Amanda - Your help regarding the implementation of the Kalman filter would be greatly appreciated and I fully understand that you don't want to publish your code - I wouldn't either! I'm just about to finalize the index arbitrage backtesting and I'll let you know whether there is any value to be gained. Then I'll start working on your Kalman idea, expecting to get stuck rather soon(!). So if you don't mind, I'll contact you again once I'm on the move with that.

Per

Hi Amanda,

This post is several years old now and so I don't know if you still follow it but I'm curious how your strategy performed and if you've made any modifications or changes to your methodology.

Also, could you implement your iterative weight estimation procedure with Kalman Filter using Mathematica's built-in KalmanEstimator function?

Thank you, Reid

Hi Amanda - not sure whether you still monitor this thread, but I'm curious if your algorithm is still peforming? I think your findings are remarkable to say the least. I stumled on this post because I'm trying to do something very similar, using another idea of Ernie's. My model trades the spread between an index and a basket of its constituents where the basket is reconstructed periodically using the Johansen procedure. It suffers from the same OOS stationarity issue as Kinlay describes and I will certainly try to apply your model if I can interpret the details correctly.
If you could share any details on the production performance of your model, it would be very interesting.

Before we delve into the Kalman Filter model, its worth pointing out that the problem with the nonstationarity of the out-of-sample estimated portfolio values is not mitigated by adding more in-sample data points and re-estimating the cointegrating vector(s):

IterateCointegrationTest[data_, n_] := 
  Module[{isdata, osdata, JT, isportprice, osportprice},
   isdata = Take[data, All, n];
   osdata = Drop[data, 0, n];
   JT = JohansenTest[isdata, 2, 1];
   isportprice = JT[[2, 1]].isdata;
   osportprice = JT[[2, 1]].osdata;
   {UnitRootTest[isportprice], UnitRootTest[osportprice]}];

We continue to add more in-sample data points, reducing the size of the out-of-sample dataset correspondingly. But none of the tests for any of the out-of-sample datasets is able to reject the null hypothesis of a unit root in the portfolio price process:

ListLinePlot[
 Transpose@
  Table[IterateCointegrationTest[stockprices, 52*14 + i], {i, 1, 50}],
  PlotLegends -> {"In-Sample", "Out-of-Sample"}]

A problem with out-of-sample testing is that market structure can shift so that relationships (such as cointegration) may start to break down. One way to try to minimize this effect is to update your Johansen coefficients more frequently. In backtesting, I update the Johansen coefficients weekly, being careful to use only past data to calculate the current portfolio weights at any time point. (I think this is called "walk forward".) This reflects how I actually use the function in practice. In effect, my out-of-sample period is always one time step. This gives better backtest results, but because I'm avoiding look-ahead bias, it's valid. That's what I did in the backtest I described in a previous reply. You can even track the trace/eigen-statistics over time to make sure that the cointegration is not falling apart.

Also, the Kalman filter dynamically adjusts the Johansen weights so that the weighted price series is more stationary.

Jonathan,

I wrote my Kalman Filter routine in Mathematica, from scratch. This way I know exactly what it does.

Regarding your questions:

1) My backtesting showed average yearly returns (AYRs) in the 30% - 40% range (over a 6-year period), with a maximum drawdown under 10%. This was with fixed entry/exit limits, and 100% of my cash in and out. However, in live trading, what I do is put on 50% of my position when I cross one limit, another 25% when I cross another limit, etc., so that I reduce my drawdown if I get a large excursion in the statistic (say, 2 or 3 standard deviations), while capturing some returns on the smaller excursions (1 standard deviation). I really feel that I need to see how my track record goes with live trading. That's what counts.

2) I wrote a small routine to download real-time ETF data from nasdaq.com. Basically, I use the Mathematica URLRead function and screen scrape for the real-time quote. I use the Mathematica Dynamic function to do this, and update the plot and recommended positions, automatically once per minute. Real-time 1-minute data is good enough for my purposes. I enter the orders manually on a multi-order trading screen. I've got a system that keeps the lag to a few seconds. Again, good enough for my purposes.

3) Yes, GARCH can be useful to show changes in volatility. I haven't implemented that. However, I've recently applied the Mathematica functions HiddenMarkovProcess and FindHiddenMarkovStates to detect and display a shift from a low volatility state to a high volatility state (and vice-versa) in my statistic. It's mainly for informational purposes. (I basically highlight areas of the plot with white or light-gray background, depending on whether I'm in a low-volatility state or a high volatility state.) It may affect when I place my trades. Too early to say yet. A big issue for me is how best to display the information so that I can easily and quickly react and trade when needed.