Momentum Trading, Return Chasing, and Predictable Crashes

Momentum Trading, Return Chasing, and Predictable Crashes

Author: Benjamin Chabot

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 41

ISBN-13:

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We combine self-collected historical data from 1867 to 1907 with CRSP data from 1926 to 2012, to examine the risk and return over the past 140 years of one of the most popular mechanical trading strategies -- momentum. We find that momentum has earned abnormally high risk-adjusted returns -- a three factor alpha of 1 percent per month between 1927 and 2012 and 0.5 percent per month between 1867 and 1907 -- both statistically significantly different from zero. However, the momentum strategy also exposed investors to large losses (crashes) during both periods. Momentum crashes were predictable -- more likely when momentum recently performed well (both eras), interest rates were relatively low (1867-1907), or momentum had recently outperformed the stock market (CRSP era) -- times when borrowing or attracting return chasing "blind capital" would have been easier. Based on a stylized model and simulated outcomes from a richer model, we argue that a money manager has an incentive to remain invested in momentum even when the crash risk is known to be high when (1) he competes for funds from return-chasing investors and (2) he is compensated via fees that are convex in the amount of money managed and the return on that money.


Cumulative Prospect Theory, Myopic Loss Aversion and Momentum Crashes

Cumulative Prospect Theory, Myopic Loss Aversion and Momentum Crashes

Author: Paul Docherty

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 35

ISBN-13:

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Momentum strategies generate significant positive returns over long investment horizons; however these strategies experience infrequent periods of large negative returns. These periods are known as 'momentum crashes'. We demonstrate that the probability of a momentum crash is time-varying, increasing following periods of high market return dispersion, a proxy for a change in the market state. Under cumulative prospect theory, investors overweight the probability of a momentum crash when estimating their value function, discounting the current price of "winners" relative to "losers" resulting in positive expected future returns for the momentum strategy. Consistent with this theory, we show that momentum returns are substantially lower and volatility is higher in regimes where the probability of a momentum crash is high. Although momentum crashes are predictable they may not be exploited by institutional investors. Therefore, we argue that the negative (positive) skewness of the return distribution of winner (loser) portfolios is priced and may partly explain the momentum premium.


Market Momentum

Market Momentum

Author: Stephen Satchell

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2020-12-02

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 1119599326

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A one-of-a-kind reference guide covering the behavioral and statistical explanations for market momentum and the implementation of momentum trading strategies Market Momentum: Theory and Practice is a thorough, how-to reference guide for a full range of financial professionals and students. It examines the behavioral and statistical causes of market momentum while also exploring the practical side of implementing related strategies. The phenomenon of momentum in finance occurs when past high returns are followed by subsequent high returns, and past low returns are followed by subsequent low returns. Market Momentum provides a detailed introduction to the financial topic, while examining existing literature. Recent academic and practitioner research is included, offering a more up-to-date perspective. What type of book is Market Momentum and how does it serve a range of readers’ interests and needs? A holistic market momentum guide for industry professionals, asset managers, risk managers, firm managers, plus hedge fund and commodity trading advisors Advanced text to help graduate students in finance, economics, and mathematics further develop their funds management skills Useful resource for financial practitioners who want to implement momentum trading strategies Reference book providing behavioral and statistical explanations for market momentum Due to claims that the phenomenon of momentum goes against the Efficient Markets Hypothesis, behavioral economists have studied the topic in-depth. However, many books published on the subject are written to provide advice on how to make money. In contrast, Market Momentum offers a comprehensive approach to the topic, which makes it a valuable resource for both investment professionals and higher-level finance students. The contributors address momentum theory and practice, while also offering trading strategies that practitioners can study.


Trading on Momentum

Trading on Momentum

Author: Ken Wolff

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13:

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The NASDAQ has reached a record 60 new highs in 1999, closing above the 4000 milestone. This record was the icing on the cake to a year of volatile victories for the NASDAQ, which experienced the largest one-year gain ever for a major market index. Momentum has never been more important. For example, the first day of tradingin 2000 saw the NASDAQ dropping close to 100 points before finishing the day with a significant gain, yet on the second day of trading, the NASDAQ experienced its worst point drop in history.


Country Asset Allocation

Country Asset Allocation

Author: Adam Zaremba

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-10-26

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 1137591919

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This book demonstrates how quantitative country-level investment strategies can be successfully employed to manage money in international markets. It offers a range of state-of-the-art quantitative strategies, describing their theoretical bases, implementation details, and performance in over 70 countries between 1995 and 2015. International diversification has long been a key to stable investing. However, the increased integration and openness of global financial markets has led to rising correlations between stock market returns in particular countries, driving down the benefits of diversification and increasing the importance of country selection strategies as part of an investment process. Zaremba and Shemer explain the efficiency of quantitative investing, which captures huge amounts of data of limited scope very quickly. In the traditional approach, this data compilation is an immense undertaking, limited in scope and vulnerable to behavioral errors, but this can be overcome with the help of a new paradigm of quantitative investment at the country level. Quantitative country asset allocation can be efficiently accomplished by using wealth insights that have been generated in the academic literature, discovering many anomalies and regular patterns in asset prices. Armed with this information, investors and managers can process large amounts of data more efficiently when deciding to invest in ETFs, index funds, or futures markets.


Slow Moving Capital

Slow Moving Capital

Author: Mark Mitchell

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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We study three cases in which specialized arbitrageurs lost significant amounts of capital and, as a result, became liquidity demanders rather than providers. The effects on security markets were large and persistent: Prices dropped relative to fundamentals and the rebound took months. While multi-strategy hedge funds who were not capital constrained increased their positions, a large fraction of these funds actually acted as net sellers consistent with the view that information barriers within a firm (not just relative to outside investors) can lead to capital constraints for trading desks with mark-to-market losses. Our findings suggest that real world frictions impede arbitrage capital.


A Wealth of Common Sense

A Wealth of Common Sense

Author: Ben Carlson

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2015-06-22

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 1119024927

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A simple guide to a smarter strategy for the individual investor A Wealth of Common Sense sheds a refreshing light on investing, and shows you how a simplicity-based framework can lead to better investment decisions. The financial market is a complex system, but that doesn't mean it requires a complex strategy; in fact, this false premise is the driving force behind many investors' market "mistakes." Information is important, but understanding and perspective are the keys to better decision-making. This book describes the proper way to view the markets and your portfolio, and show you the simple strategies that make investing more profitable, less confusing, and less time-consuming. Without the burden of short-term performance benchmarks, individual investors have the advantage of focusing on the long view, and the freedom to construct the kind of portfolio that will serve their investment goals best. This book proves how complex strategies essentially waste these advantages, and provides an alternative game plan for those ready to simplify. Complexity is often used as a mechanism for talking investors into unnecessary purchases, when all most need is a deeper understanding of conventional options. This book explains which issues you actually should pay attention to, and which ones are simply used for an illusion of intelligence and control. Keep up with—or beat—professional money managers Exploit stock market volatility to your utmost advantage Learn where advisors and consultants fit into smart strategy Build a portfolio that makes sense for your particular situation You don't have to outsmart the market if you can simply outperform it. Cut through the confusion and noise and focus on what actually matters. A Wealth of Common Sense clears the air, and gives you the insight you need to become a smarter, more successful investor.


Quantitative Momentum

Quantitative Momentum

Author: Wesley R. Gray

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2016-10-03

Total Pages: 215

ISBN-13: 111923719X

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The individual investor's comprehensive guide to momentum investing Quantitative Momentum brings momentum investing out of Wall Street and into the hands of individual investors. In his last book, Quantitative Value, author Wes Gray brought systematic value strategy from the hedge funds to the masses; in this book, he does the same for momentum investing, the system that has been shown to beat the market and regularly enriches the coffers of Wall Street's most sophisticated investors. First, you'll learn what momentum investing is not: it's not 'growth' investing, nor is it an esoteric academic concept. You may have seen it used for asset allocation, but this book details the ways in which momentum stands on its own as a stock selection strategy, and gives you the expert insight you need to make it work for you. You'll dig into its behavioral psychology roots, and discover the key tactics that are bringing both institutional and individual investors flocking into the momentum fold. Systematic investment strategies always seem to look good on paper, but many fall down in practice. Momentum investing is one of the few systematic strategies with legs, withstanding the test of time and the rigor of academic investigation. This book provides invaluable guidance on constructing your own momentum strategy from the ground up. Learn what momentum is and is not Discover how momentum can beat the market Take momentum beyond asset allocation into stock selection Access the tools that ease DIY implementation The large Wall Street hedge funds tend to portray themselves as the sophisticated elite, but momentum investing allows you to 'borrow' one of their top strategies to enrich your own portfolio. Quantitative Momentum is the individual investor's guide to boosting market success with a robust momentum strategy.


Portfolio Construction, Measurement, and Efficiency

Portfolio Construction, Measurement, and Efficiency

Author: John B. Guerard, Jr.

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-09-23

Total Pages: 480

ISBN-13: 3319339761

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This volume, inspired by and dedicated to the work of pioneering investment analyst, Jack Treynor, addresses the issues of portfolio risk and return and how investment portfolios are measured. In a career spanning over fifty years, the primary questions addressed by Jack Treynor were: Is there an observable risk-return trade-off? How can stock selection models be integrated with risk models to enhance client returns? Do managed portfolios earn positive, and statistically significant, excess returns and can mutual fund managers time the market? Since the publication of a pair of seminal Harvard Business Review articles in the mid-1960’s, Jack Treynor has developed thinking that has greatly influenced security selection, portfolio construction and measurement, and market efficiency. Key publications addressed such topics as the Capital Asset Pricing Model and stock selection modeling and integration with risk models. Treynor also served as editor of the Financial Analysts Journal, through which he wrote many columns across a wide spectrum of topics. This volume showcases original essays by leading researchers and practitioners exploring the topics that have interested Treynor while applying the most current methodologies. Such topics include the origins of portfolio theory, market timing, and portfolio construction in equity markets. The result not only reinforces Treynor’s lasting contributions to the field but suggests new areas for research and analysis.