ReturnKoto? star ratings: every fund, every number

Every fund is measured over the exact same months: a 3-year rating on the last 36 months (the main rating below) and a 5-year rating on the last 60 months for funds old enough. Nothing is averaged over each fund’s own lifetime, so a fund launched after a crash is never compared on friendlier years than its peers. Four sub-scores are measured inside the window, each 0 to 100. Return is annualized total return against a benchmark measured over the same window: for growth and balanced funds the midpoint of the DSEX index return (-3.2%/yr over the current 3-year window) and the 91-day T-bill average (10.9%), a hurdle of 3.9%; for income funds the T-bill average alone. Matching the benchmark scores 50, and each percentage point above or below moves the score 5 points. Stability is downside deviation, only losing months count: 1% scores 100, 12% scores 0. Drawdown is the worst peak-to-trough fall (0% scores 100, a 30% fall scores 0) and Consistency is the share of 12-month holding periods that ended in profit. The score is 0.40×Return + 0.20×Stability + 0.20×Drawdown + 0.20×Consistency, and stars come from fixed per-category bands, not a curve. One guardrail: stars above 3 require the fund’s return to beat both yardsticks over the window, the 91-day T-bill average and, for growth and balanced funds, the DSEX return itself. A calm NAV alone can never look premium.

Every anchor is pinned to an observable market fact. The T-bill averages come from Bangladesh Bank auction results as reported in the financial press (the 5-year average is approximate, since 2021-22 auction prints are sparse). The DSEX window returns come from our published dsex.json series; DSEX is a price-only index that excludes dividends, which makes the market yardstick slightly easier to beat, and we say so rather than hide it. The downside-deviation cap of 12% sits just above the DSEX’s own 9.9%, and the 30% drawdown cap sits against the DSEX’s worst fall of 36.7%. One honest caveat: income funds hold bonds often priced at amortized cost, which makes their NAVs look smoother than reality; that is one reason return carries the largest weight and the gate exists. Full method and governance.

Take Ekush Growth Fund (EGF). Over the current 3-year window it scores Return 100, Stability 51, Drawdown 68 and Consistency 100 (all in ratings.json). So: 0.40×100 + 0.20×51 + 0.20×68 + 0.20×100 = 83.8, against the published score of 83.7. Sub-scores are printed rounded while the score is computed before rounding, so hand math can differ by a few tenths. It is a growth fund, its reference level is 56, and 83.7 sits +27.7 points versus that level, which lands in the 5-star band. Every rating on this page can be rebuilt the same way.