Library/ Data Viz/ Bubble
Correlation · Three-dimensional · Fund universe

Risk, return, AUM.

Each bubble is a fund. X axis is annualized volatility, Y axis is trailing 5-year return, bubble area is AUM, color is strategy. The standard scatter you put in front of advisors when you're explaining alts positioning vs. a benchmark.

Aqua fund universe · 5Y · illustrative

22 funds · 4 strategies · $84B aggregate AUM
Best Sharpe
1.4
Apollo Direct Lending
Highest return
21%
Vista Software · PE
Lowest vol
4%
Brookfield Core Infra
Largest fund
$12B
Blackstone PE

Fork & ship

Inline SVG, no D3 dependency. Edit the FUNDS array. Each entry needs name, strategy, risk, return, aum. Axes auto-fit. Hover any bubble for the fund card.

const FUNDS = [
  { name: "Blackstone PE",        strategy: "PE",    risk: 14, return: 17, aum: 12000 },
  { name: "Apollo Direct Lending", strategy: "PC",    risk: 6,  return: 10, aum: 8400 },
  { name: "Brookfield Core Infra", strategy: "Infra", risk: 4,  return: 8,  aum: 5100 },
  // ... etc
];

When to use this

Anchoring positioning conversations. "Here's the risk-return frontier and here's where we sit." Particularly useful when AUM (size) is a third dimension that contextualizes the X/Y position. Skip when you have <5 points — use a labeled table.

Reading notes

Sharpe-ratio reference lines (gray, dashed) anchor the diagonal — better-Sharpe funds sit upper-left. Click any bubble to lock its tooltip; click background to release. Suppress text labels on small bubbles to reduce crowding.