Leverage · Leverage · Bhandari (1988)

Market leverage

Long minus short decile portfolio, value-weighted, market-adjusted. Quarterly, 1951Q3 to 2024Q4.

Expected return · posterior mean, % per year, averaged over the window
Next quarter
2026Q4
3.56%
95% interval −1.44% to 8.48%
Next year
2026Q4–2027Q3
3.57%
95% interval −1.45% to 8.49%
Next five years
2026Q4–2031Q3
3.62%
95% interval −1.50% to 8.58%

Forecast made 16 Sep 2026, conditioning on this portfolio's OAP returns, which end 2024Q4. The 7 quarters between then and 2026Q4 are unobserved and are integrated out under the model.

Cumulative market-adjusted return

+325% since 1951Q3 · log scale

Past performance, annualized

Window Mean Vol. Sharpe t
1951Q3–2024Q4 4.26% 21.48% 0.20 1.70
2020Q1–2024Q4 −1.28% 34.89% −0.04 −0.08
2024Q1–2024Q4 −6.49% 14.94% −0.43 −0.43

Forecast Sharpe ratio, annualized

Window Mean 95% interval P(neg)
2026Q4 0.17 −0.07 – 0.39 0.08
2026Q4–2027Q3 0.17 −0.07 – 0.39 0.08
2026Q4–2031Q3 0.16 −0.06 – 0.39 0.08
Category
Leverage
Form
Continuous
Data
Accounting
Sorted on
High minus low
Names per leg
371 long / 381 short median · 35 at the 10th pctile
Original sample
1952–1981