# All Questions

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### What are the key risks to the quantitative strategy development process?

Prompted in part by this question on data snooping, I would be interested to know: What are the key risks that should be considered when developing a quantitative strategy based on: (a) historical ...
52k views

### What is the Swap Curve?

What is the so-called Swap Curve, and how does it relate to the Zero Curve (or spot yield curve)? Does it only refer to a curve of swap rates versus maturities found in the market? Or is it a swap ...
18k views

### What is the best way to “fix” a covariance matrix that is not positive semi-definite?

I have a sample covariance matrix of S&P 500 security returns where the smallest k-th eigenvalues are negative and quite small (reflecting noise and some high correlations in the matrix). I am ...
5k views

### Why aren't econometric models used more in Quant Finance?

There is a big body of literature on econometric models like ARIMA, ARIMAX or VAR. Yet to the best of my knowledge practically nobody is making use of that in Quantitative Finance. Yes, there is a ...
54k views

### Strategy of Renaissance Technologies Medallion fund: Holy Grail or next Madoff?

Renaissance Technologies Medallion fund is one of the most successful hedge funds - ever! Yet it is very secretive. Do you have information on the strategy used that is not yet mentioned in the ...
8k views

### What exactly is meant by “microstructure noise”?

I see that term tossed around a lot, in articles relating to HFT, and ultra high frequency data. It says at higher frequencies, smaller intervals, microstructure noise is very dominant. What is ...
36k views

### How to check if a timeseries is stationary?

I'm using KPSS Method to check if the series is stationary, but I would also like to use another test to confirm if the series is stationary or not, what method coudl I use?
7k views

### Volatility pumping in practice

The fascinating thing about volatility pumping (or optimal growth portfolio, see e.g. here) is that here volatility is not the same as risk, rather it represents opportunity. Additionally it is a ...
13k views

### How to interpret the eigenmatrix from a Johansen cointegration test?

I ran a Johansen cointegration test on 3 instruments, A B and C. The results that I got are: ...
7k views

### Algorithm to fit AR(1)/GARCH(1,1) model of log-returns

I am fitting numerically an AR(1)/GARCH(1,1) process to index and stock log-returns, $r_t=\log(P_t/P_{t-1})$, where $P_t$ is the price at time $t$, and thus far am not clear on where the observed log ...
12k views

### Risk Neutral Probability

I read that an option prices is the expected value of the payout under the risk neutral probability. Intuitively why is the expectation taken with respect to risk neutral as opposed to the actual ...
3k views

### Model Validation Criteria

Let's say I have a brand new fancy model on some asset class (calibration porcedure included over a set of vanilla options) in which I truly believe I made a step forward comparing to existing ...
2k views

### Pricing Treasury futures

I've recently learned that at the delivery of Treasury futures the short side can decide which of the $n$ Treasury bonds (with relevant maturities) to deliver. If the short side chooses to deliver the ...
5k views

### How does one estimate the probability of the Fed increasing its benchmark rate based on Fed funds futures?

How was this 67% probability calculated from Fed funds futures? Fed funds futures show a 67 percent chance the central bank will increase its benchmark rate by year-end from virtually zero, ...
10k views

### What causes the call and put volatility surface to differ?

I currently have a local volatility model that uses the standard Black Scholes assumptions. When calculating the volatility surface, what causes the difference between the call volatility surface, ...
17k views

### Fama-Macbeth second step confusion

I am confused on how to run the second step of the Fama Macbeth (1973) two step procedure. I have monthly stock returns and monthly Fama-French factors, for around 10,000 stocks. This creates an ...
11k views

### Carry calculation on an interest rate swap

I was hoping that I can get help on a simple yet not so straight forward topic : Looking at valuing the costs of holding an IRS in the books this would entail marketed-to-market due to price ...
25k views

### Bachelier model call option pricing formula

Does anybody have the Bachelier model call option pricing formula for $r > 0$? All the references I've read assume $r = 0$. I don't speak French, so I can't read Bachelier's original paper.
946 views

### Modeling Call Price w.r.t. Strike w Models that Capture Vol Smile

I am trying to model $C(K)$, the price of the call $C$ as a function of strike $K$. Because this is tied to Prob ITM - and in fact the probability density function of that particular expiration (https:...
3k views

### Calendar Arbitrage in a Vol Surface

I am trying to determine the condition such that my implied vol surface doesn't have calendar arbitrage. I have done research and found that one such condition is that total variance should increase ...
2k views

### Question on pure carry for two bonds

If two bonds have yield of 5% and 2% and assume there's no price change, can we say that the carry is simply 5%-2% = 3% for a year. Does this take into account coupons? Equivalently, let's say the ...
3k views

### Arbitrage Free Volatility Smile

When ATM implied volatility is higher than OTM put and call I believe that the volatility smile is no longer arbitrage free? Why is that? On the other hand, when ATM implied volatility is lower than ...
13k views

### Why does the adjusted closing price take into account dividends?

I'm trying to get an intuition as to why the adjusted closing price includes a dividend adjustment: $$1 - \frac{dividend}{close}$$ I understand why the adjusted closing ...
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### Downward sloping smile in normal model

We consider an stock price $S$ following a normal model: $dS_t = \sigma dW_t$ We can write this as $\frac{dS_t}{S_t}=\frac{\sigma}{S_t}dW_t$ Hence we can see that $S$ follows a "log-normal" ...
2k views

### Setting input parameters for Nelson Siegel Svensson model

I am trying to determine the parameters for the Nelson Siegel Svensson model and am solving a Non-Linear Optimization problem to do this. I am trying to solve:  \min_\theta{\sum{(p_i - \hat p_i)^2}...
14k views

### Recommendations for books to understand the math in quantitative finance papers?

Can anyone recommend books that explain the math used in quantitative finance academic papers?
24k views

### Time-series similarity measures

Suppose I have two time series $X$ and $Y$ of stock prices. How do I measure the "similarity" of $X$ and $Y$? (I'm being deliberately vague as I don't have a particular application, and I'm curious ...
14k views

### How are cryptography and speech recognition technology applied to forecasting financial markets?

One of the answers to my previous question regarding the strategy of Renaissance Technologies, there was a reference to The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly ...
11k views

### What broker/feed/APIsetup allows for recording the most accurate data (cheaply)?

I'm currently using IB's Java API and getting feeds through them. However the real-time feed is updated only every 250ms and the historical feed only every second. I'm primarily looking for ES data ...
45k views

### Are there any good tools for back testing options strategies?

There are all kinds of tools for backtesting linear instruments (like stocks or stock indices). It is a completely different story when it comes to option strategies. Most of the tools used are ...
4k views

I am looking for academic articles which model the p&L of market makers. I have read the Ho-Stoll (1984) article. Is there any recent article on this subject?
5k views

### Random matrix theory (RMT) in finance

The new kid on the block in finance seems to be random matrix theory. Although RMT as a theory is not so new (about 50 years) and was first used in quantum mechanics it being used in finance is a ...
102k views

### Mapping symbols between tickers, Reuters RICs and Bloomberg tickers

Is there any known solution (preferably open source) to map between ticker symbols, Reuters and Bloomberg symbols. For example: Ticker: AAPL Reuters: AAPL.O (may be prefixed with RSF.ANY. dependent ...
9k views

### What is a stationary process?

How do you explain what a stationary process is? In the first place, what is meant by process, and then what does the process have to be like so it can be called stationary?
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### How to design a custom equity backtester?

I was thinking about writing my own backtester and I realize I have to make some assumptions. So I was hoping I could post what I am planning on doing and hopefully some of you can give me some ideas ...
8k views

### Trading a synthetic replication of the VIX index

One cannot directly buy and sell the VIX index. Theoretically, however, one could approximate the index by purchasing an at-the-money straddle on the SP500, then delta-hedging the straddle. Does ...
3k views

### How do I adjust a correlation matrix whose elements are generated from different market regimes?

Say I want to calculate a correlation matrix for 50 stocks using 3-year historical daily data. And there are some stocks that were recently listed for one year. This is not technically challenging ...