iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN (VXZ)

TotalReturn:

'The total return on a portfolio of investments takes into account not only the capital appreciation on the portfolio, but also the income received on the portfolio. The income typically consists of interest, dividends, and securities lending fees. This contrasts with the price return, which takes into account only the capital gain on an investment.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (104.2%) in the period of the last 5 years, the total return, or increase in value of -57% of iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN is smaller, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the total return, or performance is -50.6%, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 62.9% 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.'

• The annual return (CAGR) over 5 years of iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN is -15.6%, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (15.4%) in the same period.
• Looking at annual return (CAGR) in of -21% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (17.7%).

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 30.5% in the last 5 years of iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (17.5%)
• Looking at 30 days standard deviation in of 31.2% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to SPY (17.2%).

DownVol:

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

• Looking at the downside volatility of 20% in the last 5 years of iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (12.1%)
• During the last 3 years, the downside volatility is 20.5%, which is greater, thus worse than the value of 11.4% from the benchmark.

Sharpe:

'The Sharpe ratio (also known as the Sharpe index, the Sharpe measure, and the reward-to-variability ratio) is a way to examine the performance of an investment by adjusting for its risk. The ratio measures the excess return (or risk premium) per unit of deviation in an investment asset or a trading strategy, typically referred to as risk, named after William F. Sharpe.'

• Looking at the Sharpe Ratio of -0.59 in the last 5 years of iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (0.74)
• Compared with SPY (0.89) in the period of the last 3 years, the Sharpe Ratio of -0.75 is smaller, thus worse.

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.'

• Looking at the ratio of annual return and downside deviation of -0.9 in the last 5 years of iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (1.07)
• Compared with SPY (1.33) in the period of the last 3 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation of -1.15 is lower, thus worse.

Ulcer:

'The ulcer index is a stock market risk measure or technical analysis indicator devised by Peter Martin in 1987, and published by him and Byron McCann in their 1989 book The Investors Guide to Fidelity Funds. It's designed as a measure of volatility, but only volatility in the downward direction, i.e. the amount of drawdown or retracement occurring over a period. Other volatility measures like standard deviation treat up and down movement equally, but a trader doesn't mind upward movement, it's the downside that causes stress and stomach ulcers that the index's name suggests.'

• The Ulcer Ratio over 5 years of iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN is 44 , which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (8.48 ) in the same period.
• Looking at Ulcer Index in of 48 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to SPY (4.62 ).

MaxDD:

'Maximum drawdown measures the loss in any losing period during a fund’s investment record. It is defined as the percent retrenchment from a fund’s peak value to the fund’s valley value. The drawdown is in effect from the time the fund’s retrenchment begins until a new fund high is reached. The maximum drawdown encompasses both the period from the fund’s peak to the fund’s valley (length), and the time from the fund’s valley to a new fund high (recovery). It measures the largest percentage drawdown that has occurred in any fund’s data record.'

• The maximum reduction from previous high over 5 years of iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN is -66.5 days, which is smaller, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (-24.5 days) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the maximum reduction from previous high is -61.7 days, which is lower, thus worse than the value of -18.8 days from the benchmark.

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) in days.'

• Looking at the maximum days below previous high of 1145 days in the last 5 years of iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (488 days)
• Compared with SPY (109 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum days below previous high of 717 days is larger, thus worse.

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.'

• Looking at the average time in days below previous high water mark of 530 days in the last 5 years of iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (120 days)
• During the last 3 years, the average days under water is 347 days, which is larger, thus worse than the value of 28 days from the benchmark.