Comparing with benchmarks
A benchmark is a yardstick you measure your portfolio against: an index (MOEX, S&P 500, inflation) or a specific asset. The comparison answers the question every investor asks sooner or later: "Am I actually doing well? Did I beat the market, or just drift along with it?"
This article is a short guide on how to read the comparison in HADL correctly, and why the chart offers different indices on different tabs.
Open it: hadl.app/portfolio → portfolio chart → the "Benchmark" button.
How HADL calculates the benchmark
One important thing to understand: HADL does not simply draw an index's chart next to yours. It answers a fairer question:
"What would the profit have been if you'd bought the index with the same amounts, on the same dates, that you invested into your own portfolio?"
In other words, the benchmark accounts for your actual contributions and their timing. If you added a large sum at a market peak, the benchmark "buys" the index at that same unfavorable price. That's much fairer than comparing your result to "the index rose X% this year": you didn't invest all at once, but in chunks.
Over the selected period (week, year, all time) the benchmark is rebased to the portfolio's starting point — both lines start from the same spot, so you see the behavior over exactly that period.
Three tabs — three different questions
The portfolio chart switches between three modes, and these aren't just "different lines" — they're three different questions:
- Value — "how much money do I have right now?" Current portfolio value vs invested.
- Profit — "how much did I earn, in rubles?" Can go negative.
- Return % — "how much did I earn, in percent?"
Each question has its own correct benchmark. And that's where it gets important.
Price indices vs total-return indices
This is the key to everything. Indices come in two flavors:
- Price index (IMOEX, S&P 500) — tracks only the price of stocks. It ignores dividends.
- Total-return index (MCFTRR, RGBITR) — tracks price plus reinvested dividends.
A simple example. A stock was worth 100 ₽, grew to 110 ₽ over the year, and paid 5 ₽ in dividends.
- A price index would show +10% (price only).
- A total-return index — +15% (price + the dividend put back to work).
The difference is the contribution of dividends. Over several years it's huge: on the Russian market, dividends make up a significant share of total return.
MCFTRR is the MOEX total-return "net" index, i.e. with dividends already after tax. That's convenient: your accruals in HADL are also counted after tax, so the comparison is fair.
Why different indices on different tabs
Now let's combine the two previous sections. The main rule:
Compare like with like: a metric without dividends — against a price index; a metric with dividends — against a total-return index.
How this maps onto the tabs:
- Portfolio value is the price of your holdings. When a stock pays a dividend, the money leaves the position's value (in HADL it goes into a separate "accruals" bucket). So value is price without dividends. → Compare it with price indices (IMOEX).
- Profit / Return with accruals is your full result including dividends. → Compare it with total-return indices (MCFTRR).
That's why HADL offers a different list of indices per tab: on "Value" you'll see price indices, on "Profit/Return" — total-return ones. It's not an interface quirk, it's protection against misleading conclusions (see below).
The "Include accruals" toggle
In the Profit and Return % modes, the chart settings (the gear icon) have an "Include accruals" toggle. It flips two things at once:
- On → the portfolio line = full profit with dividends, and the offered indices are total-return (MCFTRR).
- Off → the portfolio line = profit without dividends (price growth only), and the indices become price ones (IMOEX).
So you can fairly compare both the "bare" price dynamics and the full result — each against its proper yardstick.
What happens if you compare "wrong"
This is exactly why HADL limits the choice. Watch what happens if you mix them up:
- Full profit (with dividends) against a price index (IMOEX) → you'll almost always "win". No wonder: you have dividends, the price index doesn't. Flattering, but unfairly in your favor.
- Portfolio value against MCFTRR (total return) → you'll almost always "lose". The index reinvests dividends and pulls them into its value, while your value doesn't reinvest dividends. Now it's unfair against you.
Both comparisons technically "work", but the conclusions are misleading. That's why the right yardstick is picked automatically.
Neutral benchmarks: inflation, rate, money market
A separate group is the neutral reference points: inflation (RUCPI), the central-bank key rate, the money market (LQDT). These aren't a "stock market", they're reference points for preserving capital, so they're available on any tab.
The most important of them is inflation. "Am I beating inflation?" is the question of whether you're getting poorer in real terms, even if your ruble balance is growing.
So which to use for inflation — value or profit?
Short answer: Profit or Return % with accruals turned on.
To beat inflation means your entire earnings (price growth + dividends + already-realized profit) grow faster than the cost of living. The "Profit" and "Return %" tabs with accruals count exactly that full result — it's the honest answer to "did I preserve my purchasing power".
The "Value" tab answers a narrower question: "are the securities I hold right now keeping up with inflation". Useful too, but it doesn't see the dividends you received or the profit you already locked in by selling. So for the bottom-line "did I beat inflation" — use "Profit" / "Return %" with accruals.
Why "Value" and "Profit" show a different gap
This follows directly from the paragraph above, and it's not a bug — the two tabs simply measure different things. Let's show it with simple numbers.
Suppose:
- you invested 1,000,000 ₽;
- to merely keep up with inflation, the capital should have grown by 200,000 ₽;
- the securities you hold now have grown by 150,000 ₽;
- and earlier you sold part of them at a 50,000 ₽ profit (locked in).
What the tabs show versus inflation:
- Value:
150,000 − 200,000 = −50,000 ₽(behind). The locked-in 50,000 didn't make it here — those securities are no longer in the portfolio. - Profit:
(150,000 + 50,000) − 200,000 = 0 ₽(even). The realized profit is counted.
The gap between the tabs is exactly those 50,000 ₽, and that's your realized profit: counted under "Profit", not under "Value".
If the "Include accruals" toggle is on, the gap also adds the dividends/coupons you received.
The "vs Benchmarks" card
Next to the chart (on desktop — to the right; on mobile — as a separate slide) there's a "thermometer" card, vs Benchmarks. It's a quick snapshot: your portfolio's return over a chosen short period (1d / 7d / 1m / YTD / 1y) against several reference points at once. It has its own benchmark set, independent of the chart lines, and any index is available — over a short horizon it's useful to measure yourself against price indices too (IMOEX, SPY).
How to read it, piece by piece:
- The big number on top (e.g. +3.44%) is your portfolio's return over the period. It is NOT "how much you beat everyone by".
- "ahead of N/M" — how many of the benchmarks your return is higher than.
- Each row is a single benchmark: its own return over the period plus a horizontal bar. The bar color is about the benchmark itself: green — the index rose over the period, red — it fell. It's not about whether you beat it.
- The small "± N pp" under a row — that's your lead/lag versus that benchmark, in percentage points. Green — you're ahead, red — behind.
"Green rows" and "ahead of N" are different numbers
The most common confusion. Example: your portfolio rose +3% over the period, and the benchmarks behaved like this:
- IMOEX −2% — red bar (the index fell). Your +3% is higher → you're ahead (+5 pp).
- LQDT +5% — green bar (rose). Your +3% is lower → you're behind (−2 pp).
- SPY +8% — green bar (rose). You're behind (−5 pp).
There are two green bars (LQDT and SPY), but "ahead of" is 1/3 (you're higher only than IMOEX). There's no contradiction: the bar color answers "did the index itself rise over the period", while "ahead of" answers "did you beat it on return". Those are different questions, so the numbers differ.
Quick cheat sheet
- "Did I beat the market on price?" → the Value tab, the IMOEX index.
- "Did I beat the market including dividends?" → the Profit or Return % tab with accruals on, the MCFTRR index.
- "Am I beating inflation?" → the Profit or Return % tab with accruals, the RUCPI index (full result vs inflation). "Value" with RUCPI shows a narrower view — whether only your current holdings keep up with inflation.
- You can pick several benchmarks at once (up to 5) — each in its own color.
- The benchmark is rebased to the start of the selected period — switch periods to see behavior over a week, a year, or all time.
- Don't try to "beat" the benchmark at any cost. Its job is to give you an honest reference point: to see whether your active stock-picking pays off compared to simply "buy the index and hold".