What do volatility and maximum drawdown say?
Without a contribution the order changes nothing in the end value, and everything on the way.
Volatility is how far the annual returns scatter around their average. The maximum drawdown is the deepest fall from a high to the low that follows it.
Turn a series around and the end value stays the same, because multiplication does not care about order. The path does change, and with a monthly contribution so does the end value, because every contribution meets a different year.
Both end at the same value.
How to read this in the simulator
On the comparison page both figures stand next to every series: Vol. is the standard deviation of the annual returns, Max DD the largest peak-to-trough fall, both on annual data.
What the figure does not say
Both are the past and both are computed on annual data. A fall within a year does not appear in them, and neither figure says anything about the next year.
Source: Annual values of the comparison series, as of 2025, retrieved 2026-10-05
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