A decision-theoretic foundation for reward-to-risk performance measures

Abstract

In this paper we prove that partial-moments-based performance measures (e.g., Omega, Kappa, upside-potential ratio, Sortino–Satchell ratio, Farinelli–Tibiletti ratio), value-at-risk-based performance measures (e.g., VaR ratio, CVaR ratio, Rachev ratio, generalized Rachev ratio), and other admissible performance measures are a strictly increasing function in the Sharpe ratio. The theoretical basis of this result is the location and scale property and two other plausible and mild conditions. Our result provides a decision-theoretic foundation for all these frequently used performance measures. Moreover, it might explain the empirical finding that all these measures typically lead to very similar rankings.