I fund Chart discrepancy????

[bdrieck]

Can someone tell me why all I fund charts show down 1.07%. Yet my tsp fund just dropped by 2.42% today? I'm 100% in I.

I realize that I is a different animal when it comes to what we track and when it closes why the huge discrepancy? It was off yesterday as well?

[12squared]

MSCI ACWI IMI ex US ex CHNA ex HK (shown on the Live tab) has not been a good benchmark for the I fund. The change in the I fund is usually between that of EFA (old I fund benchmark) and ACWX (ACWI ex US). The technical chart is a better real time indicator that the Live because it still uses EFA.

How do you know that your TSP dropped by 2.42% at 8:11 EDT, when TSP.gov has not posted by 8:25 EDT?

[bdrieck]

How did i know it dropped?

Because I logged into tsp from mobile app and it was already updated for March 20. .then I made this post.

So unless there is something wrong with the tsp site, it dropped that much.. that is why I doubled checked to make sure I was in the I fund when I saw the drop..

That being said... how much did everyone else that was in the I fund drop by on 3/20 ?

Am I wrong? If so then ill have to contact TSP

[12squared]

How did i know it dropped?

Because I logged into tsp from mobile app and it was already updated for March 20. .then I made this post.

So unless there is something wrong with the tsp site, it dropped that much.. that is why I doubled checked to make sure I was in the I fund when I saw the drop..

That being said... how much did everyone else that was in the I fund drop by on 3/20 ?

Am I wrong? If so then ill have to contact TSP

TSP.gov shows that the I fund price changed from $56.7973 to $55.4744 between March 19 & 20.
55.4744 /56.7973-1= -0.0233
- consistent with the daily change posted on https://tspcenter.com/livecharts.php of -2.33%

It's interesting that the mobile app posts prices sooner than the website.

[Wind]

fwiw - I watched the live reading for I fund throughout the day recently (but not sure which day that was),.. But it was typical graph advaanced/filled in throughout the day, but at or near the end of the day, I saw that the I fund achieved a completely different result than the graph that had unfolded all day. I think I noticed the conflict by comparison on phone at the end of the day vs watching the graph on computer during the day. After I refreshed the computer, it agreed with the phone and I could not get back to the graph I had watched fill in throughout that day, and have no documentation. I'm not sure what happened.

[Aitrus]

It's fair value pricing. Source: https://www.tsp.gov/share-price-calculation/

On some days, the percentage change in the I Fund share price that we report can be significantly different from the percentage change reported for the MSCI ACWI IMI ex USA ex China ex Hong Kong Index, which the I Fund tracks. These differences usually occur when our investment managers find it necessary to reprice its MSCI ACWI IMI ex USA ex China ex Hong Kong Index Fund, in which we invest, to reflect changes that happen after international markets close.

This adjustment process, known as “fair valuation” or “fair value pricing,” occurs when there are U.S. market or currency movements between the time international markets close and 4:00 p.m., eastern time, when the MSCI ACWI IMI ex USA ex China ex Hong Kong Index Fund share prices are determined. International markets around the world close in different time zones.

For example, the Far East markets close at 3:00 a.m., eastern time. If there is a major event afterwards—whether a natural disaster or even a major U.S. market swing that affects the pricing of the stocks in the MSCI ACWI IMI ex USA ex China ex Hong Kong Index Fund—without fair value pricing, that event’s impact on share pricing would be ignored. That is, the price information from the international markets can become “stale”, or out of date, by the close of the U.S. markets at 4:00 p.m., eastern time—a full 13 hours later. Without fair value pricing, market timers could buy the I Fund and sell their holdings on the following day in order to benefit from the “stale” pricing. They would accomplish this transaction at the expense of other investors in the fund.

Fair value pricing ensures that traders do not benefit from trading on stale prices. It prevents traders from using events that may have occurred between the close of international markets and the close of the U.S. market, which may have affected MSCI ACWI IMI ex USA ex China ex Hong Kong Index Fund prices, to achieve an unfair trading and profit advantage at the expense of long-term shareholders.

[bdrieck]

Thanks Aitrus. That makes sense. simple long-term holder here so I didn't look at it that way.

[mrwawa]

So why did I fund have 32.80 returns but AWCI had 22.4% returns for 2025?

[Aitrus]

mrwawa,

The AWCI IMI is an index all its own called "All Country World Index Investable Market Index," which means it's 100% of every market in the world.

If you look up the returns for the AWCI, it will be different than the one that the I Fund follows, because the I Fund version doesn't include the USA, China, or Hong Kong.

Per tsp.gov, the I Fund returned 32.45% while the index it tracks returned 32.01%
Source (click on the I Fund and on "Show benchmark indices" to see the side-by-side comparison):
https://www.tsp.gov/fund-performance/#fn02

[mrwawa]

Thanks for the clarification. So what is the ticker for MSCI ACWI IMI ex USA ex China ex Hong Kong? I am never able to find it. I just have to follow the I fund and Efa, as they seem pretty close EFA returns for 3025 were 31.4.

[Aitrus]

On Yahoo, the ticker is ^753692-USD-STRD. I think that's the one that TSPCenter links to for the Live Charts feature. I'd need either MJ or Archibald to chime in to be for certain.

[Wind]

fwiw - I think 'live' indicated that C fund did better than I fund yesterday, but today - that doesnt seem to have been the case. Is this just more inaccuracies of the I fund tracking on 'live'?

as i remember; the live readings showed C, S, I moving about gerally parallel each other all through the day with I finishing slightly negative. It looks like the actual I finished positive and slightly better than C.

[bdrieck]

On Yahoo, the ticker is ^753692-USD-STRD. I think that's the one that TSPCenter links to for the Live Charts feature. I'd need either MJ or Archibald to chime in to be for certain.

And as we have found out, the chartes aren't t that accurate during US trading window. You have to cross your fingers and look at your TSP balance with 1 eye shut at around 7-8pm central time and hope that it goes up. as the kind folks here have educated by on the "Fair Pricing" situation.

[Aitrus]

And as we have found out, the chartes aren't t that accurate during US trading window. You have to cross your fingers and look at your TSP balance with 1 eye shut at around 7-8pm central time and hope that it goes up. as the kind folks here have educated by on the "Fair Pricing" situation.

Bingo. It's one of the reasons I don't like investing in the I Fund alongside not understanding (and not having a part to play in / voting rights in) foreign economies. My risk tolerance doesn't like seeing a big difference between the end of US trading day price and what shows up in my account.

But that's on me, and my opinion and risk tolerance shouldn't influence other people's investing decisions.

[Scb74]

I fund better stay at +3.91%+ today!