Bank of America (BAC): Returns, Risk & Drawdowns

Reviewed by Sid Kalla CFA Charterholder

Quick Answer

What is Bank of America's risk, return, and volatility like?

Bank of America returned +37.7% over the 1Y window. On the 5Y lens, Sharpe ratio is 0.28, annualized volatility is 26.8%, and max drawdown is -46.6%.

Total Return

1Y +37.7%

5Y +49.5%

Sharpe Ratio

1Y 1.41

5Y 0.28

Annualized Volatility

1Y 21.5%

5Y 26.8%

Max Drawdown

1Y -18.4%

5Y -46.6%

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Price history

Bank of America price over the past 5Y

Track Bank of America's standalone price path with macro and asset-specific events enabled by default.

Bank of America price over the past 5Y

BAC

Latest close $52.47 Data through 2026-04-23

5Y low $23.80 Window low

5Y high $57.25 Window high

Key takeaways

Total Return: BAC returned +37.7% over the 1Y window and +49.5% over the 5Y window ; annualized return over 5Y was +8.4%.
Risk-adjusted return: Sharpe was 0.28 and Sortino was 0.40 over 5Y. Sharpe counts total volatility; Sortino focuses on downside volatility.
Volatility & drawdown: Annualized volatility was 21.5% over 1Y and 26.8% over 5Y ; max drawdown was -18.4% over 1Y and -46.6% over 5Y .
Tail risk (Expected Shortfall): Over 5Y, daily VaR (5%) was -2.7% and Expected Shortfall was -3.8%. VaR is the cutoff; Expected Shortfall is the average move inside the worst 5% of daily returns.
Skew & kurtosis: Over 5Y, skew was -0.18 and excess kurtosis was 3.68. Skew shows return asymmetry; excess kurtosis shows how fat the tails were versus a Normal distribution.
Risk ratios: Sortino Ratio: 0.40 , Calmar Ratio: 0.18 , Sterling Ratio: 0.18 , Treynor Ratio: 0.08 , Ulcer Index: 22.35% .

Bank of America Drawdown

BAC 1Y Max Drawdown

↓ -18.4%

2026-01-06 to 2026-03-13

BAC 5Y Max Drawdown

↓ -46.6%

2022-02-08 to 2023-10-27

Max drawdown shows the deepest peak-to-trough decline Bank of America suffered in each research window. 1Y: -18.4%; 5Y: -46.6%.

Bank of America is currently -8.3% below its prior peak, with the high-water mark at $57.25. 5Y low is $23.80.

BAC underwater plot (5Y). Zero means at a prior peak; dips show how far below peak the close was on each day. Deepest trough: -46.6% on Oct 27, 2023.

5Y drawdown episodes

-46.6% Feb 8, 2022 to Oct 27, 2023

Recovered Nov 11, 2024 1007 total days

-27.5% Feb 6, 2025 to Apr 4, 2025

Recovered Jun 26, 2025 140 total days

-18.4% Jan 6, 2026 to Mar 13, 2026

Not yet recovered 107 total days

Bank of America Volatility

BAC 1Y Volatility

21.5%

Annualized daily closes

BAC 5Y Volatility

26.8%

Annualized daily closes

Volatility Bank of America's annualized volatility shows how widely daily closes moved over 1Y and 5Y. Higher values mean a noisier path, not automatically a better or worse investment. 1Y: 21.5%; 5Y: 26.8%.

Benchmark context

Where BAC fits relative to other lenses

Benchmark links are secondary on this page. Use them when you want to place the asset against a specific market, factor, or historical counterpart.

Default benchmark

S&P 500

SPY

Broad equity benchmark

1Y return

↑ +30.7%

BAC minus SPY

↑ +4.1%

Correlation

0.52

BAC vs SPY average correlation

Moderately linked

0.52

QQQ

Nasdaq 100

Corr 0.39

Growth and tech benchmark

1Y return +39.9%

BAC minus QQQ -5.1%

BTC

Bitcoin

Corr 0.10

Cross-asset crypto benchmark

1Y return -17.1%

BAC minus BTC +51.9%

XAU

Gold

Corr -0.02

Store-of-value benchmark

1Y return +40.2%

BAC minus XAU -5.4%

Risk-adjusted ratios

These ratios compare return against different definitions of risk: total volatility, downside volatility, drawdowns, benchmark beta, and time spent underwater.

Bank of America Sharpe Ratio

BAC 1Y Sharpe ratio

↑ 1.41

Recent window

BAC 5Y Sharpe ratio

↑ 0.28

Deeper research window

BAC Sharpe Ratio (5Y)

Return per total volatility

The dot sits at (Bank of America's annualized volatility, its excess annualized return). The slope from the origin to the dot is the Sharpe ratio — steeper means the asset converted risk into return more efficiently.

Higher is better

excess annualized return / total volatility

Formula

\displaystyle \mathrm{Sharpe} = \frac{\mathbb{E}[R] - R_f}{\sigma_R}

Sharpe ratio Bank of America's Sharpe ratio measures excess return per unit of total volatility. Higher readings mean the asset converted risk into return more efficiently over the same window. 1Y: 1.41; 5Y: 0.28.

A Sharpe above 1.0 is generally considered good, above 2.0 is excellent. Negative Sharpe means the asset underperformed the risk-free rate. Calculated on each asset's full 365-day lookback of available prices and annualized using the asset calendar (365 for crypto, 252 trading days for equities/ETFs/metals).

Bank of America Sortino Ratio

BAC 1Y Sortino ratio

↑ 2.03

Recent window

BAC 5Y Sortino ratio

↑ 0.40

Deeper research window

BAC Sortino Ratio (5Y)

Return per downside volatility

Bank of America's daily-return distribution over the long window. Days left of the target line are the only ones Sortino penalizes in the denominator — so a distribution with a fat left tail produces a smaller Sortino even at the same mean return.

Higher is better

excess annualized return / downside volatility

Formula

\displaystyle \mathrm{Sortino} = \frac{\mathbb{E}[R] - R_f}{\sigma_{\mathrm{down}}}

Sortino ratio Bank of America's Sortino ratio isolates downside volatility instead of all volatility. It is the cleaner lens when you care more about bad downside moves than upside noise. 1Y: 2.03; 5Y: 0.40.

A higher Sortino is better. It's useful when upside volatility is common (crypto is the obvious example). Calculated on each asset's full 365-day lookback of available prices, using the daily risk-free rate as the target return, and annualized using the asset calendar (365 for crypto, 252 trading days for equities/ETFs/metals).

Bank of America Calmar Ratio

BAC 1Y Calmar ratio

↑ 2.05

Recent window

BAC 5Y Calmar ratio

↑ 0.18

Deeper research window

BAC Calmar Ratio (5Y)

CAGR per worst drawdown

Bank of America's CAGR bar sits above zero, the max drawdown bar sits below. Calmar is the ratio of those two magnitudes — a shallow drawdown bar with a tall CAGR bar produces a strong Calmar.

Higher is better

CAGR / max drawdown

Formula

\displaystyle \mathrm{Calmar} = \frac{\mathrm{CAGR}}{|\mathrm{MaxDD}|}

Calmar ratio Bank of America's Calmar ratio measures return per unit of max drawdown. It is useful when the path of losses matters as much as the final return. 1Y: 2.05; 5Y: 0.18.

Calmar is computed on each asset's full 365-day lookback and uses the max drawdown over that same window.

Bank of America Sterling Ratio

BAC 1Y Sterling ratio

↑ 1.82

Recent window

BAC 5Y Sterling ratio

↑ 0.18

Deeper research window

BAC Sterling Ratio (5Y)

Return per average drawdown

The underwater curve shows Bank of America's drawdowns over the long window. Sterling averages every event deeper than the 10% threshold instead of taking only the worst one — so an asset with many mid-size drawdowns scores worse here than on Calmar.

Higher is better

excess CAGR / average deep drawdown

Formula

\displaystyle \mathrm{Sterling} = \frac{\mathrm{CAGR} - R_f}{\overline{D}_{>10\%}}

Sterling ratio Bank of America's Sterling ratio compares return against deep drawdown pressure. It gives a harsher read on assets that compound well but suffer ugly declines along the way. 1Y: 1.82; 5Y: 0.18.

Sterling uses average drawdown events deeper than 10% and subtracts the risk-free rate to report excess return.

Bank of America Ulcer Index

BAC 1Y Ulcer Index

6.35

Recent window

BAC 5Y Ulcer Index

22.35

Deeper research window

BAC Ulcer Index (5Y)

Drawdown pain

The underwater curve shows how deep and how long Bank of America's drawdowns were. Ulcer is the root-mean-square of that curve — both depth and persistence count, so lower is better.

Lower is better

root-mean-square drawdown

Formula

\displaystyle \mathrm{UI} = \sqrt{\mathbb{E}[D_t^2]}

Ulcer Index Bank of America's Ulcer Index measures both the depth and persistence of drawdowns. Lower is better because it means fewer and shallower underwater periods. 1Y: 6.35; 5Y: 22.35.

Ulcer Index is computed from each asset's drawdown series over the full lookback window.

Bank of America Treynor Ratio

BAC 1Y Treynor

↑ 0.30

Beta 1.01 vs SPY

BAC 5Y Treynor

↑ 0.08

Beta 0.98 vs SPY

BAC Treynor Ratio (5Y)

Excess return per beta vs SPY

The line's slope is Bank of America's beta to SPY — steeper means more market-sensitive. Treynor divides excess return by that slope, so an asset can look efficient with a shallow beta and a small return, or inefficient with a steep beta and a big return.

Higher is better

excess return / market beta

Formula

\displaystyle \mathrm{Treynor} = \frac{\mathbb{E}[R] - R_f}{\beta}

Treynor ratio measures excess return per unit of market beta versus SPY. A high Treynor means the asset compensated its market exposure well over this window. A low or negative Treynor means the asset's market risk wasn't rewarded.

Treynor uses beta vs the S&P 500 (SPY) on shared dates and the average 3-month Treasury rate as the risk-free rate.

Bank of America Tail Risk

Tail-risk stats use daily return distributions rather than simple end-point returns. They show how ugly the left tail has been, how severe the worst 5% of days were, and whether returns were skewed toward outsized upside or downside shocks.

The histogram shows the shape of Bank of America's daily log returns over the 5Y window. Bars left of the 5% VaR marker are the worst 5% of days; the ES marker is the average loss inside that tail. Skew and excess kurtosis describe whether the distribution is symmetric around zero and whether extreme days are more common than a Normal distribution predicts.

BAC daily return distribution (5Y)

Log-return histogram with Value-at-Risk and Expected Shortfall markers at the 5% left tail.

Days

worst-5% daily return and the average loss inside it

Formula

\displaystyle \mathrm{VaR}_{5\%} = Q_{0.05}(R),\quad \mathrm{ES}_{5\%} = \mathbb{E}[R \mid R \le \mathrm{VaR}_{5\%}]

Metric	1Y	5Y
VaR (5%)	-2.3% Historical daily threshold	-2.7% Historical daily threshold
Expected shortfall (5%)	-3.2% Beyond the VaR threshold	-3.8% Beyond the VaR threshold
Skew	-0.44	-0.18
Excess kurtosis	1.18	3.68

Less negative daily VaR and Expected Shortfall values mean the left tail was less violent. Skew and excess kurtosis help distinguish between steady compounding and a path dominated by occasional extreme moves.

Full stats table

Every window-consistent research metric

Each column keeps the same horizon across returns, ratios, drawdowns, and tail-risk metrics.

Metric	1Y Recent window	5Y Deeper research window
Total return	+37.7%	+49.5%
Annualized return	+37.7%	+8.4%
Volatility	21.5% Annualized daily closes	26.8% Annualized daily closes
Sharpe ratio	1.41	0.28
Sortino ratio	2.03	0.40
Calmar ratio	2.05	0.18
Sterling ratio	1.82	0.18
Ulcer Index	6.35	22.35
Max drawdown	-18.4% 2026-01-06 to 2026-03-13	-46.6% 2022-02-08 to 2023-10-27
VaR (5%)	-2.3% Historical daily threshold	-2.7% Historical daily threshold
Expected shortfall (5%)	-3.2% Beyond the VaR threshold	-3.8% Beyond the VaR threshold
Skew	-0.44	-0.18
Excess kurtosis	1.18	3.68

What viewers usually ask next

What is Bank of America's 5Y CAGR?

Bank of America's 5y cagr is +8.4% on Gale using the past 5 years.

What is Bank of America's 1-year volatility?

Annualized volatility is 21.5% over the past year.

What is Bank of America's 5-year Sharpe ratio?

Bank of America's Sharpe ratio is 0.28 using the past 5 years.

What is Bank of America's 5-year Sortino ratio?

Bank of America's Sortino ratio is 0.40 using the past 5 years.

What is Bank of America's 5-year Calmar ratio?

Bank of America's Calmar ratio is 0.18 using the past 5 years.

What is Bank of America's 5-year Sterling ratio?

Bank of America's Sterling ratio is 0.18 using the past 5 years.

What is Bank of America's 5-year Ulcer Index?

Bank of America's Ulcer Index is 22.35 using the past 5 years. Lower is better because it means shallower and less persistent drawdowns.

What is Bank of America's 5-year max drawdown?

Max drawdown is -46.6% over the past 5 years from 2022-02-08 to 2023-10-27.

What is Bank of America's 5-year daily Value at Risk?

Using historical daily returns, Gale estimates a 5% Value at Risk of -2.67% over the past 5 years.

What is Bank of America's 5-year Expected Shortfall?

Expected Shortfall is -3.82% over the past 5 years, which captures the average outcome inside the worst 5% of daily returns.

Is Bank of America still below its all-time high?

Current drawdown is -8.3% versus the all-time high of $57.25 reached on 2026-01-06.

Which benchmark should viewers open first for Bank of America?

S&P 500 is the default benchmark lens on Gale because it gives the cleanest context for Bank of America's recent behavior.