Free, independent investment analysis
The fund wrote its own factsheet. Get the other side.
OpenFactsheet turns an investment's own track record into an independent factsheet: the gains, the worst losses, the time it took to recover, and whether the risk was worth it. Free, open source, and computed on your device.
- About a minuteFrom file to full factsheet.
- Your file never leaves your deviceIt's analyzed in your browser.
- Nothing hiddenOne open method. Every measure, including the unflattering ones.
Investment snapshot
Sample fund, Jan 2015 to Dec 2024
Consistent, steady growth
Except here: -27.32%, and still below its June 2020 high 54 months later.
- Growth over 10 years
- +37.02%
- Every 100 invested became 137.
- Biggest historical drop
- -27.32%
- From its June 2020 high to June 2022.
- Time to recover
- Not yet
- Still below its June 2020 high when the data ends, 54 months later.
Watch the explainer
OpenFactsheet, explained.
What OpenFactsheet does, and why every factsheet deserves a second opinion.
The video plays from YouTube. Nothing is loaded from YouTube until you press play.
Who writes the factsheet?
A factsheet is an advertisement.
Investment factsheets are written by the people who sell the investment. Even EU regulators list factsheets as marketing communications.E1 That doesn't make them false, but it does mean someone chose what to show you, from which date, and compared with what.
More than 9 in 10
0%
$29,000
Three tricks in 30 seconds.
See all 10 tricks1The lucky start date
A return quoted "since" a date that happens to be a low point.
Illustration, not a real fund
6.91% a year since July 2022
Measured from just after the bottom of its biggest fall. Over the full 10 years it grew 3.20% a year, and its worst 12 months were -19.61%.
Synthetic sample fund. Both figures computed by the openfactsheet library from the same monthly returns.
3Before-fee returns
Gross figures look better than what an investor actually receives.
Illustration, not a real fund
Strong long-term growth*
*“Gross” means before fees, not what an investor received. In the SEC's own example, a 1% yearly fee instead of 0.25% leaves about $29,000 less after 20 years on $100,000.E4
*Performance shown gross of fees.
7The too-smooth line
Hard-to-value assets can report returns smoother than reality, so risk looks low.
Illustration, not a real fund
Smooth and steady growth
Sharpe ratio of 2.38
Returns look smoothed: each month tends to repeat the last (autocorrelation 0.54). Corrected for that, the score is 1.57.
Illustrative smoothed series. Figures computed by the openfactsheet library.
The one-minute test.
About a minute from file to factsheet. No account, no finance degree, no coding.
- 1
Get the investment's monthly returns
From the factsheet, the annual report, or your broker.
Where do I find them? - 2
Drop the file or paste the table
It's analyzed on your device. Nothing is uploaded.
- 3
Read your independent factsheet
Plain English first, and all the detail if you want it.
What the brochure might leave out.
Every OpenFactsheet report shows these, for any investment.
The worst fall
How much it dropped from its peak, and when.
The wait to get even
How many months it took to get your money back.
Whether the risk paid
Return per unit of risk, the way professionals judge managers.
How much to trust the numbers
Short or smoothed records get flagged.
Make them prove it.
If an investment charges more than a low-cost index alternative, it should show you, in after-fee, risk-adjusted terms, that the extra fee bought something.
Not an outlook. Not a theme. Not a story. Evidence.
- After costs, the average actively managed dollar must earn less than the market.E5
- Research has found that few active funds earn enough extra to cover their costs, and that skill is hard to tell apart from luck.E6
- One study estimates investors earned about 1.2 percentage points a year less than the funds they owned, largely because of when they bought and sold.E7
- Investors react to visible upfront charges but largely ignore ongoing yearly fees.E12
The debate
What should every factsheet show?
We think these, and five more. Should they be required? Tell people what you think.
- 1Returns after all feesWhat an investor actually received, shown alongside any before-fee figure.
- 2The full history, and every calendar yearFrom launch to today, plus each complete calendar year, not a chosen start date.
- 3Yearly returns next to any cumulative figureA total over many years means little without the return per year.
- 4The worst fall, and how long it took to recoverThe biggest drop from a previous high, when it happened, and the months it took to get back.
- 5Risk-adjusted return, with the method statedReturn per unit of risk, and exactly how it was calculated.
Free for everyone. Open source for professionals.
Free online tool
For everyday investors
No programming. No subscription. No financial background required. Try an example, or bring an investment's monthly returns as a file or a pasted table.
Python library
For Developers & Professionals
Portfolio managers, quants and developers can use the open-source Python library for due diligence, reproducible research and integrations, with one versioned methodology.
bagnascotrader/openfactsheet on GitHub(private beta, public release coming soon)
Why you can trust it.
Consistent calculations
Every investment is measured with the same published rules, decided in advance. Nobody picks the flattering period or the convenient ratio, including us.
Open methodology
The formulas, conventions and code are public and versioned, so anyone can check how each number was produced.
Clear limitations
Not every measure applies to every investment, a short track record says less than a long one, and the source data may be incomplete. Each result says how much it can be trusted.
- No advertising
- No affiliation with any fund manager or seller
- No data collection
OpenFactsheet does not rate, rank or recommend investments. It shows the evidence, laid out the same way every time.
Explore all 97 measurements in the methodologyYour money deserves more than a sales pitch.
Get the other side of the factsheet, free, in about a minute.