All Questions

393 views

How to “uncluster” a set of financial data?

I am attempting to evaluate and compare the profit factor of different "test runs" of a FOREX trading strategy. My problem is that, despite an average time between orders of 2hr+, some of these runs ...
138 views

How should you manage lot sizes in this situation?

Imagine that prior to entering the market you know beforehand the profit factor of similar situations. For example: ...
2k views

Open source alternative to excel for investment and portfolio calculations [closed]

I am a Linux user, and taking an investment and portfolio management course that uses excel. I was wondering if there are open source alternatives to excel for optimal portfolio calculations? If yes, ...
9k views

How to identify technical analysis chart patterns algorithmically?

I'm working on a small application that will provide some charts and graphs to be used for technical analysis. I'm new to TA but I'm wondering if there is a way to algorithmically identify the ...
584 views

Issues when considering a quantitative trading/finance firm

I have an upcoming quantitative trading interview (prop desk at a large bank), and I would like to have some good questions to ask about the group. However, I am changing fields from academia and I do ...
341 views

Do you know a good article on ETF's counterparty risk analysis?

I am at the moment considering investing into ETFs, but I am looking first to understand how these products really work. Indeed, it is my understanding that ETF can vary in terms of structure, thus ...
2k views

Black Scholes and Monte Carlo implementations in Java [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Is there an all Java options-pricing library (preferably open source) besides jquantlib? Can anyone recommend a library with an implementation of Black Scholes and Monte ...
525 views

Are shorter holding period strategies better?

Consider two statistically identical strategies (identical information ratios, sample size, ratio of transaction costs to total profit, etc.) except that one has a much shorter average holding period. ...
1k views

What are some examples of Compound Poisson processes in insurance?

I'm writing the Bachelor thesis but I need some information. I need to find some practical examples and applications of the Compound Poisson Process in insurance. Does anyone have any good examples?
4k views

Which approach to estimating fundamental factor models is better, cross-sectional (unobservable) factors or time-series (observable) factors?

There are many approaches to estimating fundamental factor equity models. I would like to focus on two traditional methods: The time-series regression approach of Fama and French. Factors are ...
236 views

What is a sound way to project Company X's earnings over the next Y years?

I need to estimate cumulative earnings over the next Y years and I'd like to find a solution that is theoretically sound and relatively simple. Can anyone recommend an approach? Given: I have 30 ...
4k views

Is there an all Java options-pricing library (preferably open source) besides jquantlib?

I am looking for an all-java implementation of black scholes, preferably open source. I found jquantlib and quantlib (C++). Any other recommendations? The jquantlib site seems to be down. I'd prefer ...
882 views

What is the connection between default probabilities calculated using the credit rating and the price of a CDS?

I'm working on a tool to price Credit Default Swaps. I've already done the standard pricing tools. I'm working on a pricing tool which uses the credit rating for the default probabilities used in the ...
381 views

get live data from national stock exchange [closed]

http://billing.finance.yahoo.com/realtime_quotes/signup?.src=quote&.refer=quote Can i get real time data(from NSE india) using Yahoo finance API after subscribing to their service ?
1k views

Why do some anomalies persist while others fade away?

In their 1990 book, A Non-Random Walk Down Wall Street, Andrew Lo and Craig MacKinlay document a number of persistent predictable patterns in stock prices. One of these "anomalies" is variously known ...
3k views

How much data is needed to validate a short-horizon trading strategy?

Suppose one has an idea for a short-horizon trading strategy, which we will define as having an average holding period of under 1 week and a required latency between signal calculation and execution ...
5k views

Is the stock price process a martingale or a Markov process?

Some people claim that the data-generating process for stocks is a "martingale" and that is has the "Markov property". Are they unrelated? Is it that the Markov property implies some sort of ...
3k views

Can the J language be used as an effective alternative to Q/Kdb+?

I hear a lot about Q/kdb+. I've never had the opportunity to use it for anything real but have played with it using their trial license and found it intriguing (if not somewhat mind warping). I've ...
6k views

What tools exist for order book analysis and visualization?

What tools exist for order book analysis and visualization? In particular, if one wanted to examine a limit order book and understand how it changes throughout the day where would you turn for ...
245 views

How should FX options be priced when a currency is artificially capped?

The question is inspired by yesterday's (06/09/11) historic announcement by the Swiss National Bank that it would impose a ceiling on the franc of 1.20 against the euro. I would like to know if there ...
4k views

Why hold options when you can dynamically replicate their payoff?

When holding vanilla options, you can cancel out, theoretically, all risk with dynamic (delta) hedging. Then you earn the "risk free rate of return". Why would you make such a portfolio when you can ...
2k views

How can one compute the Greeks on VIX Futures

I am guessing the short answer to this question is "use the chain rule and linearity of the derivative," but I am looking for more specific advice on how to compute the derivatives of a VIX futures ...
921 views

Literature on generating synthetic time series for testing

I have some market data (daily time series) for bond prices and CDS indices and I would like to generate synthetic versions of these which are statistically "similar" for testing trading strategies. ...
2k views

Real-time & Fast S&P 500 E-Mini Futures (ES) Data

I trade on local exchanges in Europe, but my HFT strategies need S&P 500 e-mini futures data (ES). I don't need to trade ES, but I need real-time data and I want to have it as fast as possible. ...
787 views

Duality between constant rebalanced portfolio (CRP) and corresponding derivative

One of the greatest achievements of modern option pricing theory is finding corresponding dynamical trading strategies in linear instruments with which you can replicate and by that price derivative ...
3k views

Techniques to optimize the placement of orders in market making strategy?

Market making often requires placing and canceling a lot of orders. You have to buy and sell nearly simultaneously, so you need to move orders pretty often to beat other traders. But I would like to ...
1k views

Value at Risk backtesting (kupiec)

I m doing my research on estimating Value at risk using different assumptions on volatility and then compare my results based on backtesting. I obtained results and just on question based on my ...
483 views

How to shift amongst asset classes in response to relative value views?

I am designing an asset allocation strategy/fund which invests in four asset classes (via four independent sub-funds): Domestic equity International equity Domestic fixed income Foreign currencies ...
3k views

Garch modelling on Stata

I would like to ask "how to do GARCH modelling on stata". Basically I want to estimate stock market volatility using daily data. I have one variable as return series, $r_t=\ln(\frac{P_t}{P_{t-1}})$. ...
318 views

Which ETFs should I use to test my portfolio selection algorithm?

I have a portfolio selection algorithm I want to backtest, but I don't want to limit the inputs at any point in time. For example, I don't want to exclude the Japanese stock market, just because it ...
264 views

Could banks move to continuous (rather than overnight) funding?

The dominant frequencies for Money Market and FX instruments were 6m and 3m for a long time, and banks slowly moved to commercial trades at those frequencies but funding overnight. If this is a step ...
2k views

Is the risk-free rate really limited by inflation?

In all the classic texts on equities derivatives, there is an assumption of the risk-free rate r. We can immediately dismiss the concept of a fixed rate; all interest rates are variable (and ...
2k views

How to solve for the implied stock lending rate given equity options prices?

When market makers price options on hard-to-borrow equities, they include the cost to borrow the underlying equity that their broker is going to charge them to sell the security short to hedge. I'm ...
896 views

What is the Sugihara Trading System?

I recently heard the term Sugihara Trading System. I guess it might be some trading strategy or a special model to predict trends in market data, but I couldn't find out anything about it. Does anyone ...
2k views

Where can I find a database of ALL ETFs, sorted by age?

I have a portfolio allocation strategy I want to backtest, but I need a large "universe" of ETFs for it to choose from at each time period. I was thinking of starting with a criteria such as "all ...
183 views

What tradeoff is there to using an accurate estimate with a large confidence interval?

I am working on calibrating a Heston model from simulated historical stock data. After obtaining an accurate estimate of the model parameters I found very large 95% confidence intervals for these ...
639 views

Hedging long municipal bond portfolio using BMA/SIFMA

A question from one of my members. Anyone have experience hedging a long municipal bond portfolio using BMA / SIFMA swaps? Anything you can share regarding sizing and structuring the swap and ...
1k views

HFT: What is the big differentiator in comparison to other time scales?

High Frequency Trading (HFT) seems to be the big money making mystery machine these days. The purported source of unlimited floods of gelt pouring into the investment shops using it. For me, HFT is ...
1k views

Can one use options on Treasury futures to hedge a portfolio?

Can one use options on Treasury bond futures to hedge a typical fixed income portfolio? If so, how can one estimate the duration for an option on a Treasury futures contract, and taking this a step ...
600 views

Is there any research on applying state-space or dynamic linear models to forecasting equity risk premia?

Is there any research on applying state-space or dynamic linear models to forecasting equity risk premia on a security-by-security basis with a medium term horizon (say 3 month to 12 months horizon)? ...
3k views

using quantlib function in my c++ program

I want to include the QuantLib function for option greeks calculations in my own C++ code. My question is: can I just include those functions? I don't want to use the rest of their stuff. I obviously ...
411 views

Should the average investor hold commodities as part of a broadly diversified portfolio?

Many mutual funds sell "asset allocation" products which include appropriately sized investments in a variety of asset classes meant for a prototypical investor. Some of these, such as PIMCO, even ...
387 views

Techniques for forecasting short-frame data?

I'm having a problem in which a time series of 24 data points is given to forecast the next 12 data points. This 24 data points might be sparse (many are missing). Do you have any suggestion on what ...
936 views

Expected return from a multiple linear regression?

How can I compute the predicted return from a linear regression that includes a number of different terms. For instance, suppose my equation is: \$r_{future} = \alpha + \beta_1 r_{history} + \beta_2 ...
34k views

Why is C++ still a very popular language in quantitative finance? [closed]

I had to ask this question after reading the answers to What programming languages are most commonly used in quantitative finance? I understand that C++ programs can be optimized pretty well and are ...
1k views

What is the relationship between risk aversion and preference for skewness and kurtosis in portfolio optimization?

Is there any relationship between the risk aversion coefficient in an individual's utility function (commonly used in portfolio optimization) and the preference for higher moments such as skewness and ...
406 views

The T+H Problem in Factor model forecasts

Suppose we train on M individuals consisting of T observations (i.e. TxM design matrix). The dependent variable is one-year return for each security (H = horizon of one year). In a factor model ...
1k views

What kind of specialized hardware is used in trading?

What kind of computer hardware, in additional to the 'conventional' fare, is actually used in trading? And what languages is it typically programmed in? I'm interested in ASICs, FPGAs, that sort of ...