Quant Mashup - Investment Idiocy Jumping back in the pool(ing): pooling by asset class and portfolio weight distance [Investment Idiocy]This is post #10 in my 2026 series on portfolio optimisation. Time for a quick recap. I'm not going to revisit every post but instead summarise what I now think one should be doing when optimising forecast weights before costs (I haven't yet incorporated costs, nor thought about instrument(...) One of These Things Is Not Like the Others. Or is it? Pooling rule p&l estimates [Investment Idiocy]This is the eighth post in a series I'm writing on portfolio optimisation. I haven't done one of these for a few posts, so here is the story so far: In the first post I showed that if you are optimising across forecasts from different trading rules and instruments, then you should first(...) Rolling, rolling, rolling.... updating statistical estimates yes or no [Investment Idiocy]The mega blog post series on portfolio optimisation continues! A couple of posts ago, here, I looked at using the idea of formal testing for structural breaks in parameter estimates. Important parameters like Sharpe Ratio (SR). Because stuff like this happens: This is the pre-cost performance of the(...) Breaking Badly: finding the structural breaks in parameter estimates [Investment Idiocy]Here's a nice picture from a lovely book written by a top bloke: It shows the cumulative p&l from different speeds of momentum over time (for portfolios containing 102 instruments) over 50 years of data. Notice how the two fastest speeds (2&4) get worse in the second half of the sample.(...) To Cluster Or Not To Cluster That is the Question... [Investment Idiocy]This is the sixth (!) post in a series I'm writing on portfolio optimisation. A quick reminder of the story so far: In the first post I showed that if you are optimising across forecasts from different trading rules and instruments, that the rules within an instrument cluster naturally(...) Honey I shrunk the weights (instead of the inputs!) [Investment Idiocy]TLDR: This is a post about something that doesn't work. So don't read if you only care about cherry picked delightful backtests. This is my fifth post in a rapid fire intense series on portfolio optimisation. In my last post I looked at the optimal amount of shrinkage to use with real(...) FIFA* (*Fitting and Forecasting Actual data) Portfolio Optimisation competition with real returns [Investment Idiocy]This is my fourth post in my summer 2026 mini series on portfolio optimisation. It will very much follow the format of (also with a sports alluding title) blog post number two, so it might be worth rereading that. A reminder if you can't be bothered, I used random data to compare some(...) Forecasting statistical estimates when data gets real [Investment Idiocy]This is my third post in a series about optimisation and fitting. In my previous post I used random data to calibrate and evaluate many portfolio optimisation techniques. It's worth quoting in full from that post: Random data is not real data: Well duh. But why is this important? Because random(...) UFC - Ultimate Fitting Championships [Investment Idiocy]As I said in my last post I'm currently in the process of a mega-sized research project on fitting. In the first post I examined the correct way to cluster combinations of trading rules and instruments. This next post is rather meatier, and is about evaluating and calibrating some portfolio(...) The crossword puzzle of fitting - why across and then down? [Investment Idiocy]This will be the first in a series of posts about portfolio optimisation. Main reason being I'm planning to write a book about backtesting, and that will include a big chunk of material on optimisation. Yes, I know, my latest book isn't out yet (it's out in December - in time for(...) Annual performance update- year 12 [Investment Idiocy]This is how I started last years update: "Mad out there isn't it? Tarrifs on/off/on/partially off/on... USD/SP500/Gold/US10/Bitcoin all yoyoing like crazy." Well the orange peril is still at it, and as I write this the global supply of oil has been severly curtailed for several weeks(...) How to write a tweet that gets over 300k views; and why diversification is probably good [Investment Idiocy]At eight words this is almost certainly* my most viewed and liked tweet ever (although I have nearly 25k followers, so thats 18,000 or so that didn't like it) . Short, pithy, funny; I should retire from my Xmaxxing game right now (just kidding; there are still plenty of gamblers, crypto nuts(...) Backtesting course from Rob Carver, March 7 and 8, in person and remote [Investment Idiocy]No, it's not one of those 'make $$$ easy by trading' courses, it's a dull and tedious one about robust fitting and backtesting. This is the first* time I've taught outside of a university. * and possibly last, we'll see. This could be a one-off opportunity. In person(...) Are markets that are good for trend good just bc they have also gone up a lot, or bc carry, or... [Investment Idiocy]I have a friend, ex-colleague and TTU co-host who runs a fixed income focused CTA. We have regular coffees (he pays, so his fund is doing ok) and one of our favourite topics for arguing debating making polite conversation about is why fixed income is so much better for trend than anything else.(...) Wordle (TM) and the one simple hack you need to pass funded trader challenges [Investment Idiocy]An unusual (but quick) mid month post, as this is a live issue I thought I'd publish this whilst it's relevant. There has been some controversy on X/Twitter about 'pay to play' prop shops (see this thread and this one) and in particular Raen Trading. It's fair to say the(...) Is predicting vol better worth the effort and does the VIX help? [Investment Idiocy]I'm a vol scaler. There I've said it. Yes I adjust my position size inversely to vol. And so should you. But to this well we need to be able to predict future vol; where the 'future' here is roughly how long we expect to hold our positions for. Some people spend a lot of effort(...) R squared and Sharpe Ratio [Investment Idiocy]Here's some research I did whilst writing my new book (coming next year, and aimed at relatively inexperienced traders). Imagine the scene. You're a trader who products forecasts (a scaled number which predicts future risk adjusted returns, or at least you hope it does) who wants to(...) Is the degradation of trend following performance a cohort effect, instrument decay or environmental problem? [Investment Idiocy]It's probably bad luck to say this, but the most recent poor performance of CTAs and trend following managers this year appears to have been reversed. My own system is up over 12% since the nadir of the summer drawdown, and is now up for year; admittedly by only by 5.5%. Nevetheless, it's(...) PCA analysis of Futures returns for fun and profit, part deux [Investment Idiocy]In my previous post I discussed what would happen if you did the crazy thing of doing a PCA on the whole universe of futures across assets, rather than just within US equities or bonds like The Man would want you to. In this post I explore how we could do something useful with them. There is some(...) PCA analysis of Futures returns for fun and profit, part 1 [Investment Idiocy]I know I had said I wouldn't be doing any substantive blog posts because of book writing (which is going well, thanks for asking) but this particular topic has been bugging me for a while. And if you listened to the last episode of Top Traders Unplugged you will hear me mention this in response(...) Quickies #1: Overfitting and EWMAC forecast scalars [Investment Idiocy]I'm now in full book writing mode, so I don't have the time to do full blog posts. Instead I plan to do a series of quick posts where I share some research I did for the book. Cynically, there is also a chance it will encourage you to buy the book, as long as I don't overshare like(...) Can I build a scalping bot? A blogpost with numerous double digit SR [Investment Idiocy]Two minute to 30 minute horizon: Mean reversion works, and is most effective at the 4-8 minute horizon from a predictive perspective; although from a Sharpe Ratio angle it's likely the benefits of speeding up to a two minute trade window would overcome the slight loss in predictability. There(...) Annual performance update returneth - year 11 [Investment Idiocy]Mad out there isn't it? Tarrifs on/off/on/partially off/on... USD/SP500/Gold/US10/Bitcoin all yoyoing like crazy. Seems a good moment to be slightly reflective. I skipped my annual performance update last year, a little sad given it was my tenth anniversary. Mainly this is because it had become(...) Very... slow... mean reversion, and some thoughts on trading at different speeds [Investment Idiocy]Bit of a mixed bag post today. The golden thread connecting them is the idea that markets trend and mean revert at different frequencies. - A review of the discussion around timeframes for momentum and mean reversion in 'Advanced Futures Trading Strategies', in light of this excellent(...) How much should we get paid for skew risk? Not as much as you think! [Investment Idiocy]A bit of a theme in my posts a few years ago was my 'battle' with the 'classic' trend followers, which can perhaps be summarised as: Me: Better Sharpe! Them: Yeah, but Skew!! My final post on the subject (when I realised it as a futile battle, as we were playing on different(...) Do less liquid assets trend better or is that they are just more diversified? [Investment Idiocy]As most of you know, one of the many projects / things I am involved with is the TTU Systematic Investor podcast series where I'm one of the rotating cast of co-hosts. On a recent episode (at 24:05) we discussed the reasons why 'alt' CTAs tend to do better than traditional CTAs.(...) Taking an income from your trading account - probabilistic Kelly with regular withdrawals [Investment Idiocy]Programming note: This post has been in draft since ... 2016! One question you will see me asked a lot is 'how much money do I need to become a full time trader?'. And I usually have a handwaving answer along the lines of 'Well if you think your strategy will earn you 10% a year, then(...) CTA index replication and the curse of dimensionality [Investment Idiocy]So, first I should apologise for the LONG.... break between blogposts. This started when I decided not to do my usual annual review of performance - it is a lot of work, and I decided that the effort wasn't worth the value I was getting from it (in the interests of transparency, you can still(...) Fitting with: exponential weighting, alpha and the kitchen sink [Investment Idiocy]I've talked at some length before about the question of fitting forecast weights, the weights you use to allocate risk amongst different signals used to trade a particular instrument. Generally I've concluded that there isn't much point wasting time on this, for example consider my(...) Introducing max-GM, a new(?) performance statistic [Investment Idiocy]Do you remember this post? https://qoppac.blogspot.com/2022/06/vol-targeting-cagr-race.html Here I introduced a performance metric, the best annualised compounding return at the optimal leverage level for that strategy. This is equivalent to finding the highest geometric return once a strategy is(...) Skew preferences for crypto degens [Investment Idiocy]An old friend asking for help... how can I resist? Here is the perplexing paper: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4042239 And here is the (not that senstional) abstract: Bitcoin (BTC) returns exhibit pronounced positive skewness with a third central moment of approximately 150%(...) Portfolio optimisation, uncertainty, bootstrapping, and some pretty plots. Ho, ho, ho [Investment Idiocy]Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house.... OK I can't be bothered. It was quiet, ok? Not a creature was stirring... literally nothing was moving basically. And then a fat guy in a red suit squeezed through the chimney, which is basically breaking and entering, and found a(...) The State Of Vol [Investment Idiocy]I'm sometimes asked where I get my ideas for new trading strategies from. The boring truth is I rarely test new trading strategies, and I mostly steal ideas when I feel in the mood. Today for example I saw this tweet post on twitter X: The original paper is here (requires subscription or(...) Clustering trading rule p&l [Investment Idiocy]I recently upgraded my live production system to include all the extra instruments I've added on recently. I also did a little consolidation of trading rules, simplifying things slightly by removing some rules that didn't really have much allocation, and adding a couple from my new book.(...) Trading and investing performance year nine - part 2: Futures trading [Investment Idiocy]Here is part two of my annual review. Part one looked at my overall portfolio, including long only, but there was only a cursory look at my futures. Here in this second part I will be looking a my futures trading account in a lot more detail. It's important to say why I'm doing this.(...) Trading and investing performance: year nine, part one [Investment Idiocy]A bit late this year, due to a confluence of holidays, book launches, university exam writing and various other things. Here lies within my performance for the UK tax year 2022-23. Previous years can be found here. TLDR: Not great, absolute or relative. It was indeed a complete anus - horrible!.(...) Advanced Futures Trading Strategies [Investment Idiocy]Tommorrow marks the official release of my 4th book: Henceforth to be known as AFTS (I've had authors copies since the 24th February, but modern supply chains being what they are it takes considerably longer for the book to arrive in the hands of my readers; although plenty of people on twitter(...) I got more than 99 instruments in my portfolio but butter ain't one of them [Investment Idiocy]As those of you who follow me on the Elon Musk Daily News App will know, I received physical copies of my new book last week (exciting!). Global supply chains being what they are, you lot will have to wait until April to get your copies. Sorry. Anyway one of the themes I touch on in the book is the(...) Equities, Bonds and maximising CAGR [Investment Idiocy]Lots of things have changed in the last year. Many unthinkable things are now thinkable. A war in Europe. The UK coming 2nd in the Eurovision song contest rather than the usual dismal 'null points'. And of course, the correlation of stocks and bonds has recently gone more positive than it(...) Percentage or price differences when estimating standard deviation - that is the question [Investment Idiocy]In a lot of my work, including my new book, I use two different ways of measuring standard deviation. The first method, which most people are familiar with, is to use some series of recent percentage returns. Given a series of prices p_t you might imagine the calculation would be something like(...) Playing around with leveraged ETFs; or how to get positive skew without trend following [Investment Idiocy]As readers of my books will know, I don't recommend leveraged ETFs as a way to get leverage. Their ways are very dark and mysterious. But like many dark and mysterious things, they are also kind of funky and cool. In this post I will explore their general funkiness, and I will also show you how(...) Fast but not furious: Do fast trading rules actually cost a lot to trade? [Investment Idiocy]This is the second post in a series I'm doing about whether I can trade faster strategies than I currently do, without being destroyed by high trading costs. The series is motivated in the first post, here. In this post, I see if it's possible to 'smuggle in' high cost trading(...) Scream if you want to go faster [Investment Idiocy]Happy new year. I didn't post very much in 2022, because I was in the process of writing a new book (out in April!). Save a few loose ends, my work on that project is pretty much done. Now I have some research topics I will be looking at this year, with the intention of returning to something(...) If you're so smart, how come you're not Sam Bankman-Fried? [Investment Idiocy]There has been a very interesting discussion on twitter, relating to some stuff said by Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), who at the time of writing has just completely vaporized billions of dollars in record time via the medium of his crypto exchange FTX, and provided a useful example to future school(...) Optimal trend following allocation under conditions of uncertainty [Investment Idiocy]Few people are brave enough to put their entire net worth into a CTA fund or home grown trend following strategy (my fellow co-host on the TTU podcast, Jerry Parker, being an honorable exception with his 'Trend following plus nothing' portfolio allocation strategy). Most people have(...) Vol targeting: A CA(g)R race [Investment Idiocy]Regular listeners to the podcast I ocasionally co-host will know that I enjoy some light hearted banter with some of my fellow podcasters, many of whom describe themselves as 'pure' trend followers, whilst I am an apostate who deserves to be cast into the outer darkness. My (main) sin? The(...) Historic and recent performance by trading rule [Investment Idiocy]Another brief post this month; the deadline for the first draft of my latest book is only a couple of months away and I haven't got much free time! But I was asked an excellent question on twitter recently, which was how the various types of trading rule have contributed to my p&l this(...) Trading and investing performance: year eight [Investment Idiocy]Eight years! Wow. In late 2013 I walked out of an office for the last time where I had been working for AHL, a large systematic futures trading fund. A few months later, in April 2014, I had my own very small systematic futures trading account, and I started doing these performance reviews. And this(...) Is 60:40 a dead parrot? Or just resting? [Investment Idiocy]Very brief blog post this month; I'm deep into book writing mode at the moment. Chanelling Clif Assness, I'm just going to present a few charts and lead you to draw your own conclusions. Excess / futures returns from portfolio of 60% S&P 500, 40% US Ten year treasuries (Authors own(...) Exogenous risk overlay: take two [Investment Idiocy]This is a short follow up post to one I did a couple of years ago, on "Exogenous risk management". This was quite an interesting post which dug into why expected risk changes for a typical diversified futures trading system. And then I introduced my risk overlay: "Now we have a better(...)