12 terms · definitions at the point of use
Fund analysis glossary
Each definition states how this site uses the term and the evidence basis behind it.
Closet indexing
Closet indexing is the combination of index-like holdings and an active-fund price. This site does not assign the label from a single cutoff; it shows the filed fee and measured active share so readers can judge the combination directly.
Basis: Filed expense ratio beside the fund’s measured best-fit active share.
Fee drag
Fee drag is the difference between two otherwise identical compounded paths after applying their stated annual expense ratios. It is an illustration or a historical-window calculation, not a prediction of future returns.
Basis: A stated starting amount, return basis, time window, fund fee, and comparison fee.
Tracking difference
Tracking difference compares the fund’s licensed total-return history with the selected comparison’s licensed total-return history over matching dates. Missing history leaves the result unavailable rather than shortened or extrapolated.
Basis: Matching complete total-return windows from licensed market-return history.
Expense ratio
The expense ratio is the share class’s filed annual operating cost as a percentage of assets. Different classes of the same portfolio can report different fees, so the class and filing period belong with the figure.
Basis: The latest usable SEC Risk/Return expense fact for the named share class.
Benchmark
A benchmark gives a fund result a comparison basis. The registry keeps the fund’s declared benchmark separate from the mechanically selected best-fit comparison because those answer different questions.
Basis: Either the fund’s filed performance-table benchmark or a stated mechanical comparison rule.
Best fit
Best fit is selected mechanically from the approved comparison set for the same filed period where possible. It identifies the closest measured portfolio in that set; it does not prove the fund follows that index.
Basis: Lowest active-share result across the approved index-control comparisons.
Declared benchmark
The declared benchmark is the comparison the fund itself names in its SEC filing. The site resolves that name to an approved comparison portfolio only when the mapping is explicit; an unresolved name stays unresolved.
Basis: The primary index label in the fund’s filed Risk/Return performance table.
Mismatch
A mismatch means the declared comparison and the lowest-active-share comparison are not the same approved index control. It is a comparison fact, not evidence that either benchmark is improper.
Basis: Declared-benchmark mapping compared with the mechanical best-fit result for the same fund mark.
Under review
Under review is an honest withheld state. It does not mean zero, delisted, or absent. The registry names the failed gate and publishes the figure only after the applicable evidence threshold is met.
Basis: The methodology-versioned publication gate recorded with the fund’s registry mark.
As-of date
An as-of date comes from the filing, price window, or other source event behind the figure. A calculation time belongs in the reproduction record and never replaces the source date.
Basis: The actual filing period, return-window end, or other cited source event.
N-PORT
Form N-PORT supplies the filed portfolio snapshot used for holdings comparisons. Public filings arrive after the reported month end, so each result describes that past portfolio rather than the fund’s holdings today.
Basis: SEC Form N-PORT holdings, accession, filing date, and period of report.