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

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (110.9%) in the period of the last 5 years, the total return, or increase in value of -56.6% of iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN is lower, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (69.3%) in the period of the last 3 years, the total return, or increase in value of -50.7% is lower, thus worse.

CAGR:

'The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is a useful measure of growth over multiple time periods. It can be thought of as the growth rate that gets you from the initial investment value to the ending investment value if you assume that the investment has been compounding over the time period.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (16.1%) in the period of the last 5 years, the annual return (CAGR) of -15.4% of iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN is smaller, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the annual performance (CAGR) is -21.1%, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 19.3% from the benchmark.

Volatility:

'In finance, volatility (symbol σ) is the degree of variation of a trading price series over time as measured by the standard deviation of logarithmic returns. Historic volatility measures a time series of past market prices. Implied volatility looks forward in time, being derived from the market price of a market-traded derivative (in particular, an option). Commonly, the higher the volatility, the riskier the security.'

• Looking at the historical 30 days volatility of 30.7% in the last 5 years of iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (17.5%)
• Looking at historical 30 days volatility in of 31.3% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to SPY (17.5%).

DownVol:

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

• Looking at the downside deviation of 20.1% in the last 5 years of iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (12.1%)
• Compared with SPY (11.5%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside risk of 20.5% 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 (0.78) in the period of the last 5 years, the risk / return profile (Sharpe) of -0.58 of iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN is lower, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the risk / return profile (Sharpe) is -0.76, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 0.96 from the benchmark.

Sortino:

'The Sortino ratio measures the risk-adjusted return of an investment asset, portfolio, or strategy. It is a modification of the Sharpe ratio but penalizes only those returns falling below a user-specified target or required rate of return, while the Sharpe ratio penalizes both upside and downside volatility equally. Though both ratios measure an investment's risk-adjusted return, they do so in significantly different ways that will frequently lead to differing conclusions as to the true nature of the investment's return-generating efficiency. The Sortino ratio is used as a way to compare the risk-adjusted performance of programs with differing risk and return profiles. In general, risk-adjusted returns seek to normalize the risk across programs and then see which has the higher return unit per risk.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (1.13) in the period of the last 5 years, the downside risk / excess return profile of -0.89 of iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN is lower, thus worse.
• Looking at downside risk / excess return profile in of -1.15 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (1.46).

Ulcer:

'The Ulcer Index is a technical indicator that measures downside risk, in terms of both the depth and duration of price declines. The index increases in value as the price moves farther away from a recent high and falls as the price rises to new highs. The indicator is usually calculated over a 14-day period, with the Ulcer Index showing the percentage drawdown a trader can expect from the high over that period. The greater the value of the Ulcer Index, the longer it takes for a stock to get back to the former high.'

• The Ulcer Index over 5 years of iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN is 43 , which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (8.48 ) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (5.3 ) in the period of the last 3 years, the Ulcer Ratio of 47 is larger, thus worse.

MaxDD:

'A maximum drawdown is the maximum loss from a peak to a trough of a portfolio, before a new peak is attained. Maximum Drawdown is an indicator of downside risk over a specified time period. It can be used both as a stand-alone measure or as an input into other metrics such as 'Return over Maximum Drawdown' and the Calmar Ratio. Maximum Drawdown is expressed in percentage terms.'

• Looking at the maximum reduction from previous high of -66.5 days in the last 5 years of iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (-24.5 days)
• Compared with SPY (-18.8 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum drop from peak to valley of -61.7 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'

• The maximum days under water over 5 years of iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN is 1115 days, which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (488 days) in the same period.
• Looking at maximum days below previous high in of 687 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to SPY (199 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 iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN is 501 days, which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (120 days) in the same period.
• During the last 3 years, the average days under water is 320 days, which is greater, thus worse than the value of 47 days from the benchmark.