Description

The World Country Africa strategy is a sub-strategy that picks the top country of the specified region. It is part of the World Top 4 investment strategy.

Methodology & Assets

AFK Market Vectors Africa Index
EGPT Market Vectors Egypt Index
EIS iShares MSCI Israel
EZA iShares MSCI South Africa Index
FM iShares MSCI Frontier Markets ETF
FRN Guggenheim BNY Mellon Frontier Mkts
GULF WisdomTree Middle East Dividend Index
GREK Global X FTSE Greece 20
RSX Market Vectors DAXglobal Russia
TUR iShares MSCI Turkey

From the HEDGE strategy:
GLD – SPDR Gold Shares
TLT– iShares Barclays Long-Term Treasuries (15-18yr)

Short Sectors:

SMN - ProShares UltraShort Basic Materials
ERY - Direxion Daily Energy Bear 3X ETF
SKF - ProShares UltraShort Financials
SIJ - ProShares UltraShort Industrial
REW - ProShares UltraShort Technology
RXD - ProShares UltraShort Health Car
SCC - ProShares UltraShort Consumer Service
SDP - ProShares UltraShort Utilities
SZK - ProShares UltraShort Consumer Goods

Statistics (YTD)

What do these metrics mean? [Read More] [Hide]

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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Looking at the total return, or performance of 45.7% in the last 5 years of World Countries Africa, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (80.7%)
  • Looking at total return, or increase in value in of 41.2% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (75%).

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.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • Looking at the annual performance (CAGR) of 7.9% in the last 5 years of World Countries Africa, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (12.6%)
  • During the last 3 years, the annual performance (CAGR) is 12.3%, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 20.6% from the benchmark.

Volatility:

'Volatility is a rate at which the price of a security increases or decreases for a given set of returns. Volatility is measured by calculating the standard deviation of the annualized returns over a given period of time. It shows the range to which the price of a security may increase or decrease. Volatility measures the risk of a security. It is used in option pricing formula to gauge the fluctuations in the returns of the underlying assets. Volatility indicates the pricing behavior of the security and helps estimate the fluctuations that may happen in a short period of time.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • The historical 30 days volatility over 5 years of World Countries Africa is 17.6%, which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (17.1%) in the same period.
  • Looking at volatility in of 19.6% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to SPY (15.2%).

DownVol:

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

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Looking at the downside risk of 12.6% in the last 5 years of World Countries Africa, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (11.8%)
  • Looking at downside volatility in of 13.9% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to SPY (10.2%).

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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.59) in the period of the last 5 years, the risk / return profile (Sharpe) of 0.3 of World Countries Africa is smaller, thus worse.
  • Looking at risk / return profile (Sharpe) in of 0.5 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to SPY (1.19).

Sortino:

'The Sortino ratio, a variation of the Sharpe ratio only factors in the downside, or negative volatility, rather than the total volatility used in calculating the Sharpe ratio. The theory behind the Sortino variation is that upside volatility is a plus for the investment, and it, therefore, should not be included in the risk calculation. Therefore, the Sortino ratio takes upside volatility out of the equation and uses only the downside standard deviation in its calculation instead of the total standard deviation that is used in calculating the Sharpe ratio.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • The downside risk / excess return profile over 5 years of World Countries Africa is 0.42, which is smaller, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (0.86) in the same period.
  • During the last 3 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation is 0.7, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 1.79 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.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • Looking at the Ulcer Ratio of 15 in the last 5 years of World Countries Africa, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (8.45 )
  • Looking at Downside risk index in of 6.69 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to SPY (3.51 ).

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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Looking at the maximum DrawDown of -31.7 days in the last 5 years of World Countries Africa, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (-24.5 days)
  • Looking at maximum drop from peak to valley in of -25.3 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (-18.8 days).

MaxDuration:

'The Maximum Drawdown Duration is an extension of the Maximum Drawdown. However, this metric does not explain the drawdown in dollars or percentages, rather in days, weeks, or months. It is the length of time the account was in the Max Drawdown. A Max Drawdown measures a retrenchment from when an equity curve reaches a new high. It’s the maximum an account lost during that retrenchment. This method is applied because a valley can’t be measured until a new high occurs. Once the new high is reached, the percentage change from the old high to the bottom of the largest trough is recorded.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • The maximum days under water over 5 years of World Countries Africa is 726 days, which is larger, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (488 days) in the same period.
  • During the last 3 years, the maximum days under water is 169 days, which is larger, thus worse than the value of 87 days from the benchmark.

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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (119 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the average days under water of 240 days of World Countries Africa is larger, thus worse.
  • During the last 3 years, the average time in days below previous high water mark is 56 days, which is greater, thus worse than the value of 20 days from the benchmark.

Performance (YTD)

Historical returns have been extended using synthetic data.

Allocations ()

Allocations

Returns (%)

  • Note that yearly returns do not equal the sum of monthly returns due to compounding.
  • Performance results of World Countries Africa are hypothetical and do not account for slippage, fees or taxes.
  • Results may be based on backtesting, which has many inherent limitations, some of which are described in our Terms of Use.