Value at Risk
Also written Value at Risk (VaR)
The maximum expected loss over a given time frame at a pre-defined confidence level.
This one is not written up yet
The definition above is the short version. A full explanation — how it works, a worked example and the exam traps — is still being written. In the meantime the chapter below covers it in context.
Written up from the same chapter
- AlphaThe return a fund earned above what its beta and the benchmark say it should have earned — the slice of performance left over once the market has been given credit for its share.
- Base Expense RatioThe management-and-administration slice of a scheme's cost, capped by the SEBI slabs — the first and largest of the four components that add up to Total Expense Ratio.
- BenchmarkThe independently published index a scheme's performance is measured against, chosen to match its investment objective, asset allocation and strategy, and disclosed in the Scheme Information Document.
- BetaHow sharply a share moves relative to the market index — beta 1 moves with the index, above 1 amplifies it, below 1 dampens it. The standard measure of systematic risk.
- Business riskThe variability of a firm's income flows caused by the nature of its business — driven by how volatile its sales are and how much of its cost base is fixed.
- CAGRThe single smoothed annual rate at which a starting value would have to grow, compounding each year, to reach the ending value over a given period.
Where this is taught
- Series XV · Chapter 12: Fundamentals of Risk and Returnintroduced here
- Series XIX-B · Chapter 6: Fees Structure, Fund Performance and Benchmarkingintroduced here
- Series IV · Chapter 7: Clearing, Settlement and Risk Management of IRDintroduced here
- Series XIX-C · Chapter 9: Fee Structure and Fund Performanceintroduced here
Related terms
- Leverage riskThe risk that borrowing or derivative positions magnify a fund's losses — which is why SEBI caps Category III leverage at two times NAV and permits Category I and II almost none.
- Downside riskThe probability of a loss on account of falling asset prices in changing market conditions — the half of volatility investors actually mind, measured by maximum drawdown and value at risk.
- Volatility Scan RangeThe percentage volatility movement SPAN applies when scanning a portfolio for its worst-case loss, floored by SEBI at levels that depend on the commodity type and its annualised volatility.
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