Description

A sub-strategy for the U.S. Sector strategy.

Methodology & Assets

See the main US Sector strategy for a detailed asset description.

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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • The total return over 5 years of US sectors low volatility is 26.2%, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (107.5%) in the same period.
  • Looking at total return, or performance in of 13% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to SPY (78.7%).

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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (15.8%) in the period of the last 5 years, the annual return (CAGR) of 4.8% of US sectors low volatility is smaller, thus worse.
  • Compared with SPY (21.5%) in the period of the last 3 years, the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.2% is lower, thus worse.

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.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • The 30 days standard deviation over 5 years of US sectors low volatility is 13.9%, which is smaller, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (17.1%) in the same period.
  • Looking at historical 30 days volatility in of 12.3% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to SPY (15.6%).

DownVol:

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

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • The downside volatility over 5 years of US sectors low volatility is 10.2%, which is lower, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (11.7%) in the same period.
  • Looking at downside risk in of 8.8% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus better in comparison to SPY (10.4%).

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.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.78) in the period of the last 5 years, the risk / return profile (Sharpe) of 0.16 of US sectors low volatility is lower, thus worse.
  • Looking at Sharpe Ratio in of 0.14 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to SPY (1.21).

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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Looking at the downside risk / excess return profile of 0.22 in the last 5 years of US sectors low volatility, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (1.13)
  • Looking at excess return divided by the downside deviation in of 0.19 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (1.83).

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.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • The Ulcer Index over 5 years of US sectors low volatility is 6.91 , which is smaller, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (8.42 ) in the same period.
  • Looking at Ulcer Index in of 5.16 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to SPY (3.61 ).

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.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • The maximum reduction from previous high over 5 years of US sectors low volatility is -19.6 days, which is greater, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (-24.5 days) in the same period.
  • During the last 3 years, the maximum drop from peak to valley is -13.4 days, which is greater, thus better 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.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • The maximum time in days below previous high water mark over 5 years of US sectors low volatility is 462 days, which is lower, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (488 days) in the same period.
  • Compared with SPY (87 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum days under water of 189 days is higher, 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.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Looking at the average days under water of 118 days in the last 5 years of US sectors low volatility, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (120 days)
  • Looking at average time in days below previous high water mark in of 67 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to SPY (21 days).

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 US sectors low volatility 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.