what s the difference between alpha and beta 
alpha and beta are two different financial performance metrics for asset returns and prices respectively alpha is used to describe whether and how well an asset or other financial security can outperform the market beta on the other hand indicates how volatile a financial security s price is compared to the overall market the bottom lineinvesting comes with both risks and rewards while you may not be able to guarantee the outcome several tools can help you along the way like jensen s measure this is a performance metric that can help you determine any excess returns for an investment compared to its expected returns while factoring in risk keep in mind that this isn t a foolproof method so you should do your due diligence whenever you make any financial decisions 