<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article's lead section may be too long for the length of the article . Please help by moving some material from it into the body of the article . Please read the layout guide and lead section guidelines to ensure the section will still be inclusive of all essential details . Please discuss this issue on the article's talk page . (May 2016) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article's lead section may be too long for the length of the article . Please help by moving some material from it into the body of the article . Please read the layout guide and lead section guidelines to ensure the section will still be inclusive of all essential details . Please discuss this issue on the article's talk page . (May 2016) </Td> </Tr> <P> In finance, the beta (β or beta coefficient) of an investment indicates whether the investment is more or less volatile than the market as a whole . In general, a beta less than 1 indicates that the investment is less volatile than the market, while a beta more than 1 indicates that the investment is more volatile than the market . Volatility is measured as the fluctuation of the price around the mean: the standard deviation . </P> <P> Beta is a measure of the risk arising from exposure to general market movements as opposed to idiosyncratic factors . The market portfolio of all investable assets has a beta of exactly 1 . A beta below 1 can indicate either an investment with lower volatility than the market, or a volatile investment whose price movements are not highly correlated with the market . An example of the first is a treasury bill: the price does not go up or down a lot, so it has a low beta . An example of the second is gold . The price of gold does go up and down a lot, but not in the same direction or at the same time as the market . </P>

What is the beta of a market portfolio