Tracking error refers to the difference between the performance of a financial investment and the performance of the benchmark or index that it aims to replicate or follow. It measures how well or poorly an investment has tracked or followed the intended benchmark over a specific period of time.
Full definition
Last year, 54 ETFs showed
tracking errors of more than three percentage points, up from just four funds the prior year.
In a previous post, I pointed out that many international equity ETFs showed large
tracking errors in 2009.
Of course, index funds and ETFs with low management fees have much smaller obstacles to overcome, so they tend to have
lower tracking errors as a result.
It is no surprise to us that there is a corresponding increase in
tracking errors for ETFs tracking an index in another time zone, largely due to the bid - ask spread.
A perfect example is the series of recent posts
on tracking error in exchange - traded funds (a must - read for ETF investors).
Any deviation of returns of index fund or ETF from the returns of underlying total return index is known
as tracking error.
They therefore hold too many positions they don't find especially attractive, simply because these stocks provide diversification and reduced
tracking error relative to their benchmark index.
This also preserves balanced diversification, maintains a higher degree of the percent of assets invested in the market and helps
reduce tracking error in the performance of the fund / account.
This section underscores the importance of assessing fees, liquidity and
tracking error when making index ETF selections.
One such method,
tracking error volatility, measures the standard deviation of the difference between a manager's returns and the index returns.
Bottom line: Bond ETFs do have portfolio managers, and a skilled one will work to
minimize tracking error on an ongoing basis so that investors get the exposure they're seeking.
This may not be a huge deal just yet but eventually, there is bound to be
tracking error from the underlying index that most investors are likely unaware of.
The fund makes for an interesting exchange - traded fund in that it has one of the
worst tracking errors in the business.
The
term tracking error is defined as the deviation of the performance of an index fund or exchange - traded fund (ETF) from the performance of the index it tracks.
To make sure you understand these numbers in their proper context, see yesterday's post
about tracking errors on Canadian equity ETFs.
When there is an index change in the middle of the year,
measuring tracking error becomes difficult and the numbers can be misleading.
It's
not tracking error and it's not a mistake when you lose money in one of these while the underlying benchmark is flat.
Test and simulation results show that the measuring accuracy and automation level of novel
AM tracking error testing approach meet the requirements of test measurement.
We believe that these factors are a key risk consideration when constructing a portfolio as opposed to only looking at returns based volatility measures (
i.e. tracking error).
The key point here is that if your ETF happened to show a large
tracking error recently, that's not necessarily a reason to abandon it.
The idea of maximizing the excess return - vs -
tracking error relationship takes a backseat to not losing 30 %, 40 %, or 50 % of your wealth.
When building a portfolio, multiple levels of risk control are employed with the objective of achieving alpha with the lowest
possible tracking error.
It has closely tracked the underlying index over the last three years with high correlation and low
tracking error statistics compared to its peers.
Look to own those with the lowest
underlying tracking error, which is the standard deviation of an ETF's returns from those of the benchmark.
If you make the assumption that the sequence of return differences is normally distributed, you can
interpret tracking error in a very meaningful way.
The PM of the ETF is constantly working to reduce portfolio
tracking error vs. the fund's index.
Phrases with «tracking error»