Home / Glossary / Portfolio Beta

Portfolio Beta

How much the portfolio moves relative to the market.

Beta measures systematic risk - how sensitive the portfolio is to market movements. Beta of 1 means the portfolio moves with the market. Beta > 1 indicates higher volatility than the market (aggressive); Beta < 1 indicates lower volatility (defensive). Beta is calculated as the covariance of portfolio returns with market returns, divided by market variance.

Formula
β=Cov(Rp,Rm)Var(Rm)\beta = \frac{\text{Cov}(R_p, R_m)}{\text{Var}(R_m)}