Inception date

Definition

The inception date (or launch date) is the day a fund, or a specific share class, was launched and priced for the first time. A fund and its share classes can have different inception dates: an umbrella fund launched in 2009 may have added a EUR-hedged class in 2019. Factsheets and KIDs show the class inception date because performance and risk figures are calculated per class.

Why it matters

Inception defines the length of the track record. Regulatory documents only show past performance for complete calendar years, so a fund launched in March has no bar for its first year. Statistics such as three-year volatility, three-year Sharpe ratio and five-year annualised return are undefined until enough history exists, and a "since inception" return is only comparable between funds launched at the same time.

In the API

The class inception date is in keyFacts.inception. The available history is visible from calendarReturns.years and the first point of indexedPerformance.points. Example values:

json
{
  "keyFacts": { "inception": "2019-05-14" },
  "calendarReturns": { "years": [2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025] },
  "indexedPerformance": { "points": [{ "date": "2019-05-14", "value": 100 }] },
  "headlineMetrics": { "volatility3y": 13.7, "sharpe3y": 0.82 }
}

Common pitfalls

Do not display three- or five-year metrics for classes younger than the window; treat missing values as "not available" rather than zero. Some fund houses show fund-level inception on a class factsheet, so history before the class launch may be simulated from another class. See volatility and Sharpe ratio.