Strategy. Under normal conditions, the Portfolio will invest in a diversified range of securities and other financial instruments, including derivatives, that provide investment exposure to a variety of asset classes. These asset classes may include: equity securities and fixed income instruments of issuers located within and outside the United States, and currencies. By adjusting investment exposure among the various asset classes in the Portfolio, the Sub-Adviser will attempt to reduce overall portfolio volatility and mitigate the effects of extreme market environments, without sacrificing long-term returns. The Portfolio may gain or adjust exposure to each asset class either through transactions in individual securities or through other instruments, including derivatives. The Portfolios equity investments will be allocated among discrete portions of the Portfolio … Show more… Under normal conditions, the Portfolio will invest in a diversified range of securities and other financial instruments, including derivatives, that provide investment exposure to a variety of asset classes. These asset classes may include: equity securities and fixed income instruments of issuers located within and outside the United States, and currencies. By adjusting investment exposure among the various asset classes in the Portfolio, the Sub-Adviser will attempt to reduce overall portfolio volatility and mitigate the effects of extreme market environments, without sacrificing long-term returns. The Portfolio may gain or adjust exposure to each asset class either through transactions in individual securities or through other instruments, including derivatives. The Portfolios equity investments will be allocated among discrete portions of the Portfolio that will invest in securities included in the Standard & Poors 500 Composite Stock Index (S&P 500 Index), Standard & Poors MidCap 400 Index (S&P MidCap 400 Index), Russell 2000 Index (Russell 2000 Index), MSCI EAFE Index, FTSE 100 Index, TOPIX Index, DJ EuroSTOXX 50 Index, and S&P/ASX 200 Index, respectively, and in other securities and instruments, such as derivatives, that provide exposure to these indexes. The Portfolio will invest in these securities and other instruments in a manner that is intended to track the performance (before fees and expenses) of the relevant index. As of December 31, 2024, the market capitalization of companies in the S&P 500 Index, which consists of common stocks of 500 of the largest U.S. companies, ranged from $ 6.06 billion to $3.81 trillion; in the S&P MidCap 400 Index, which consists of 400 domestic stocks chosen for market size, liquidity, and industry group representation, from $ 2.31 billion to $75.61 billion; in the Russell 2000 Index, which tracks the performance of approximately 2000 of the smallest companies in the Russell 3000 Index, from $9.12 million to $ 13.19 billion; in the MSCI EAFE Index, which measures the equity market performance of developed markets, excluding the U.S. and Canada, from $ 3.21 billion to $330 billion (approximately 722 constituents); in the FTSE 100 Index, which represents the performance of the 100 largest UK-domiciled blue chip companies, from $ 4.36 billion to $203 billion; in the TOPIX Index, which comprises all companies listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, from $ 8.79 million to $314 billion (approximately 1,694 constituents); in the DJ EuroSTOXX 50 Index, which represents the performance of the 50 largest companies in 11 Eurozone countries, from $ 19.78 billion to $330 billion; and in the S&P/ASX 200 Index, which represents the 200 largest and most liquid publicly listed companies in Australia, from $ 338 million to $159 billion. Each of these indices is weighted by market capitalization. The Sub-Adviser may allocate the Portfolios investments among these indices based on its assessment of risk in the equity markets relative to potential return. In addition, the Portfolio may obtain equity exposure by investing in preferred stocks, warrants and convertible securities of domestic and foreign issuers, including sponsored or unsponsored American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) and Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs). The Portfolios fixed income investments will consist primarily of investments in securities included in the Bloomberg U.S. Intermediate Government Bond Index and in other securities and instruments, such as derivatives, that provide exposure to these indices. The Portfolio will invest in these securities and other instruments in a manner that is intended to track the performance (before fees and expenses) of the relevant index. The Bloomberg U.S. Intermediate Government Bond Index is an unmanaged index that measures the performance of securities consisting of all U.S. Treasury and agency securities with remaining maturities of from one to ten years and issue amounts of at least $ 300 million outstanding, which may include zero-coupon securities. The Portfolio uses a strategy that is commonly referred to as an indexing strategy. The Portfolio may use a replication technique or sampling approach to execute its indexing strategy. Circumstances under which the Sub-Adviser may use a sampling approach to execute the indexing strategy include when there are practical difficulties or substantial costs involved in compiling a portfolio of securities to track the performance (before fees and expenses) of the relevant index; where the relevant index contains component securities too numerous to purchase or sell efficiently; or in instances when a component security becomes temporarily illiquid, unavailable, or less liquid. The quantity of holdings in the Portfolio will be based on a number of factors, including the asset size of the Portfolio. Each index sponsor has its own method for periodically rebalancing the index by adding, removing or rebalancing the index components to take into account market changes. The Sub-Adviser will manage the Portfolio using a Dynamic Asset Allocation strategy, which involves making short-term adjustments to the Portfolios asset mix based on proprietary research on various risk and return factors. The approach seeks to minimize the effects of adverse equity market conditions, mitigate both extreme losses and outsized gains, and improve returns through lower volatility. Under normal market conditions, it is expected that the Portfolios asset allocation will be approximately 60% in equity securities (or financial instruments that provide investment exposure to such securities) and approximately 40% in fixed income securities (or financial instruments that provide investment exposure to such securities). The Portfolios equity investments may range from 0% to 70% of the Portfolios net assets depending on volatility. Likewise, the Portfolios fixed income investments may range from 30% to 100% of the Portfolios net assets depending on volatility. When the Sub-Adviser determines that the risks in the equity markets have risen disproportionately to potential returns, the Portfolio will seek to reduce its equity exposure through the use of derivatives and investments in bonds or other fixed income securities, currencies and other financial instruments, or by reducing investments in equity securities. Volatility management techniques could reduce potential losses and/or mitigate financial risks to insurance companies that provide certain benefits and guarantees available under the Contracts and offer the Portfolio as an investment option in their products. Accordingly, volatility management techniques could also benefit the insurance companies by reducing the risk that the insurance companies will be required to pay amounts to meet the benefits and guarantees from their own resources. In implementing the Dynamic Asset Allocation strategy, the Sub-Adviser may invest in derivatives, including futures, forwards, swaps and options, and other instruments rather than investing directly in equity or fixed income securities. These derivatives and other instruments may be used for a variety of purposes, including to reduce risk, to seek enhanced returns from certain asset classes and to leverage the Portfolios exposure to certain asset classes. The Portfolio may use index futures, for example, to gain broad exposure to a particular segment of the market, while buying representative securities to achieve exposure to another. The Sub-Adviser will choose in each case based on considerations of cost and efficiency of access to the desired investment exposure. It is anticipated that the Portfolios derivative instruments will consist primarily of exchange-traded futures and options contracts on securities and securities indices, but the Portfolio also may utilize other types of derivatives. Similarly, when the Sub-Adviser decides to reduce (or eliminate) the Portfolios exposure to equity markets, the Sub-Adviser may choose to do so directly through securities transactions or indirectly through derivatives transactions. The Portfolio may invest in derivatives to the extent permitted by applicable law. It is anticipated that the Portfolios use of derivatives will be consistent with its overall investment strategy of obtaining and managing exposure to various asset classes. Because the Sub-Adviser will use derivatives to manage the Portfolios exposure to different asset classes, the Portfolios use of derivatives may be substantial. The Portfolios investments in derivatives may be deemed to involve the use of leverage because the Portfolio is not required to invest the full market value of the contract upon entering into the contract but participates in gains and losses on the full contract price. In addition, the Portfolios investments in derivatives may be deemed to involve the use of leverage because the heightened price sensitivity of some derivatives to market changes may magnify the Portfolios gain or loss. It is not generally expected, however, that the Portfolio will be leveraged by borrowing money for investment purposes. The Portfolio may maintain a significant percentage of its assets in cash and cash equivalent instruments, some of which may serve as margin or collateral for the Portfolios obligations under derivative transactions. The Sub-Adviser also may use exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in seeking to carry out the Portfolios investment strategies. The Portfolio also may enter into foreign currency transactions for hedging and non-hedging purposes on a spot (i.e., cash) basis or through the use of derivatives. The Portfolio also may invest its uninvested cash in high-quality, short-term debt securities, including high-quality money market instruments, and also may invest uninvested cash in money market funds, including money market funds managed by Equitable Investment Management Group, LLC, the Portfolios investment adviser. Show less