Inception
A portfolio has a single live inception date, published before measurement begins. Performance is measured from that date. There is no pre-inception period, no simulated history and no partial-period inclusion of positions held before inception.
Model size
Every FIBCOS Alpha Portfolio is modelled at a fixed notional base of US$1,000,000. The base is a sizing convention, not a capital commitment: it is identical in every market, so a position weight, a contribution and a portfolio change mean the same thing in Pakistan as they do in Japan, and the 45 portfolios are directly comparable to one another.
The base is fixed and illustrative. It does not grow or shrink with performance, it is never restated after the fact, and it is not assets under management — FIBCOS does not manage third-party capital. Returns are reported as percentages measured against a benchmark adopted before inception; the notional base exists so that those percentages have a stated, constant denominator.
Where a position value appears in currency, it is the notional base multiplied by the published weight and carries no more meaning than the weight itself. Performance is reported in percentage terms throughout: no currency figure on this website compounds, and none is ever restated as a result.
Return measurement
Returns are computed on a time-weighted basis over defined calendar periods — weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual — on a stated currency basis, and reported gross and net of any stated costs.
Relative Alpha
Portfolio Return − Benchmark Return = Relative Alpha
Alpha is relative performance and nothing else. A portfolio return of any magnitude is not Alpha. Positive return with a benchmark that returned more is negative Relative Alpha, and is reported as such.
Cumulative measures
Cumulative return, cumulative Alpha and CAGR are reported from inception, with the period length stated so the reader can judge whether the measure carries meaning yet.
Drawdown and recovery
Maximum drawdown is the largest peak-to-trough decline over the measurement period. Recovery period is the elapsed time from trough to recovery of the prior peak, reported in months, and reported as ongoing while unrecovered.
Attribution
Contribution to return is reported by position, not by price movement. A large price move in a small position is not a large contribution, and is not presented as one.
Currency
The reporting currency is stated for each portfolio. Portfolio and benchmark returns are always reported on the same currency basis. Where any hedging is applied, it is disclosed.
Cadence
FIBCOS reports at four cadences, and only one of them is the record. Monthly is authoritative: it is the period benchmarks quote, and every cumulative return, drawdown and risk measure published is compounded from it. Quarterly and annual are compounded from that same monthly series and never entered separately, so they cannot disagree with the months they summarise. Weekly is an interim observation between monthly reports — reconciled against the monthly record before publication, and never the basis of a cumulative return, a risk measure or a ratio.
No rolling short-window return is treated as a product, and no period shorter than a month is annualised.
Restatement
Where a published figure is corrected, the correction, its date and its cause are published alongside the original. Figures are not silently amended.
Notional base
US$1,000,000 in every market. A sizing convention that makes the 45 portfolios comparable to one another — illustrative, fixed, and not capital under management.
Published in advance
This methodology is published before measurement begins, deliberately. The rules a record will be judged by are set before there is a record to judge.