VelocityShares 3x Long Gold ETN (UGLD)

TotalReturn:

'Total return, when measuring performance, is the actual rate of return of an investment or a pool of investments over a given evaluation period. Total return includes interest, capital gains, dividends and distributions realized over a given period of time. Total return accounts for two categories of return: income including interest paid by fixed-income investments, distributions or dividends and capital appreciation, representing the change in the market price of an asset.'

• The total return, or performance over 5 years of VelocityShares 3x Long Gold ETN is 75.6%, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (133.2%) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the total return is 132.5%, which is higher, thus better than the value of 80.4% from the benchmark.

CAGR:

'Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is a business and investing specific term for the geometric progression ratio that provides a constant rate of return over the time period. CAGR is not an accounting term, but it is often used to describe some element of the business, for example revenue, units delivered, registered users, etc. CAGR dampens the effect of volatility of periodic returns that can render arithmetic means irrelevant. It is particularly useful to compare growth rates from various data sets of common domain such as revenue growth of companies in the same industry.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (18.5%) in the period of the last 5 years, the annual return (CAGR) of 11.9% of VelocityShares 3x Long Gold ETN is lower, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (21.8%) in the period of the last 3 years, the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32.5% is higher, thus better.

Volatility:

'Volatility is a statistical measure of the dispersion of returns for a given security or market index. Volatility can either be measured by using the standard deviation or variance between returns from that same security or market index. Commonly, the higher the volatility, the riskier the security. In the securities markets, volatility is often associated with big swings in either direction. For example, when the stock market rises and falls more than one percent over a sustained period of time, it is called a 'volatile' market.'

• Looking at the historical 30 days volatility of 33.5% in the last 5 years of VelocityShares 3x Long Gold ETN, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (18.7%)
• During the last 3 years, the 30 days standard deviation is 34.8%, which is greater, thus worse than the value of 22.4% from the benchmark.

DownVol:

'The downside volatility is similar to the volatility, or standard deviation, but only takes losing/negative periods into account.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (13.6%) in the period of the last 5 years, the downside risk of 22.7% of VelocityShares 3x Long Gold ETN is greater, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (16.2%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside volatility of 22.6% is higher, thus worse.

Sharpe:

'The Sharpe ratio is the measure of risk-adjusted return of a financial portfolio. Sharpe ratio is a measure of excess portfolio return over the risk-free rate relative to its standard deviation. Normally, the 90-day Treasury bill rate is taken as the proxy for risk-free rate. A portfolio with a higher Sharpe ratio is considered superior relative to its peers. The measure was named after William F Sharpe, a Nobel laureate and professor of finance, emeritus at Stanford University.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.85) in the period of the last 5 years, the Sharpe Ratio of 0.28 of VelocityShares 3x Long Gold ETN is lower, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) is 0.86, which is greater, thus better than the value of 0.86 from the benchmark.

Sortino:

'The Sortino ratio improves upon the Sharpe ratio by isolating downside volatility from total volatility by dividing excess return by the downside deviation. The Sortino ratio is a variation of the Sharpe ratio that differentiates harmful volatility from total overall volatility by using the asset's standard deviation of negative asset returns, called downside deviation. The Sortino ratio takes the asset's return and subtracts the risk-free rate, and then divides that amount by the asset's downside deviation. The ratio was named after Frank A. Sortino.'

• The ratio of annual return and downside deviation over 5 years of VelocityShares 3x Long Gold ETN is 0.42, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (1.18) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the excess return divided by the downside deviation is 1.33, which is higher, thus better than the value of 1.19 from the benchmark.

Ulcer:

'Ulcer Index is a method for measuring investment risk that addresses the real concerns of investors, unlike the widely used standard deviation of return. UI is a measure of the depth and duration of drawdowns in prices from earlier highs. Using Ulcer Index instead of standard deviation can lead to very different conclusions about investment risk and risk-adjusted return, especially when evaluating strategies that seek to avoid major declines in portfolio value (market timing, dynamic asset allocation, hedge funds, etc.). The Ulcer Index was originally developed in 1987. Since then, it has been widely recognized and adopted by the investment community. According to Nelson Freeburg, editor of Formula Research, Ulcer Index is “perhaps the most fully realized statistical portrait of risk there is.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (5.59 ) in the period of the last 5 years, the Ulcer Ratio of 17 of VelocityShares 3x Long Gold ETN is larger, thus worse.
• Looking at Ulcer Ratio in of 7.48 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to SPY (6.36 ).

MaxDD:

'Maximum drawdown is defined as the peak-to-trough decline of an investment during a specific period. It is usually quoted as a percentage of the peak value. The maximum drawdown can be calculated based on absolute returns, in order to identify strategies that suffer less during market downturns, such as low-volatility strategies. However, the maximum drawdown can also be calculated based on returns relative to a benchmark index, for identifying strategies that show steady outperformance over time.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (-33.7 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum DrawDown of -40 days of VelocityShares 3x Long Gold ETN is lower, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (-33.7 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum reduction from previous high of -34.3 days is smaller, thus worse.

MaxDuration:

'The Drawdown Duration is the length of any peak to peak period, or the time between new equity highs. The Max Drawdown Duration is the worst (the maximum/longest) amount of time an investment has seen between peaks (equity highs). Many assume Max DD Duration is the length of time between new highs during which the Max DD (magnitude) occurred. But that isn’t always the case. The Max DD duration is the longest time between peaks, period. So it could be the time when the program also had its biggest peak to valley loss (and usually is, because the program needs a long time to recover from the largest loss), but it doesn’t have to be'

• Looking at the maximum days below previous high of 466 days in the last 5 years of VelocityShares 3x Long Gold ETN, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (139 days)
• Looking at maximum days under water in of 335 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to SPY (119 days).

AveDuration:

'The Drawdown Duration is the length of any peak to peak period, or the time between new equity highs. The Avg Drawdown Duration is the average amount of time an investment has seen between peaks (equity highs), or in other terms the average of time under water of all drawdowns. So in contrast to the Maximum duration it does not measure only one drawdown event but calculates the average of all.'

• The average days under water over 5 years of VelocityShares 3x Long Gold ETN is 158 days, which is higher, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (32 days) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (25 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the average days under water of 95 days is greater, thus worse.