Underlying Index Components, or a representative sample thereof. The Portfolio may also purchase ETPs that are not Underlying Index Components.

The Portfolio employs a “passive management” - or indexing - investment approach designed to track the performance of the Underlying Index, which was developed by IndexIQ LLC (“IndexIQ”), an affiliate of New York Life Investments and the Subadvisor. The Underlying Index generally is based on the premise that hedge fund returns, when aggregated among hedge funds with similar investment styles, display over time significant exposures to a set of common asset classes. The Underlying Index seeks to achieve performance similar to the overall hedge fund universe by replicating the “beta” portion of the hedge fund return characteristics (i.e., that portion of the returns that are non-idiosyncratic, or unrelated to manager skill) by using hedge fund investment styles, over longer term periods and not on a daily basis. The Underlying Index does not seek to replicate the “alpha” portion of the return characteristics of the overall hedge fund universe. These hedge fund investment styles are long/short equity, global macro, market neutral, event-driven, fixed-income arbitrage, and emerging markets. The Portfolio does not invest in hedge funds, and hedge funds are not components of the Underlying Index. The Portfolio is not a fund of hedge funds, although the Portfolio may be expected to provide certain benefits often associated with hedge funds, such as exposure to sources of return not generally available through traditional equity and fixed-income indices and diversification.

The Underlying Index may include both long and short positions in ETFs and ETVs. As opposed to taking long positions in which an investor seeks to profit from increases in the price of a security, short selling (or “selling short”) is a technique used by the Portfolio to try and profit from the falling price of a security. Short selling involves selling a security that has been borrowed from a third party with the intention of buying the identical security back at a later date to return to that third party. The basic principle of short selling is that one can profit by selling a security now at a high price and later buying it back at a lower price. The short seller hopes to profit from a decline in the price of the security between the sale and the repurchase, as the seller will pay less to buy the security than it received on selling the security.

The Portfolio, by seeking to track the Underlying Index, seeks exposure to the following hedge fund investment styles:

·Long/short hedge funds typically diversify their risks by limiting the net exposure to particular regions, industries, sectors and market capitalization bands, allowing them to focus on company-specific anomalies. At the same time, long/short managers often hedge against un-diversifiable risk, such as market risk (i.e., the returns of the overall market). Certain long/short managers focus on specific sectors, regions or industries, on particular investment styles, such as value or growth, or certain types of stocks, such as small or large.

·Macro hedge funds typically employ top-down macro analysis (e.g., political trends, macroeconomics, etc.) to identify dislocations in equity, fixed-income, currency and commodity markets that are expected to lead to large price movements.

·Market Neutral hedge funds typically invest in both long and short positions in stocks while minimizing exposure to the systematic components of risk. These market neutral strategies seek to have a zero “beta” (or “market”) exposure to one or more systematic risk factors including the overall market (as represented by the S&P 500 Index), economic sectors or industries, market capitalization, region and country. Market neutral strategies that effectively neutralize the market exposure are not impacted by directional moves in the market.

·Event-Driven hedge funds typically invest in a combination of credit opportunities and event-driven equities. Within the credit-oriented portion, sub-strategies include long/short high yield credit (below investment grade corporate bonds or “junk” bonds), leveraged loans (bank debt, mezzanine, or floating rate loans), capital structure arbitrage (debt vs. debt or debt vs. equity), and reorganization equity. Within the equity portion, sub-strategies include risk (or merger) arbitrage, holding company arbitrage, special situations and value equities where a change in management, significant product launch, or some other economic catalyst is expected to unlock shareholder wealth. Event-driven managers invest across multiple asset classes and may also seek to exploit shifts in economic cycles.

·Emerging Market hedge funds typically invest in financial instruments such as equities, sovereign and corporate debt issues and currencies of countries in “emerging” markets (i.e., countries and economies in a transitional state from developing to developed).

·Fixed Income Arbitrage hedge funds typically employ strategies that seek to take advantage of price differentials and inefficiencies between fixed-income securities that are related either economically or statistically. Such funds may limit volatility by hedging out interest rate risk and market exposure.

The Underlying Index Components generally provide exposures to:

·U.S. large-capitalization equity;

·U.S. small-capitalization equity;

·U.S. growth equity;

·U.S. value equity;

·Emerging market equity, debt and sovereign debt, including small-capitalization equity;

·Foreign equity (Europe, Australasia & Far East), including small-capitalization equity;

·U.S. and foreign preferred securities;

·U.S. investment grade corporate debt;

·U.S. government short- and intermediate-term maturity obligations;

·U.S. high yield (or “junk”) debt;

·U.S. Treasury Inflation Protection Securities (“TIPS”);

·U.S. mortgage-backed debt

·U.S. convertible debt;

·U.S. floating rate bank loans;

·Municipal bonds;

·Foreign sovereign debt;

·Foreign currencies and currency futures;

·U.S. and foreign real estate investment trusts;

·Commodities; and

·The implied volatility of the S&P 500^® Index.

The Subadvisor anticipates that, generally, the Portfolio will hold all of the investments that comprise the Underlying Index in approximate proportion to their weightings in the Underlying Index. However, the Portfolio may use a “representative sampling” strategy in seeking to track the performance of its Underlying Index when an Underlying Index Component is not available or when the Subadvisor believes it would be beneficial for the Portfolio to use a representative sampling strategy, such as when the use of a representative sampling strategy would reduce portfolio trading and implementation costs for the Portfolio. When using a representative sampling strategy, the Portfolio will invest in a sample of its Underlying Index Components where risk, return and other characteristics closely resemble the risk, return and other characteristics of the Underlying Index as a whole.

Strategy Portfolio Concentration

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The Portfolio invests, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in the investments included in the IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Index (the “Underlying Index”).

Risk, Heading

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Principal Risks of the Portfolio

Risk, Narrative

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You can lose money by investing in the Portfolio. An investment in the Portfolio is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. The investments selected by the Portfolio’s Subadvisor may underperform the market or other investments. The Portfolio may receive large purchase or redemption orders which may have adverse effects on performance if the Portfolio were required to sell securities, invest cash or hold a relatively large amount of cash at times when it would not otherwise do so.

The principal risks of investing in the Portfolio are summarized below. These may also be principal risks of an ETP in which the Portfolio invests.

Exchange-Traded Fund ("ETF") Risk: The risks of owning an ETF generally reflect the risks of owning the securities in which the ETF invests or is designed to track, although lack of liquidity in an ETF could result in it being more volatile than its underlying portfolio securities. Disruptions in the markets for the securities underlying ETFs purchased or sold by the Portfolio could result in losses on the Portfolio's investment in ETFs. ETFs also have management fees and transaction costs that may make them more expensive than owning the underlying securities directly.

Index Risk: The performance of the Underlying Index may deviate from that of the markets the Underlying Index seeks to track due to changes that are reflected in the sector more quickly than the Underlying Index’s monthly rebalancing process can track. Securities in the Underlying Index may also underperform in comparison to the general securities markets. In addition, there is no assurance that the Underlying Index’s methodology will generate or produce the intended results, including achieving exposure to the overall hedge fund universe.

Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are investments whose value depends on (or is derived from) the value of an underlying instrument, such as a security, asset, reference rate or index. Derivative strategies may expose the Portfolio to greater risk than if it had invested directly in the underlying instrument and often involve leverage, which may exaggerate a loss, potentially causing the Portfolio to lose more money than it originally invested and would have lost had it invested directly in the underlying instrument. Derivatives may be difficult to sell, unwind or value. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the counterparty (the party on the other side of the transaction) on a derivative transaction will be unable to honor its contractual obligations to the Portfolio. Futures may be more volatile than direct investments in the instrument underlying the contract, and may not correlate perfectly to the underlying instrument. Futures and other derivatives also may involve a small initial investment relative to the risk assumed, which could result in losses greater than if they had not been used. Due to fluctuations in the price of the underlying asset, the Portfolio may not be able to profitably exercise an option and may lose its entire investment in an option. Uncleared swaps are particularly subject to counterparty credit, correlation, valuation, liquidity and leveraging risks. Additionally, applicable regulators have adopted rules imposing certain margin requirements, including minimums on uncleared swaps, which may result in the Portfolio and its counterparties posting higher margin amounts for uncleared swaps. Certain standardized swaps are subject to mandatory central clearing and exchange trading. Central clearing, which interposes a central clearinghouse to each participant’s swap, and exchange trading are intended to reduce counterparty credit risk and increase liquidity but neither makes swap transactions risk-free. Derivatives may also increase the expenses of the Portfolio.

Large Transaction Risks: To minimize disruptions to the operations of the Portfolio, the Subadvisor seeks to maintain existing allocations and to implement small changes to target allocations through the netting of purchases and redemptions of Portfolio shares. These practices may temporarily affect the Subadvisor's ability to fully implement the Portfolio's investment strategies.

Leverage Risk: To the extent the Portfolio employs certain strategies and instruments (e.g., derivatives) that result in economic leverage, the Portfolio may be more volatile and sensitive to market movements than a fund that does not employ leverage. The use of leverage creates additional investment exposure as well as the potential for greater loss and may require the Portfolio to liquidate investments when it may be disadvantageous to do so.

Liquidity and Valuation Risk: Securities purchased by the Portfolio may be illiquid at the time of purchase or liquid at the time of purchase and subsequently become illiquid due to, among other things, events relating to the issuer of the securities, market events, operational issues, economic conditions, investor perceptions or lack of market participants. The lack of an active trading market may make it difficult to sell or obtain an accurate price for a security. If market conditions or issuer specific developments make it difficult to value securities, the Portfolio may value these securities using more subjective methods, such as fair value pricing. In such cases, the value determined for a security could be different than the value realized upon such security's sale. As a result, an investor could pay more than the market value when buying Portfolio shares or receive less than the market value when selling Portfolio shares. This could affect the proceeds of any redemption or the number of shares an investor receives upon purchase. Liquidity risk may also refer to the risk that the Portfolio may not be able to pay redemption proceeds within the allowable time period because of unusual market conditions, unusually high volume of redemptions, or other reasons. To meet redemption requests or to raise cash to pursue other investment opportunities, the Portfolio may be forced to sell securities at an unfavorable time and/or under unfavorable conditions, which may adversely affect the Portfolio.

Market Risk: The value of the Portfolio's investments may fluctuate because of changes in the markets in which the Portfolio invests, which could cause the Portfolio to underperform other funds with similar investment objectives and strategies. Changes in these markets may be rapid and unpredictable. From time to time, markets may experience periods of stress for potentially prolonged periods that may result in: (i) increased market volatility; (ii) reduced market liquidity; and (iii) increased redemptions of Portfolio shares. Such conditions may add significantly to the risk of volatility in the net asset value of the Portfolio's shares.

Cash Flow Risk: The amount of cash that the Portfolio has available to distribute to shareholders will depend on the ability of the ETPs in which the Portfolio has an interest to make distributions or pay dividends to their investors and the tax character of those distributions or dividends.

Portfolio Management Risk: The investment strategies, practices and risk analyses used by the Subadvisor may not produce the desired results. The Portfolio may be particularly susceptible to this risk to the extent that the Subadvisor employs a “representative sampling” strategy. In addition, the Portfolio may not achieve its investment objective and the Portfolio may not achieve performance similar to the overall hedge fund universe or the Underlying Index (i.e. the Portfolio’s returns may not equal or exceed those of the Underlying Index).

Passive Management Risk: Unlike many investment companies, the Portfolio seeks to track its Underlying Index and is not “actively” managed. Therefore, the Portfolio would not necessarily sell a security because the security’s issuer was in financial trouble unless that security is removed from (or was no longer useful in tracking a component of) the Underlying Index.

Short Selling and Short Exposure Risk: To the extent the Portfolio obtains short exposure through the use of derivatives, the Portfolio would be subject to leverage risk, counterparty risk and other risks associated with the use of derivatives. If a security sold short increases in price, the Portfolio may have to cover its short position at a higher price than the short sale price, resulting in a loss. The Portfolio may have substantial short positions and must borrow those securities to make delivery to the buyer. The Portfolio may not be able to borrow a security that it needs to deliver or it may not be able to close out a short position at an acceptable price and may have to sell related long positions before it had intended to do so. Thus, the Portfolio may not be able to successfully implement its short sale strategy due to limited availability of desired securities or for other reasons. The Portfolio also may be required to pay a premium and other transaction costs, which would increase the cost of the security sold short. The amount of any gain will be decreased, and the amount of any loss increased, by the amount of the premium, dividends, interest or expenses the Portfolio may be required to pay in connection with the short sale.

Until the Portfolio replaces a borrowed security, it is required to maintain a segregated account of cash or liquid assets with the Portfolio's custodian to cover the Portfolio's short position. Generally, securities held in a segregated account cannot be sold unless they are replaced with other liquid assets. The Portfolio's ability to access the pledged collateral may also be impaired in the event the broker fails to comply with the terms of the contract. In such instances the Portfolio may not be able to substitute or sell the pledged collateral. Additionally, the Portfolio must maintain sufficient liquid assets (less any additional collateral held with the broker), marked-to-market daily, to cover the short sale obligations. This may limit the Portfolio's investment flexibility, as well as its ability to meet redemption requests or other current obligations. Because losses on short sales arise from increases in the value of the security sold short, such losses are theoretically unlimited. By contrast, a loss on a long position arises from decreases in the value of the security and is limited by the fact that a security's value cannot go below zero.

By investing the proceeds received from selling securities short, the Portfolio could be deemed to be employing a form of leverage, which creates special risks. The use of leverage may increase the Portfolio's exposure to long positions and make any change in the Portfolio's net asset value greater than it would be without the use of leverage. This could result in increased volatility of returns. There is no guarantee that the Portfolio will leverage its portfolio, or if it does, that the Portfolio's leveraging strategy will be successful or that it will produce a higher return on an investment.

Correlation Risk: The investment results of the Portfolio may not equal or exceed those of the Underlying Index for a number of reasons, including operating expenses, transaction costs and trading risks (when rebalancing the Portfolio’s securities holdings to reflect changes in the Underlying Index or for other similar reasons), cash flows and operational inefficiencies. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Portfolio’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels to track the Underlying Index. In addition, the Portfolio may use a “representative sampling” approach, which may cause the Portfolio’s investment results to not be as well correlated with those of the Underlying Index as would be the case if the Portfolio purchased all of the securities in the Underlying Index in the proportions represented in the Underlying Index. Errors in the Underlying Index data, the Underlying Index computations and/or the construction of the Underlying Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the provider of the Underlying Index for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Portfolio and its shareholders. As a result, the Portfolio’s returns may be lower than the returns of the Underlying Index.

Fund of Funds Risk: The Portfolio’s investment performance, because it is a fund of funds, depends on the investment performance of the ETPs in which it invests.

Focused Portfolio Risk: To the extent that the Underlying Index concentrates (i.e., holds 25% or more of its total assets) in an industry or group of industries, the Portfolio will concentrate its investments to approximately the same extent as the Underlying Index. In such instances, the Portfolio may be subject to more risks than if it was more broadly diversified over numerous industries and sectors. General changes in market sentiment towards companies in the industries and sectors in which the Portfolio invests may adversely affect the Portfolio, and the performance of such industries and sectors may lag behind the broader market as a whole.

Investments in Other Investment Companies Risk: The Portfolio's investment in another investment company may subject the Portfolio indirectly to the risks of that investment company. The Portfolio also will bear its share of the underlying investment company's fees and expenses, which are in addition to the Portfolio's own fees and expenses.

New Fund Risk: The Portfolio is a new fund which may result in additional risk. There can be no assurance that the Portfolio will grow to an economically viable size, in which case the Portfolio may cease operations. In such an event, investors may be required to liquidate or transfer their investments at an inopportune time.

Principal Risks of the ETPs

The principal risks of the ETPs, which could adversely affect the performance of the Portfolio, may include the risks summarized below:

Equity Securities Risk: Investments in common stocks and other equity securities are particularly subject to the risk of changing economic, stock market, industry and company conditions and the risks inherent in the portfolio managers' ability to anticipate such changes that can adversely affect the value of the ETP's holdings. Opportunity for greater gain often comes with greater risk of loss.

Geographic Focus Risk: Issuers that operate in a single country, a small number of countries, or a particular geographic region can react similarly to market, currency, political, economic, regulatory, geopolitical and other conditions, and the ETP’s performance will be affected by the conditions in the countries or regions to which the ETP is exposed. To the extent the ETP focuses its investments in a particular country or region, its performance will be more susceptible to adverse developments in such country or region than a more geographically diversified fund.

Growth Stock Risk: If growth companies do not increase their earnings at a rate expected by investors, the market price of the stock may decline significantly, even if earnings show an absolute increase. Growth company stocks also typically lack the dividend yield that can cushion stock prices in market downturns.

Value Stock Risk: Value stocks may never reach what an ETP's portfolio managers believe is their full value or they may go down in value. In addition, different types of stocks tend to shift in and out of favor depending on market and economic conditions, and therefore an ETP's performance may be lower than that of funds that invest in other types of equity securities.

Market Capitalization Risk: To the extent the ETP invests in securities issued by small-, mid-, or large-cap companies, the ETP will be subject to the risks associated with securities issued by companies of the applicable market capitalization.  Securities of small-cap and mid-cap companies may be subject to greater price volatility, significantly lower trading volumes, cyclical, static or moderate growth prospects and greater spreads between their bid and ask prices than securities of larger companies. Smaller capitalization companies frequently rely on narrower product lines and niche markets and may be more vulnerable to adverse business or market developments.  Securities issued by larger companies may have less growth potential and may not be able to attain the high growth rates of successful smaller companies, especially during strong economic periods.  In addition, larger companies may be less capable of responding quickly to competitive challenges and industry changes, including those resulting from improvements in technology, and may suffer sharper price declines as a result of earnings disappointments.  There is a risk that the securities issued by companies of a certain market capitalization may underperform the broader market at any given time.

Foreign Securities Risk: Investments in foreign securities may be riskier than investments in U.S. securities. Differences between U.S. and foreign regulatory regimes and securities markets, including less stringent investor protections and disclosure standards of some foreign markets, less liquid trading markets and political and economic developments in foreign countries, may affect the value of the ETP's investments in foreign securities. Foreign securities may also subject the ETP's investments to changes in currency rates. Changes in the value of foreign currencies may make the return on an investment go up or down, unrelated to the quality or performance of the investment itself.

Emerging Markets Risk: The risks related to investing in foreign securities are generally greater with respect to securities of companies that conduct their business activities in emerging markets or whose securities are traded principally in emerging markets. The risks of investing in emerging markets include the risks of illiquidity, increased price volatility, smaller market capitalizations, less government regulation, less extensive and less frequent accounting, financial and other reporting requirements, risk of loss resulting from problems in share registration and custody, substantial economic and political disruptions and the nationalization of foreign deposits or assets.

Convertible Securities Risk: Convertible securities may have a lesser claim on assets than other securities. In part, the total return for a convertible security depends upon the performance of the underlying stock into which it can be converted. Also, issuers of convertible securities are often not as strong financially as those issuing securities with higher credit ratings, are more likely to encounter financial difficulties and typically are more vulnerable to changes in the economy, such as a recession or a sustained period of rising interest rates, which could affect their ability to make interest and principal payments. If an issuer stops making interest and/or principal payments, the ETP could lose its entire investment.

Currency Risk: Changes in the value of foreign (non-U.S.) currencies relative to the U.S. dollar may adversely affect the ETP’s investments in foreign currencies or in securities that trade in, and receive revenues in, or in derivatives that provide exposure to, foreign currencies. These changes in value can make the return on an investment go up or down, entirely apart from the quality or performance of the investment itself.

Depositary Receipts Risk: Investments in depositary receipts may entail the special risks of foreign investing, including currency exchange fluctuations, government regulations, and the potential for political and economic instability.

Debt Securities Risk: The risks of investing in debt or fixed-income securities include (without limitation): (i) credit risk, e.g., the issuer or guarantor of a debt security may be unable or unwilling (or be perceived as unable or unwilling) to make timely principal and/or interest payments or otherwise honor its obligations; (ii) maturity risk, e.g., a debt security with a longer maturity may fluctuate in value more than one with a shorter maturity; (iii) market risk, e.g., low demand for debt securities may negatively impact their price; (iv) interest rate risk, e.g., when interest rates go up, the value of a debt security generally goes down, and when interest rates go down, the value of a debt security generally goes up (long-term debt securities are generally more susceptible to interest rate risk than short-term debt securities); (v) call or prepayment risk, e.g., during a period of falling interest rates, the issuer may redeem a security by repaying it early, which may reduce the ETP’s income if the proceeds are reinvested at lower interest rates ; and (vi) extension risk, e.g., if interest rates rise, repayments of debt securities may occur more slowly than anticipated by the market, which may drive the prices of these securities down because their interest rates are lower than the current interest rate and they remain outstanding longer.

Interest rates in the United States are near historic lows, and the ETP currently faces a heightened level of interest rate risk. To the extent the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Federal Reserve Board”) continues to raise the federal funds rate, there is a risk that interest rates across the financial system may rise, possibly significantly and/or rapidly. Rising interest rates or lack of market participants may lead to decreased liquidity and increased volatility in the fixed-income or debt markets, making it more difficult for the ETP to sell its fixed-income or debt holdings at a time when it wishes to sell. Decreased liquidity in the fixed-income or debt markets also may make it more difficult to value some or all of the ETP’s fixed-income or debt holdings.

Not all U.S. government debt securities are guaranteed by the U.S. government—some are backed only by the issuing agency, which must rely on its own resources to repay the debt.

High-Yield Securities Risk: Investments in high-yield securities or non-investment grade securities (commonly referred to as "junk bonds") are considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss than higher quality securities. Such securities may, under certain circumstances, be less liquid than higher rated securities. These securities pay investors a premium (a high interest rate or yield) because of the potential illiquidity and increased risk of loss. These securities can also be subject to greater price volatility. In times of unusual or adverse market, economic or political conditions, these securities may experience higher than normal default rates.

Floaters and Variable Rate Notes Risk: Floaters and variable rate notes provide for a periodic adjustment in the interest rate paid on the securities. The rate adjustment intervals may be regular and range from daily up to annually, or may be based on an event, such as a change in the prime rate. Floating and variable rate notes may be subject to greater liquidity risk than other debt securities, meaning that there may be limitations on the ETP's ability to sell the securities at any given time. Securities with floating interest rates generally are less sensitive to interest rate changes, but may decline in value if their interest rates do not rise as much or as fast as interest rates in general. Such securities also may lose value.

Mortgage-Related and Other Asset-Backed Securities Risk: Investments in mortgage-related securities (such as mortgage-backed securities) and other asset-backed securities generally involve a stream of payments based on the underlying obligations. These payments, which are often part interest and part return of principal, vary based on the rate at which the underlying borrowers repay their loans or other obligations. Asset-backed securities are subject to the risk that borrowers may default on the underlying obligations and that, during periods of falling interest rates, these obligations may be called or prepaid and, during periods of rising interest rates, obligations may be paid more slowly than expected. Impairment of the underlying obligations or collateral, such as by non-payment, will reduce the security's value. Enforcing rights against such collateral in events of default may be difficult or insufficient. The value of these securities may be significantly affected by changes in interest rates, the market's perception of issuers, and the creditworthiness of the parties involved. These securities may have a structure that makes their reaction to interest rate changes and other factors difficult to predict, making their value highly volatile.

Mortgage Pass-Through Securities Risk: Investments in mortgage pass-through securities are subject to similar market risks as fixed-income securities, which include, but are not limited to, interest rate risk, credit risk, prepayment risk, and extension risk.

Commodities and Commodity-Linked Derivatives Risk: Exposure to the commodities markets, such as precious metals, industrial metals, gas and other energy products and natural resources, may subject the ETP to greater volatility than investments in traditional securities. The commodities markets may fluctuate widely based on a variety of factors including changes in overall market movements, political and economic events and policies, war, acts of terrorism, weather and natural disasters, and changes in interest rates or inflation rates. Because the value of a commodity-linked derivative instrument and structured note typically are based upon the price movements of physical commodities, the value of these securities will rise or fall in response to changes in the underlying commodities or related index of investment.

Preferred Stock Risk: Preferred stock is subject to many of the risks associated with debt securities, including interest rate risk. In addition, preferred stocks may not pay dividends, an issuer may suspend payment of dividends on preferred stock at any time, and in certain situations an issuer may call or redeem its preferred stock or convert it to common stock. To the extent that the ETP invests a substantial portion of its assets in convertible preferred stocks, declining common stock values may also cause the value of the ETP’s investments to decline.

Real Estate Investment Trust ("REIT") Risk: Investments in REITs involve risks associated with direct ownership of real estate, including decline in property values, extended vacancies, increases in property taxes and changes in interest rates. Additionally, the appreciation of securities issued by a REIT depends, in part, on the skills of the REIT’s manager. REITs may not be diversified, may experience substantial cost in the event of borrower or lessee defaults and are subject to heavy cash flow dependency.

Repurchase Agreement Risk: Repurchase agreements are subject to the risks that the seller will become bankrupt or insolvent before the date of repurchase or otherwise will fail to repurchase the security as agreed, which could cause losses.

Rights and Warrants Risk: Rights and warrants may provide a greater potential for profit or loss than an equivalent investment in the underlying securities. Prices of these investments do not necessarily move in tandem with the prices of the underlying securities, and warrants are speculative investments. If a right or warrant is not exercised by the date of its expiration, the ETP will lose its entire investment in such right or warrant.

Distressed Securities Risk: Investments in distressed securities are subject to substantial risks in addition to the risks of investing in other types of high-yield securities. Distressed securities are speculative and involve substantial risk that principal will not be repaid. Generally, the ETP will not receive interest payments on such securities and may incur costs to protect its investment. In addition, the ETP's ability to sell distressed securities and any securities received in exchange for such securities may be restricted.

Event-Driven Arbitrage Risk: An ETP’s investments in securities and companies in anticipation of a “special situation” (e.g., a merger) carry the risk that the special situation does not occur as anticipated, when anticipated, or at all, or if it is perceived to be less likely to occur. The market price of the security purchased by an ETP may decline sharply and result in losses to the ETP if, for example, such securities are ultimately sold, transferred or exchanged for securities or cash, the value of which is less than the purchase price.

Floating Rate Loans Risk: The floating rate loans in which an ETP invests are usually rated below investment grade, or if unrated, determined by the ETP or its advisor to be of comparable quality (commonly referred to as "junk bonds") and are generally considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt instruments. Moreover, such investments may, under certain circumstances, be particularly susceptible to liquidity and valuation risks. Although certain floating rate loans are collateralized, there is no guarantee that the value of the collateral will be sufficient or available to satisfy the borrower’s obligation. In times of unusual or adverse market, economic or political conditions, floating rate loans may experience higher than normal default rates. In the event of a recession or serious credit event, among other eventualities, the value of an ETP's investments in floating rate loans are more likely to decline. The secondary market for floating rate loans is limited and, thus, an ETP’s ability to sell or realize the full value of its investment in these loans to reinvest sale proceeds or to meet redemption obligations may be impaired. In addition, floating rate loans generally are subject to extended settlement periods that may be longer than seven days. As a result, an ETP may be adversely affected by selling other investments at an unfavorable time and/or under unfavorable conditions or engaging in borrowing transactions, such as borrowing against its credit facility, to raise cash to meet redemption obligations or pursue other investment opportunities.

In certain circumstances, floating rate loans may not be deemed to be securities. As a result, an ETP may not have the protection of the anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws. In such cases, the ETP generally must rely on the contractual provisions in the loan agreement and common-law fraud protections under applicable state law.

Municipal Bond Risk: Municipal bond risks include the inability of the issuer to repay the obligation, the relative lack of information about certain issuers, and the possibility of future tax and legislative changes, which could affect the market for and value of municipal securities. Municipalities continue to experience economic and financial difficulties in the current economic environment. The ability of a municipal issuer to make payments and the value of municipal bonds can be affected by uncertainties in the municipal securities market. Such uncertainties could cause increased volatility in the municipal securities market and could negatively impact the ETP’s net asset value.

Loan Participation Interest Risk: There may not be a readily available market for loan participation interests, which in some cases could result in the ETP disposing of such interests at a substantial discount from face value or holding such interests until maturity. In addition, the ETP may be exposed to the credit risk of the underlying corporate borrower as well as the lending institution or other participant from whom the ETP purchased the loan participation interests.

Zero Coupon Bond Risk: Because zero-coupon securities bear no interest and compound semi-annually at the rate fixed at the time of issuance, their value generally is more volatile than the value of other fixed-income securities. An investment in zero-coupon and delayed interest securities may cause the ETP to recognize income, and therefore the ETP may be required to make distributions to shareholders before the ETP receives any cash payments on its investment.

Risk, Lose Money

rr_RiskLoseMoney

You can lose money by investing in the Portfolio.

Risk Not Insured Depository Institution

rr_RiskNotInsuredDepositoryInstitution

An investment in the Portfolio is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency.

Bar Chart and Performance Table, Heading

rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading

Past Performance

Performance, Narrative

rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock

Since the Portfolio does not have a full calendar year of performance as of the date of this Prospectus, no calendar year performance information is available.

Performance, One Year or Less

rr_PerformanceOneYearOrLess

Since the Portfolio does not have a full calendar year of performance as of the date of this Prospectus, no calendar year performance information is available.

MainStay VP IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Portfolio (Prospectus Summary) | MainStay VP IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Portfolio | Initial Class

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Management Fees (as an annual percentage of the Portfolio's average daily net assets)

rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets

0.75%

Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees

rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets

none

Other Expenses

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.07%

^[1]

Acquired (Underlying) Fund Fees and Expenses

rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets

0.25%

^[1]

Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses

rr_ExpensesOverAssets

1.07%

Waiver / Reimbursement

rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets

(0.12%)

^[2]

Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses After Waiver

rr_NetExpensesOverAssets

0.95%

^[2]

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

rr_ExpenseExampleYear01

$ 97

Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear03

$ 328

MainStay VP IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Portfolio (Prospectus Summary) | MainStay VP IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Portfolio | Service Class

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Management Fees (as an annual percentage of the Portfolio's average daily net assets)

rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets

0.75%

Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees

rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets

0.25%

Other Expenses

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.07%

^[1]

Acquired (Underlying) Fund Fees and Expenses

rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets

0.25%

^[1]

Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses

rr_ExpensesOverAssets

1.32%

Waiver / Reimbursement

rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets

(0.12%)

^[2]

Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses After Waiver

rr_NetExpensesOverAssets

1.20%

^[2]

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

rr_ExpenseExampleYear01

$ 122

Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear03

$ 406

[1] Based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.

[2] New York Life Investment Management LLC ("New York Life Investments") has contractually agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses so that Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses (excluding taxes, interest, litigation, extraordinary expenses, brokerage and other transaction expenses relating to the purchase or sale of portfolio investments, and acquired (underlying) portfolio/fund fees and expenses) of Initial Class shares and Service Class shares do not exceed 0.70% and 0.95%, respectively, of average daily net assets. This agreement will remain in effect until May 1, 2020, and shall renew automatically for one-year terms unless New York Life Investments provides written notice of termination prior to the start of the next term or upon approval of the Board of Trustees of the Portfolio.

XML

Label	Element	Value
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Entity Registrant Name	dei_EntityRegistrantName	MAINSTAY VP FUNDS TRUST
Entity Central Index Key	dei_EntityCentralIndexKey	0000887340
Document Creation Date	dei_DocumentCreationDate	Sep. 10, 2018
Document Effective Date	dei_DocumentEffectiveDate	Sep. 10, 2018
Prospectus Date	rr_ProspectusDate	Sep. 10, 2018