Definition
Volatility (Standard Deviation)
How much an investment’s returns bounce around over time.
Volatility, usually measured as the standard deviation of returns, describes how widely an investment’s results swing around its average — higher volatility means a bumpier ride. It’s the most common stand-in for risk, though it treats upside and downside swings the same. Market Lens reports annualized volatility in its portfolio analytics and uses it as the denominator in risk-adjusted measures like the Sharpe ratio.
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