BacktestFolio · Glossary

Information Ratio

In plain language

The Sharpe ratio measures return per unit of total risk; the Information Ratio measures excess return per unit of deviation from the benchmark. An IR of 0.5 or above is considered very good for active strategies.

Technical definition

Excess return over the benchmark divided by the Tracking Error. Measures how consistently a strategy outperforms the benchmark: a high IR means the outperformance is systematic and not merely the result of luck.