About Beta

Beta is a measure of risk commonly used to compare the volatility of stocks, mutual funds, or ETFs to that of the overall market. The S&P 500 Index is the base for calculating beta with a value of 1.0. Securities with betas below 1 have historically been less volatile than the market. While securities with betas above 1, have historically been more volatile than the market. The beta is calculated using data over a 5-year period.