Author: Harbourfront Technologies

A Portfolio Construction Approach Based on Options Implied Density Distributions

An investment portfolio can be constructed by using momentum, minimum-variance, or mean-variance approaches. It involves combining assets in a way that optimizes risk and return. Each approach offers its own trade-offs: momentum strategies may suffer during market reversals, while minimum-variance portfolios may underperform in strongly trending markets. Meanwhile, mean-variance portfolios …

Optimizing Portfolios Based on Hurst Exponent

Portfolio optimization is an important aspect of investment management, aiming to construct portfolios that offer the best risk-return trade-off based on an investor’s objectives and constraints. Various optimization techniques, such as mean-variance optimization, Black-Litterman model, and risk parity, are employed to generate optimal portfolios tailored to different investment goals and …

Blending Low-Volatility with Momentum Anomalies

The low volatility anomaly in the stock market refers to the phenomenon where stocks with lower volatility tend to provide higher risk-adjusted returns compared to their higher volatility counterparts, contrary to traditional financial theories. Various explanations have been proposed for this anomaly, including investor behavioral biases, such as overestimating the …

Is Gold a Strong Hedge and a Safe Haven Asset?

Gold plays an important role as a diversifier in investment portfolios due to its unique characteristics. Historically, gold has exhibited a low correlation with other asset classes such as stocks and bonds, making it an effective hedge against market volatility and economic uncertainty. During times of economic downturns or geopolitical …

Intraday and Overnight Volatility Clustering Effect

Volatility clustering is a phenomenon observed in financial markets where periods of high volatility tend to cluster together, followed by periods of low volatility. This pattern suggests that extreme price movements are not randomly distributed over time but rather occur in clusters or groups. Volatility clustering has undergone extensive study …

Avoiding Overfitting: Searching for Parameter Plateau

A serious problem when designing a trading system is the overfitting phenomenon, wherein the system is excessively tuned to historical data. Overfitting occurs when a trading strategy performs exceptionally well on past data but fails to generalize to new, unseen data. This can lead to false positives and inflated expectations, …

Information Content of Leveraged ETFs Options

Leveraged ETFs, or exchange-traded funds, are investment funds designed to amplify the returns of an underlying index or asset class through the use of financial derivatives and debt. These ETFs aim to achieve returns that are a multiple of the performance of the index they track, typically two or three …

A Pricing Model for Earthquake Bonds

A catastrophe bond, commonly referred to as a cat bond, is a type of insurance-linked security that allows insurers and reinsurers to transfer the risk associated with catastrophic events, such as natural disasters, to capital market investors. These bonds are typically issued by insurance companies or special purpose vehicles (SPVs) …