Geometric Mean Drag
Geometric mean drag is the phenomenon where the volatility of an asset causes its long-term compounded return to be lower than its simple average return. This is particularly relevant in cryptocurrency, where high price swings are common.
Because returns are multiplicative, large losses require even larger gains to recover to the original value, which negatively impacts the compounding effect. Investors holding volatile assets over long periods face this drag, which can significantly reduce total portfolio growth compared to a lower-volatility asset with the same average return.
It is a critical consideration for quantitative finance models evaluating long-term performance. Strategies such as rebalancing are often used to mitigate this drag by selling winners and buying losers.
It represents the mathematical reality of risk in volatile markets.