Tracking error tells the difference between the performance of a stock or mutual fund and its benchmark.

While nobody wants to pay more in fees than necessary to own exchange-traded funds, advisers point to an even bigger potential drag on wallets: tracking error.

Investors may bristle at the mere mention of tracking error—but that’s what helps them keep more of their money while maximizing their after-tax returns.

Price changes in ETFs such as U.S. Oil Fund don’t always closely track changes in the price of the commodity.

When a fruit fly is navigating straight forward at high speed, why does it know that it's not straying off course? Because as ...

The risk of your portfolio trailing popular benchmarks, such as the S&P 500, is a real risk that investors must take into account ...

SPDR Barclays Capital High Yield Bond ETF (JNK): ETFs tracking high-yield debt are often viewed as fertile ground for elevated tracking error, and that scenario is not limited to corporate debt.

Tracking error is defined as the standard deviation of the difference between the fund’s returns and the returns on the index.

Excessive focus on tracking error by investors or fund managers is ultimately likely to lead to less-than-ideal decisions.