All investments involve risks, including the possible loss of capital. Securities trading will be offered to self-directed customers by Quantbase, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Quantbase, Inc. Furthermore, securities in your account are held with our brokerage partner Alpaca and protected up to $500,000. For details, please see www.sipc.org. This is not an offer, solicitation of an offer, or advice to buy or sell securities, or open a brokerage account in any jurisdiction where Quantbase, Inc is not registered. Quantbase also offers cryptocurrency portfolios -- cryptocurrencies are not stocks and your cryptocurrency investments are not protected by either FDIC or SIPC. Investors should be aware that system response, execution price, speed, liquidity, market data, and account access times are affected by many factors, including market volatility, size and type of order, market conditions, system performance, and other factors.
Risk Score Calculation
Risk scores are between 1 (lower) and 5 (higher), inclusive. They are calculated using a variety of quantitative and qualitative factors. They weight each fund’s historical monthly volatility, annual(ized) returns, max drawdown, and other factors to determine a composite calculation of risk against the SPY ETF.
This calculation sets the SPY ETF, the benchmark, as having a risk score of 3. This assumption deserves a short explanation - Quantbase users, and indeed many sophisticated investors across the industry and academia, set the US equities market as the benchmark against which their strategies compare. With such a variety of strategies - some seeking to minimize volatility, others seeking to maximize growth - being compared to the returns of SPY, it makes sense for deviations from that benchmark to constitute some risk. This is to say that a fund that perfectly tracked SPY's return profile, volatility, and all other metrics would have a risk score of exactly 3.00.
One seemingly contrasting portion of our risk score is the inclusion of annual returns in this composite score. Funds that underperform have their risk score increased - that is, the risk score captures the risk of a fund not creating returns compared to the benchmark SPY ETF. The prevailing opposition to this line of argument might go - über-safe funds that are expected to underperform SPY while maintaining lower volatility are getting double-penalized here, both in the lower return number as well as the higher risk score. The response here is that Quantbase isn’t in the business of selling lower return funds (that might come with lower volatility), so our risk score captures successfully the risk we are trying to mitigate.
Other Disclosures
All performance data is strictly illustrative, may represent best estimates based on available data, and may differ from actual results. Clients with less than $10,000 in net transfers would have experienced lower returns net of fees given the change in fee structure for smaller asset accounts.
Results for Quantbase strategies as compared to the performance of Illustrative Benchmarks are for informational purposes only. “Illustrative Benchmarks” include the SPY ETF, which is built to track the S&P 500 Index.
Quantbase's investment program does not mirror that of the Illustrative Benchmarks and the volatility may be materially different from the volatility of Illustrative Benchmarks. Reference or comparison to an Illustrative Benchmark does not imply that Quantbase's portfolio will be constructed in the same way as the Illustrative Benchmark or achieve returns, volatility, or other results similar to those of the Illustrative Benchmark. SPY results include the reinvestment of dividends and do not reflect transaction costs.
Performance results were prepared by Quantbase, and have not been compiled, reviewed or audited by an independent accountant. Performance estimates are subject to future adjustment and revision. Investors should be aware that a loss of investment is possible. Account holdings are for illustrative purposes only and are not investment recommendations. Additional information, including (i) the calculation methodology; and (ii) a list showing the contribution of each holding to the portfolio's performance during the time period will be provided upon request. The visual content is for illustrative purposes only to demonstrate products, services and information available from Quantbase.
Referrals
Referrals made under the Quantbase Referral Program are only valid (“Eligible Referrals”) when (1) a person you referred opens and invests their first funded account (taxable or retirement) with a $100 qualifying minimum deposit, provided that the account remains open and funded for at least 180 days (“Qualified New Client”) and (2) you have a taxable Quantbase account and have funded at least one Quantbase account (either taxable or retirement) with a $100 qualifying minimum deposit. Eligible Referrals may only be recorded by sharing your unique referral link. Quantbase is not responsible for incorrect entry or other failure of your invitees to meet requirements of a Qualified New Client. The Quantbase Referral Program is available to U.S. residents only. It is not valid with any other offers and is non-transferrable. Quantbase reserves the right to terminate the Quantbase Referral Program at any time for any reason, and to recover any fees or Referral Rewards if Quantbase determines that the Quantbase Referral Program was executed under wrongful or fraudulent circumstances, that inaccurate or incomplete information was provided in opening the account, that any rules or regulations would be violated, or that any terms of this or the Account Management Agreement have been violated. In connection with referring others to open a Quantbase account, you agree that:
(1) You will follow all instructions you receive from Quantbase; (2) If you provide information about Quantbase to your invitee, you will limit that to the information on the Quantbase App and content; (3) You will not give your invitee investment advice or recommendations regarding their investment needs; (4) You will only participate in the Quantbase Referral Program in accordance with the terms of this Referral Program Agreement and the following provisions of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended, and its rules (“Advisers Act”). You represent that: (1) you are not an “ineligible person” who is subject to a disqualifying Commission action or any disqualifying event, as described in Rule 206(4)-1 of the Advisers Act; (2) you are not currently the subject of any investigation or proceeding which could result in statutory disqualification as an ineligible person as described in Rule 206(4)-1 of the Advisers Act; and (3) you do not have a "place of business" at which you regularly provide investment advisory services, solicit, meet with, or otherwise communicate with clients, or any other location that is held out to the general public as a location at which you provide investment advisory services, solicit, meet with, or otherwise communicate with clients in any U.S. If you cannot accurately make the preceding representations, you may not participate in the Quantbase Referral Program. If you are currently participating in the Quantbase Referral Program and the preceding representations become inaccurate, you agree to immediately inform Quantbase at support@Quantbase.com; and (5) Any referral links which are posted on public forums or websites such as Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, etc., may be rendered invalid for future use if Quantbase deems them to be against the spirit of the Quantbase Referral Program and/or an attempt to game the Quantbase Referral Program.
Bonuses
Accounts made under the Quantbase Bonus Program (bonus cash amounts deposited into accounts) are only valid (“Eligible Referrals”) when you have a taxable Quantbase account and have funded at least one Quantbase account (either taxable or retirement) with a $1,000 qualifying minimum deposit. Eligible Bonuses may only be recorded by reporting that you came from a source (like Alts.co) where a valid Quantbase Bonus Program campaign ran. The Quantbase Bonus Program is available to U.S. residents only. It is not valid with any other offers and is non-transferrable. Quantbase reserves the right to terminate the Quantbase Bonus Program at any time for any reason, and to recover any fees or Bonus Rewards if Quantbase determines that the Quantbase Bonus Program was executed under wrongful or fraudulent circumstances, that inaccurate or incomplete information was provided in opening the account, that any rules or regulations would be violated, or that any terms of this or the Account Management Agreement have been violated.