Alpha
A measure of the residual risk that an investor takes for investing in a fund rather than a market index. It represents the difference between a mutual fund's actual performance and the performance that would be expected based on the level of risk taken by the fund's manager. If a fund produced the expected return for the level of risk assumed, the fund would have an Alpha of zero. A positive Alpha indicates the manager produced a return greater than expected for the risk taken. A negative Alpha indicates the manager has not adequately rewarded investors for the risks taken.
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