--- title: Active Funds Underperformed Passive During Market Stress description: ESMA analysed actively managed equity UCITS relative to prospectus and market benchmark indices. image: https://articles.marketsmedia.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/easy-money-tamps-volatility-950-May-12-2022-09-21-49-42-AM.jpg --- ![websites-group](https://articles.marketsmedia.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/MarketsMedia_August2021/images/new-MMG-01.svg) [![](https://articles.marketsmedia.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/MarketsMedia_August2021/images/dropdown-new-marketsmedia-logo.svg)](https://www.marketsmedia.com/) [![](https://articles.marketsmedia.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/MarketsMedia_August2021/images/dropdown-menu-traders-redlogo.svg)](https://www.tradersmagazine.com/) [![](https://articles.marketsmedia.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/MarketsMedia_August2021/images/dropdown-menu-bestexe-logo.svg)](https://www.bestexecution.net/) [![](https://articles.marketsmedia.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/MarketsMedia_August2021/images/dropdown-menu-fidesk-logo.svg)](https://www.fixglobal.com/) [![](https://articles.marketsmedia.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/MarketsMedia_August2021/images/dropdown-fixglobal-new-logo.svg)](https://www.fixglobal.com/) - [*Facebook*](https://www.facebook.com/MarketsMedia/) - [*Twitter*](https://twitter.com/marketsmedia) - [*Linkedin*](https://www.linkedin.com/company/markets-media-llc) - [Newsletter](https://articles.marketsmedia.com/actively-managed-funds-underperformed-passive-during-market-stress#popup-newsletter) #### Want the latest news on securities markets -- FREE? 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ESMA concludes that actively managed funds did not consistently outperform passive during this period. The strong market downturn at the beginning of the period followed by a fast recovery and then stabilisation offered a real-life opportunity to test the accepted hypothesis that active equity UCITS outperform their benchmarks during stressed market conditions. The main findings show that the sample of funds considered active funds, net of ongoing costs, did not on average outperform their related benchmarks. More than half of the active UCITS analysed underperformed their benchmarks during the stressed period (between 19 February and 31 March) and more than 40% during the post-stress period (between 1 April and 30 June). Only funds belonging to the highest-rated class consistently outperformed the benchmarks. For the rest of the funds analysed, benchmark-adjusted performance hovered around zero or was clearly negative. Source: ESMA [Share](https://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://articles.marketsmedia.com/actively-managed-funds-underperformed-passive-during-market-stress) [Tweet](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=US+ETFs+Have+Record+Net+Inflows&url=https://articles.marketsmedia.com/actively-managed-funds-underperformed-passive-during-market-stress) [Share](https://www.linkedin.com/cws/share?url=https://articles.marketsmedia.com/actively-managed-funds-underperformed-passive-during-market-stress) ![email](https://articles.marketsmedia.com/hubfs/Markets%20Media/email.svg) ### NEWSLETTER SIGN UP And receive exclusive articles on securities markets ### Related articles 1. 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