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Performance Attribution, Benchmarks, and Capture

Attribution, benchmark, capture-ratio, and investment-performance terms used in portfolio review.

Performance Attribution, Benchmarks, and Capture terms measure portfolio return, attribution, benchmark-relative results, tracking error, and risk-adjusted performance.

Use this branch when the question depends on how performance was calculated, attributed, benchmarked, or adjusted for risk.

Key Terms in This Branch

TermUse it for
Attribution AnalysisReturn calculation, attribution, benchmark, capture ratio, tracking error, alpha, Sharpe, Sortino, Treynor, or risk-adjusted performance terms.
Benchmark IndexReturn calculation, attribution, benchmark, capture ratio, tracking error, alpha, Sharpe, Sortino, Treynor, or risk-adjusted performance terms.
Down-Market Capture RatioReturn calculation, attribution, benchmark, capture ratio, tracking error, alpha, Sharpe, Sortino, Treynor, or risk-adjusted performance terms.
Investment PerformanceReturn calculation, attribution, benchmark, capture ratio, tracking error, alpha, Sharpe, Sortino, Treynor, or risk-adjusted performance terms.
Up-Market Capture RatioReturn calculation, attribution, benchmark, capture ratio, tracking error, alpha, Sharpe, Sortino, Treynor, or risk-adjusted performance terms.

What to Check

Check the return formula, cash-flow timing, benchmark, fee treatment, reference rate or hurdle rate input, volatility period, attribution model, currency, and whether performance is gross, net, historical, or hypothetical.

Common Mistakes

  • Comparing money-weighted and time-weighted returns as if they were the same.
  • Reading alpha without checking benchmark and risk exposure.
  • Ignoring fees, cash flows, taxes, and survivorship bias.
  • Treating a high ratio as proof a strategy is suitable.

This page is educational and does not recommend a specific portfolio, security, fund, tax treatment, or account choice.

In this section

Choose a subsection first. Deeper term pages live inside each subsection, which keeps large topic hubs readable.

Attribution Analysis

Attribution analysis breaks portfolio performance into allocation, selection, timing, currency, or factor effects relative to a benchmark.

Benchmark Index

A standard against which the performance of a security, mutual fund, or investment manager can be measured.

Down-Market Capture Ratio

The Down-Market Capture Ratio measures an investment's performance relative to a benchmark during down-market periods.

Investment Performance

Investment performance measures the return, risk, and benchmark-relative results of a portfolio, fund, or strategy.

Up-Market Capture Ratio

The up-market capture ratio measures how much of a benchmark's positive return a manager or fund captured in rising markets.

Revised on Sunday, June 21, 2026