What Stock Market Alpha Really Measures
A clear guide to stock market alpha, benchmark excess return, risk adjustment, and the limits of a performance estimate.
Alpha / Topic archive
Alpha: a focused reading path.
Understand the difference between raw return, benchmark excess return, and a model-based alpha estimate. These articles use transparent numerical examples to show why exposure, model choice, and uncertainty matter. Read them together before labeling a portfolio’s performance as an independent edge.
Read with a question in mind.
Begin by identifying the term or process you want to understand. For each guide, write down the definition, the assumptions in the example, and what evidence would be needed to use it in a different setting. Related articles at the end of each guide provide the next step without changing the subject midstream.
Use the analytics glossary for a concise definition and the methodology page for the sample-data conventions used across the website.
Alpha vs. Beta: Return, Exposure, and What’s Left
Separate market exposure from model-relative performance with transparent examples and a practical reporting framework.