Small-cap and mid-cap mutual funds can deliver strong returns when markets are doing well, but they also carry a risk that investors often overlook: liquidity risk.
What happens if thousands of investors suddenly want their money back at the same time?
Can the fund manager sell enough shares quickly without causing a sharp fall in portfolio value?
This is what mutual fund stress test results are designed to help investors understand.
Asset Management Companies disclose liquidity and risk-related information for their small-cap and mid-cap schemes every month. These disclosures can show how long a fund may theoretically take to liquidate parts of its portfolio and how concentrated or volatile that portfolio is. AMFI provides a central page where investors can view these risk disclosures for small-cap and mid-cap funds.
But numbers such as “50% portfolio liquidation: 18 days” can easily be misunderstood.
Does 18 days mean you will have to wait 18 days to redeem your mutual fund?
Not necessarily.
Let us understand what mutual fund stress tests actually measure, how to read the liquidity numbers and what investors should look for before investing in a small-cap or mid-cap fund.
behave under difficult market conditions, especially if the fund receives large redemption requests.
Think of it as a hypothetical pressure test.
Suppose a small-cap fund manages ₹10,000 crore and investors suddenly ask to withdraw a large part of that money.
The fund manager may need to sell shares from the portfolio to generate cash.
The problem is that not every stock can be sold equally quickly.
Large companies generally trade in high volumes. Smaller companies may have fewer buyers and sellers.
Selling a large quantity of an illiquid small-cap stock quickly could therefore push its market price lower.
Stress-test disclosures help investors understand this risk.
If you are new to small companies as an investment category, Alice Blue’s guide on the BSE Small Cap Select Index can help you understand how the small cap segment differs from larger companies.
Liquidity matters for every mutual fund, but it becomes particularly relevant for small cap and mid cap schemes.
This is because smaller companies may have:
Imagine a fund holds ₹500 crore worth of shares in a relatively less-traded company.
If that stock normally trades only ₹15 crore worth of shares per day, the fund cannot realistically sell its entire ₹500 crore holding immediately without potentially affecting the market price.
Now imagine similar conditions across several stocks at the same time.
That is the liquidity risk stress testing is trying to highlight.
SEBI, through AMFI, directed mutual funds to provide additional risk disclosures for small cap and mid cap schemes.
These disclosures are published by fund houses and made available through AMFI so investors can compare risk parameters across schemes.
Industry disclosures generally include information relating to liquidity, portfolio concentration, valuation and volatility measures.
AMFI’s current risk-parameter section continues to provide monthly disclosures for mid-cap and small-cap mutual funds.
The aim is not to predict that a fund will face a liquidity problem.
Instead, the disclosures provide investors with additional information about how the portfolio may behave if redemption pressure increases.
This is one of the most closely watched figures in a mutual fund stress-test disclosure.
Suppose a fund reports:
Days required to liquidate 25% of the portfolio: 6 days
This broadly means that, based on the stress-test assumptions and market liquidity considered in the calculation, the fund estimates that it could take around six trading days to sell approximately 25% of the relevant portfolio.
It does not mean:
It is primarily a measure of how easily the underlying securities may be converted into cash under the methodology used for the stress test.
Funds may also disclose how long it could take to liquidate 50% of the portfolio.
Suppose the report says:
25% liquidation: 7 days
50% liquidation: 16 days
This means selling a larger part of the portfolio could take considerably longer.
That makes sense.
A fund manager may be able to sell the most liquid shares relatively quickly.
But as more of the portfolio needs to be sold, the manager may have to sell stocks where daily trading activity is lower.
As a result, the time required can increase.
Consider two hypothetical small-cap funds.
Metric | Fund A | Fund B |
AUM | ₹8,000 crore | ₹8,000 crore |
Days to liquidate 25% | 5 days | 11 days |
Days to liquidate 50% | 12 days | 27 days |
Top 10 holdings concentration | 28% | 38% |
At first glance, Fund A appears to have better portfolio liquidity.
It could theoretically liquidate 25% and 50% of its portfolio faster than Fund B under the assumptions used.
Fund B also has a greater proportion of its money concentrated in its largest holdings.
Does this automatically make Fund A the better investment?
No.
Liquidity is only one part of fund selection.
Fund B may follow a different investment strategy, own smaller businesses with greater long-term growth potential or have a different valuation profile.
Stress-test data should therefore be used alongside returns, risk, portfolio quality, expense ratio and the investor’s own time horizon.
Not necessarily.
A high liquidation period is a risk indicator, not automatically a sign of poor fund management.
Consider a small-cap fund that deliberately invests in companies outside the most actively traded names.
That strategy could naturally result in lower liquidity.
The question for investors is whether they are comfortable with that additional risk.
For example:
But there is no universal number that makes a fund automatically “safe” or “unsafe”.
It is more useful to compare the fund with others in the same category and to track whether its liquidity position is improving or worsening over time.
Small cap funds will often face greater liquidity challenges than mid cap funds because the underlying companies are generally smaller and their shares may trade less frequently.
A simplified comparison looks like this:
Factor | Mid Cap Funds | Small Cap Funds |
Company size | Medium-sized companies | Smaller companies |
Typical trading liquidity | Usually higher | Often lower |
Volatility | High | Usually higher |
Stress-test importance | High | Particularly important |
Large redemption impact | Can be significant | Can be greater |
This does not mean investors should avoid small cap funds.
It means liquidity should be included in the risk assessment.
For a broader view of the mid cap category, you can also read Alice Blue’s guide to Top Performing Mid Cap Funds.
No. This is one of the most important distinctions investors need to understand.
If a fund says that it could take 15 days to liquidate 50% of its portfolio, that does not automatically mean an investor making a normal redemption request has to wait 15 days.
Mutual funds generally maintain cash, highly liquid holdings and normal portfolio-management arrangements to handle routine redemptions.
The stress-test figure tries to estimate what may happen under a much larger liquidity requirement.
Therefore:
Redemption timeline ≠ stress-test liquidation period
The liquidation number tells you about the underlying portfolio’s capacity to absorb significant selling pressure.
Liquidity risk is the possibility that a fund cannot sell an investment quickly at or near its expected market value.
Consider a stock trading at ₹500.
Under normal conditions, the fund may be able to sell shares around ₹500.
But if it suddenly needs to sell a very large quantity and buyers are limited, it may have to accept:
₹495
₹485
₹470
or even lower prices.
The fund may technically be able to sell the shares, but only by accepting lower prices.
That could affect the scheme’s NAV and therefore existing investors.
This is one reason liquidity becomes more important during periods of heavy market selling.
Assets Under Management, or AUM, represents the total money managed by a mutual fund scheme.
A large AUM is not automatically good or bad.
But in small-cap funds, size can interact with liquidity.
Suppose:
Fund A manages ₹2,000 crore
Fund B manages ₹25,000 crore
If both invest in a similar universe of small-cap companies, Fund B may need to deploy much larger amounts into those stocks.
That can potentially make entering or exiting some positions more difficult.
However, fund managers may respond by maintaining a more liquid portfolio, holding more stocks or adjusting position sizes.
Therefore, investors should not look at AUM in isolation.
Read the liquidity figures along with it.
For a deeper explanation of fund size, Alice Blue’s guide on What Is AUM in Mutual Funds? explains how AUM works and why it matters.
Another useful number in mutual fund risk disclosures is portfolio concentration.
Suppose a fund has 45% of its assets invested in its top 10 stocks.
Another fund has only 27% in its top 10 holdings.
The first fund is more concentrated.
If one of its largest holdings falls sharply or becomes difficult to sell, the effect on the portfolio could be greater.
Concentration itself is not necessarily negative.
Some fund managers deliberately run focused portfolios because they have strong conviction in selected businesses.
But investors should understand the additional risk.
Over-diversification can create problems too. Alice Blue’s guide on How to Avoid Over-Diversification in Mutual Funds explains why owning more securities does not automatically reduce risk.
Portfolio turnover shows how frequently the fund manager buys and sells securities.
A high turnover ratio can indicate that the portfolio changes frequently, while a low turnover ratio may indicate a more buy-and-hold approach.
Turnover should not be judged as good or bad on its own.
But it can add useful context to liquidity data.
A fund investing heavily in less liquid small-cap stocks while also maintaining very high portfolio turnover may require closer examination.
Some small-cap and mid-cap disclosures may also provide valuation measures such as the portfolio’s Price-to-Earnings, or P/E, ratio.
A higher P/E generally means investors are paying more for each rupee of current earnings.
For example:
Fund A portfolio P/E = 24
Fund B portfolio P/E = 38
Fund B’s holdings are priced at higher earnings multiples.
That does not automatically mean they will fall.
But if a portfolio combines:
then investors may want to understand why they are accepting those risks.
Volatility measures how sharply the fund’s value moves over time.
Small-cap and mid-cap funds tend to experience greater price swings than large-cap funds.
Suppose two funds have delivered similar returns.
An investor who looks only at returns may consider both funds similar. Risk data tells a different story.
This is why mutual fund selection should never be based only on the best one-year return.
The best use of stress-test data is comparison.
Do not directly compare the liquidity of a small-cap fund with a large-cap fund.
Compare:
This gives you more meaningful context.
A single month’s result may not tell the complete story.
Suppose a fund reports:
January: 9 days
February: 11 days
March: 14 days
April: 18 days
The trend may be more informative than the absolute number.
Liquidity appears to be gradually decreasing.
Investors may want to understand whether the fund’s AUM has increased rapidly or whether its portfolio has moved toward less-traded companies.
Do not focus only on one figure. A fund may look reasonably liquid at the 25% level but require considerably longer to liquidate 50%.
That difference tells you something about the depth of portfolio liquidity.
Consider these hypothetical results.
25% liquidation: 4 days
50% liquidation: 9 days
25% liquidation: 10 days
50% liquidation: 24 days
Everything else being equal, Fund X appears more liquid.
But investors should still ask:
Liquidity should support your decision, not make the entire decision.
Stress tests measure one type of risk, but investors should continue checking the cost of owning the fund.
The expense ratio is charged as a percentage of the fund’s assets and affects investor returns over time.
Suppose two similar small cap funds have:
Fund A expense ratio: 0.70%
Fund B expense ratio: 1.10%
The difference may appear small, but over long periods it can affect the final investment value.
You can learn more in Alice Blue’s guide on What Is Expense Ratio in Mutual Funds and Why Does It Matter?.
Not automatically. Stress-test data should not be treated like a buy or sell signal.
Suppose your small-cap fund’s liquidation estimate increases from 10 days to 14 days.
That does not automatically mean you should stop your SIP.
Instead, investigate:
For investors with a long investment horizon, occasional changes in stress-test results may be less important than a persistent deterioration in several risk indicators.
There is no single number that should cause every investor to exit.
However, certain combinations deserve closer attention.
For example:
One risk indicator on its own may not tell you much.
Several moving in the same direction can be more informative.
Stress-test disclosures can help investors in several ways.
Investors can see that two funds in the same category may have very different liquidity profiles.
Investors can compare liquidity and other risk measures rather than relying only on returns.
Portfolio risks that were previously difficult for retail investors to judge become easier to observe.
Investors can understand why small-cap and mid-cap funds may behave differently during periods of heavy market selling.
Stress tests are useful, but they have limits.
They are based on assumptions and historical trading conditions.
Actual liquidity during a market crisis may be different.
A stock that trades actively today may become less liquid during a sharp correction.
A highly liquid fund can still deliver poor returns.
A less-liquid fund can still perform well.
Investors still need to examine:
Stress-test data is one part of the analysis.
These two measures answer completely different questions.
Parameter | Stress Test | Fund Performance |
Main purpose | Measures portfolio risk and liquidity | Measures historical returns |
Focus | Ability to handle selling pressure | Investment growth |
Predicts future returns? | No | No |
Useful for comparing risk? | Yes | Partly |
Should be used alone? | No | No |
A fund may have excellent historical returns but weaker liquidity.
Another may have better liquidity but lower returns.
The investor needs to decide whether the return potential is appropriate for the level of risk being taken.
When you open a stress-test disclosure, check these points:
Avoid judging the fund based on a single metric.
The objective is to build a more complete picture of the portfolio’s risk.
Mutual fund stress test results give small-cap and mid-cap investors an additional way to understand risks that historical returns may not show.
The most closely watched numbers are usually the estimated days required to liquidate 25% and 50% of the portfolio.
A higher number indicates that selling a large part of the portfolio could potentially take longer.
But this does not mean that an individual investor must wait that many days for a normal redemption.
Stress-test figures are mainly a measure of the underlying portfolio’s liquidity under assumed conditions.
Investors should therefore avoid treating these disclosures as buy or sell signals.
Instead, compare a fund’s liquidity with others in the same category, monitor the numbers over several months and examine them alongside AUM, concentration, valuation, volatility, expense ratio and investment strategy.
For small-cap and mid-cap investors, returns tell you how a fund has performed.
Stress tests can help you understand some of the risk the fund is taking to achieve those returns.
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