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Financials Thematic basket

Payments & Fintech

Consumer and B2B transaction volume as an asset class: networks, processors, issuers, and the crypto on-ramp. Networks are the quality core; processors and PYPL carry the disruption discount.

13 stocks · S&P 500 universeEqual-weighted · monthly rebalance2026-10-21 · close
1 day+0.5%basket return
20 days+4.6%basket return
20 days vs S&P 500+3.9%relative return
Year to date-4.4%basket return

Performance

Follow the theme against the wider market.

Period
-9.0%-5.1%-1.2%+2.7%+6.7%2026-07-282026-10-21
Payments & FintechS&P 500

Series before each basket's creation date are a backtest of the membership as of creation; live tracking starts at creation.

Return1 day5 days20 days60 daysMTDYTD1 year
Basket+0.5%+3.3%+4.6%-1.2%+6.7%-4.4%-9.0%
vs S&P 500-0.0%+2.8%+3.9%-5.5%+5.1%-16.0%-21.4%

Risk statistics

Period · 1y

1y · 2025-10-21 – 2026-10-21 · 252 / 252 sessions

Sharpe ratio-0.27Annualized · 0% risk-free rate
Sortino ratio-0.36Annualized · 0% downside target
Historical volatility24.0%Annualized · daily log returns

Basket total returns · Annualized using 252 trading sessions · 0% risk-free rate and downside target. As of 2026-10-21 · close.

How these statistics are calculated

Risk methodology

Sharpe: average daily simple return divided by its sample standard deviation, multiplied by √252. The risk-free rate is assumed to be 0%; this is not a cash-adjusted ratio.

Sortino: average daily simple return divided by downside deviation, multiplied by √252. Downside deviation is the square root of the average squared shortfall below 0%, counting all sessions, including zeros for gains.

Historical volatility: √(252 × average squared daily log return), matching the Vol page’s realized-volatility convention. This differs from the sample standard deviation used in Sharpe.

Each period requires complete history and at least 5 sessions. MTD and YTD follow the calendar; 1y is 252 sessions. Missing data or an undefined ratio displays — with a reason. Short periods can produce unstable ratios; intraday snapshots include a partial session. History before this basket’s creation is backtested. If a new basket has no stored daily return series yet, estimates from its rounded published chart levels are marked ≈.

Full basket risk methodology →

Inside the basket · 13 stocks

Current members and the reasoning behind each inclusion. Returns are for individual holdings.

Why it’s includedAdded
VVisa Inc.Network toll road+0.3%+4.2%+12.8%+17.0%2026-06-11
MAMastercardNetwork toll road #2+0.4%+3.2%+11.4%+9.8%2026-06-11
PYPLPayPalBranded checkout turnaround debate+0.1%+2.0%+8.9%-1.2%2026-06-11
AXPAmerican ExpressClosed loop + premium consumer credit+1.7%+5.4%+7.5%-11.5%2026-06-11
COFCapital OneCard issuing plus the Discover network+2.5%+6.3%+5.4%-13.7%2026-06-11
FISFidelity National Information ServicesBank core processing-0.0%+2.7%+5.0%-43.5%2026-06-11
FISVFiserv, Inc.Merchant acquiring + bank tech (Clover)-0.1%+4.7%+4.9%-28.2%2026-06-11
SYFSynchrony FinancialPoint-of-sale and private-label credit+1.0%+3.3%+4.9%-10.0%2026-06-11
XYZBlock, Inc.Square seller ecosystem plus Cash App+0.1%+3.1%+4.7%+20.2%2026-06-11
JKHYJack Henry & AssociatesBank and credit-union payment rails-0.8%-1.2%+3.4%-14.9%2026-06-11
CPAYCorpayB2B corporate payments (fleet, AP automation)-0.2%+3.7%+3.1%+35.4%2026-06-11
GPNGlobal PaymentsAcquiring scale, valuation reset case-1.5%+3.3%-0.6%+9.0%2026-06-11
COINCoinbase GlobalCrypto volumes + custody/stablecoin optionality+3.6%+2.4%-10.6%-21.7%2026-06-11

Partial price histories: COIN from 2021-04-14.

How this basket is built

Equal-weighted; monthly rebalance, buy-and-hold between rebalances; dated membership changes reset the target weights.

Tracked since 2026-06-11. Membership decisions are documented below.

Read the methodology →

Reading the returns

Basket returns include dividends. “vs S&P 500” compares the basket’s compounded growth with the benchmark’s. Green means positive; red means negative.

Cross-checked against IPAY. Daily return correlation: 0.95 across 1710 sessions. global networks and processors, including non-index names

Membership history & changes

Membership history

  • expand

    FW 3000 pass: added TOST, AFRM, FOUR, WEX, EEFT — names outside the S&P 500 but inside our broad universe; they count only in the FW 3000 version of this basket. Effective-dated to creation so the broad backtest covers the full set. The S&P 500 basket is unchanged.

  • expand

    Widening pass: added consumer-credit issuers (COF, SYF), B2B payments (CPAY), bank rails (JKHY), and Block (XYZ). Reference pinned to IPAY. New members are effective-dated to basket creation so the backtest and the reference correlation cover the widened set (the basket was one day old, with no meaningful live history to restate).

  • correction

    Fiserv ticker corrected FI -> FISV to match the data vendor universe.

  • create

    Initial composition: networks, processors, crypto on-ramp.

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