GSRS Low Volatility Sub-strategy

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.'

• Looking at the total return, or performance of 35.5% in the last 5 years of GSRS Low Volatility Sub-strategy, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (85.7%)
• Compared with SPY (75.8%) in the period of the last 3 years, the total return, or increase in value of 38.5% is lower, thus worse.

CAGR:

'The compound annual growth rate isn't a true return rate, but rather a representational figure. It is essentially a number that describes the rate at which an investment would have grown if it had grown the same rate every year and the profits were reinvested at the end of each year. In reality, this sort of performance is unlikely. However, CAGR can be used to smooth returns so that they may be more easily understood when compared to alternative investments.'

• The annual return (CAGR) over 5 years of GSRS Low Volatility Sub-strategy is 6.3%, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (13.2%) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (20.8%) in the period of the last 3 years, the annual return (CAGR) of 11.6% is smaller, thus worse.

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.'

• Looking at the volatility of 12.2% in the last 5 years of GSRS Low Volatility Sub-strategy, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (17.1%)
• Looking at historical 30 days volatility in of 10.7% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus better in comparison to SPY (15.3%).

DownVol:

'Downside risk is the financial risk associated with losses. That is, it is the risk of the actual return being below the expected return, or the uncertainty about the magnitude of that difference. Risk measures typically quantify the downside risk, whereas the standard deviation (an example of a deviation risk measure) measures both the upside and downside risk. Specifically, downside risk in our definition is the semi-deviation, that is the standard deviation of all negative returns.'

• Looking at the downside volatility of 8.7% in the last 5 years of GSRS Low Volatility Sub-strategy, we see it is relatively smaller, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (11.8%)
• Looking at downside deviation in of 7.4% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus better in comparison to SPY (10.3%).

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.63) in the period of the last 5 years, the ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) of 0.31 of GSRS Low Volatility Sub-strategy is smaller, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (1.2) in the period of the last 3 years, the risk / return profile (Sharpe) of 0.84 is lower, thus worse.

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.'

• Looking at the ratio of annual return and downside deviation of 0.44 in the last 5 years of GSRS Low Volatility Sub-strategy, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (0.91)
• Compared with SPY (1.78) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside risk / excess return profile of 1.22 is lower, thus worse.

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.'

• Looking at the Downside risk index of 6.61 in the last 5 years of GSRS Low Volatility Sub-strategy, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (8.45 )
• Compared with SPY (3.51 ) in the period of the last 3 years, the Ulcer Index of 3.38 is lower, thus better.

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 (-24.5 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum reduction from previous high of -19.9 days of GSRS Low Volatility Sub-strategy is greater, thus better.
• Compared with SPY (-18.8 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum drop from peak to valley of -10.2 days is larger, thus better.

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 time in days below previous high water mark of 539 days in the last 5 years of GSRS Low Volatility Sub-strategy, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (488 days)
• During the last 3 years, the maximum days under water is 132 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.'

• The average time in days below previous high water mark over 5 years of GSRS Low Volatility Sub-strategy is 148 days, which is higher, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (120 days) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (20 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the average time in days below previous high water mark of 30 days is higher, thus worse.