IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v191y2020ics0165176519304768.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Bitcoin add value to global industry portfolios?

Author

Listed:
  • Damianov, Damian S.
  • Elsayed, Ahmed H.

Abstract

Bitcoin has been increasingly viewed as a new form of investment, yet its role as an asset in a diversified industry portfolio is not well understood. In this paper, we explore the dynamic interdependence between Bitcoin and the ten global industry sectors classified by the Global Industry Classification Standard. We find, in accordance with previous literature, that Bitcoin is relatively isolated from traditional industries. While the near-zero correlation with traditional financial assets offers some diversification benefits to investors, these benefits are counterbalanced by the volatility of the asset. Bitcoin’s optimal presence in a minimum variance portfolio is only about 1 percent – a weight that is robust to various methods for estimating the return covariance matrix. Bitcoin’s optimal weight in portfolios maximizing Sharpe and Sortino ratios are on the magnitude of 10 to 20 percent. Hence, the value of Bitcoin as an asset in a diversified portfolio critically depends on investors’ views about the future of Blockchain technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Damianov, Damian S. & Elsayed, Ahmed H., 2020. "Does Bitcoin add value to global industry portfolios?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:191:y:2020:i:c:s0165176519304768
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2019.108935
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176519304768
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2019.108935?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dirk G. Baur & Brian M. Lucey, 2010. "Is Gold a Hedge or a Safe Haven? An Analysis of Stocks, Bonds and Gold," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 217-229, May.
    2. Nelson, Daniel B, 1991. "Conditional Heteroskedasticity in Asset Returns: A New Approach," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(2), pages 347-370, March.
    3. Francis X. Diebold & Kamil Yilmaz, 2016. "Trans-Atlantic Equity Volatility Connectedness: U.S. and European Financial Institutions, 2004–2014," Journal of Financial Econometrics, Oxford University Press, vol. 14(1), pages 81-127.
    4. Maghyereh, Aktham I. & Awartani, Basel & Hilu, Khalil Al, 2015. "Dynamic transmissions between the U.S. and equity markets in the MENA countries: New evidence from pre- and post-global financial crisis," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 123-138.
    5. Lorenzo Cappiello & Robert F. Engle & Kevin Sheppard, 2006. "Asymmetric Dynamics in the Correlations of Global Equity and Bond Returns," Journal of Financial Econometrics, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 537-572.
    6. Klein, Tony & Pham Thu, Hien & Walther, Thomas, 2018. "Bitcoin is not the New Gold – A comparison of volatility, correlation, and portfolio performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 105-116.
    7. Glosten, Lawrence R & Jagannathan, Ravi & Runkle, David E, 1993. "On the Relation between the Expected Value and the Volatility of the Nominal Excess Return on Stocks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(5), pages 1779-1801, December.
    8. Corbet, Shaen & Meegan, Andrew & Larkin, Charles & Lucey, Brian & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2018. "Exploring the dynamic relationships between cryptocurrencies and other financial assets," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 28-34.
    9. Diebold, Francis X. & Yilmaz, Kamil, 2012. "Better to give than to receive: Predictive directional measurement of volatility spillovers," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 57-66.
    10. Elie Bouri & Naji Jalkh & Peter Molnár & David Roubaud, 2017. "Bitcoin for energy commodities before and after the December 2013 crash: diversifier, hedge or safe haven?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(50), pages 5063-5073, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Elsayed, Ahmed H. & Naifar, Nader & Nasreen, Samia & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar, 2022. "Dependence structure and dynamic connectedness between green bonds and financial markets: Fresh insights from time-frequency analysis before and during COVID-19 pandemic," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    2. Elsayed, Ahmed H. & Gozgor, Giray & Lau, Chi Keung Marco, 2022. "Risk transmissions between bitcoin and traditional financial assets during the COVID-19 era: The role of global uncertainties," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    3. Yarovaya, Larisa & Zięba, Damian, 2022. "Intraday volume-return nexus in cryptocurrency markets: Novel evidence from cryptocurrency classification," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    4. Thomas F. P. Wiesen & Lakshya Bharadwaj, 2023. "Cryptocurrency Connectedness: Does Controlling for the Cross-Correlations Matter?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(20), pages 2873-2880, November.
    5. Jamila Abaidi Hasnaoui & Syed Kumail Abbas Rizvi & Krishna Reddy & Nawazish Mirza & Bushra Naqvi, 2021. "Human capital efficiency, performance, market, and volatility timing of asian equity funds during COVID-19 outbreak," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(5), pages 360-375, September.
    6. Migliavacca, Milena & Goodell, John W. & Paltrinieri, Andrea, 2023. "A bibliometric review of portfolio diversification literature," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    7. Zhang, Dingxuan & Sun, Yuying & Duan, Hongbo & Hong, Yongmiao & Wang, Shouyang, 2023. "Speculation or currency? Multi-scale analysis of cryptocurrencies—The case of Bitcoin," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    8. Ishtiaq Ahmad Bajwa & Shafiq Ur Rehman & Abid Iqbal & Zaheer Anwer & Murtaza Ashiq & Muhammad Ajmal Khan, 2022. "Past, Present and Future of FinTech Research: A Bibliometric Analysis," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(4), pages 21582440221, October.
    9. Khaki, Audil & Prasad, Mason & Al-Mohamad, Somar & Bakry, Walid & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2023. "Re-evaluating portfolio diversification and design using cryptocurrencies: Are decentralized cryptocurrencies enough?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    10. Mirza, Nawazish & Abbas Rizvi, Syed Kumail & Saba, Irum & Naqvi, Bushra & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2022. "The resilience of Islamic equity funds during COVID-19: Evidence from risk adjusted performance, investment styles and volatility timing," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 276-295.
    11. Foley, Sean & Li, Simeng & Malloch, Hamish & Svec, Jiri, 2022. "What is the expected return on Bitcoin? Extracting the term structure of returns from options prices," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    12. Andreas Renard Widarto & Harjum Muharam & Sugeng Wahyudi & Irene Rini Demi Pangestuti, 2022. "ASEAN-5 and Crypto Hedge Fund: Dynamic Portfolio Approach," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, April.
    13. Iwanicz-Drozdowska Małgorzata & Rogowicz Karol & Smaga Paweł, 2023. "Market-moving events and their role in portfolio optimization of generations X, Y, and Z," International Journal of Management and Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of World Economy, vol. 59(4), pages 371-397, December.
    14. Rubaiyat Ahsan Bhuiyan & Afzol Husain & Changyong Zhang, 2023. "Diversification evidence of bitcoin and gold from wavelet analysis," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 1-36, December.
    15. Stadtmüller, Immo & Auer, Benjamin R. & Schuhmacher, Frank, 2022. "On the benefits of active stock selection strategies for diversified investors," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 342-354.
    16. Gao, Lingbo & Ye, Wuyi & Guo, Ranran, 2022. "Jointly forecasting the value-at-risk and expected shortfall of Bitcoin with a regime-switching CAViaR model," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    17. ALIU Florin & NUHIU Artor & KNAPKOVA Adriana & LUBISHTANI Ermal & TRAN Khang, 2021. "Do Cryptocurrencies Offer Diversification Benefits For Equity Portfolios?," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 16(2), pages 5-18, August.
    18. Aktham Maghyereh & Hussein Abdoh, 2022. "COVID-19 and the volatility interlinkage between bitcoin and financial assets," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(6), pages 2875-2901, December.
    19. Akhtaruzzaman, Md & Boubaker, Sabri & Nguyen, Duc Khuong & Rahman, Molla Ramizur, 2022. "Systemic risk-sharing framework of cryptocurrencies in the COVID–19 crisis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PB).
    20. Rym Regaieg & Wajdi Moussa & Nidhal Mgadmi, 2024. "Can We Reckon Bitcoin as a Hedge, a Safe Haven or a Diversifier for US Dollars?," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 25(2_suppl), pages 138-150, April.
    21. Chowdhury, Md Shahedur R. & Damianov, Damian S. & Elsayed, Ahmed H., 2022. "Bubbles and crashes in cryptocurrencies: Interdependence, contagion, or asset rotation?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PB).
    22. Rahat, Birjees & Nguyen, Pascal, 2022. "Risk-adjusted investment performance of green and black portfolios and impact of toxic divestments in emerging markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    23. Alexander Guzmán & Christian Pinto-Gutiérrez & María-Andrea Trujillo, 2021. "Trading Cryptocurrencies as a Pandemic Pastime: COVID-19 Lockdowns and Bitcoin Volume," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(15), pages 1-15, July.
    24. Lu, Shuai & Li, Shouwei & Chen, Ning, 2022. "Robust return efficiency and herding behavior of fund managers," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hussain Shahzad, Syed Jawad & Bouri, Elie & Roubaud, David & Kristoufek, Ladislav, 2020. "Safe haven, hedge and diversification for G7 stock markets: Gold versus bitcoin," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 212-224.
    2. Kurka, Josef, 2019. "Do cryptocurrencies and traditional asset classes influence each other?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 38-46.
    3. Urquhart, Andrew & Zhang, Hanxiong, 2019. "Is Bitcoin a hedge or safe haven for currencies? An intraday analysis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 49-57.
    4. Mensi, Walid & Sensoy, Ahmet & Aslan, Aylin & Kang, Sang Hoon, 2019. "High-frequency asymmetric volatility connectedness between Bitcoin and major precious metals markets," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    5. Baruník, Jozef & Kočenda, Evžen & Vácha, Lukáš, 2016. "Asymmetric connectedness on the U.S. stock market: Bad and good volatility spillovers," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 55-78.
    6. Nikolaos A. Kyriazis, 2020. "Is Bitcoin Similar to Gold? An Integrated Overview of Empirical Findings," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-19, May.
    7. Rizvi, Syed Kumail Abbas & Naqvi, Bushra & Mirza, Nawazish & Umar, Muhammad, 2022. "Safe haven properties of green, Islamic, and crypto assets and investor's proclivity towards treasury and gold," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    8. Chemkha, Rahma & BenSaïda, Ahmed & Ghorbel, Ahmed & Tayachi, Tahar, 2021. "Hedge and safe haven properties during COVID-19: Evidence from Bitcoin and gold," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 71-85.
    9. Esparcia, Carlos & Jareño, Francisco & Umar, Zaghum, 2022. "Revisiting the safe haven role of Gold across time and frequencies during the COVID-19 pandemic," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    10. Duc Huynh, Toan Luu & Burggraf, Tobias & Wang, Mei, 2020. "Gold, platinum, and expected Bitcoin returns," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    11. Tsuji, Chikashi, 2020. "Correlation and spillover effects between the US and international banking sectors: New evidence and implications for risk management," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    12. Abrar, Afsheen & Naeem, Muhammad Abubakr & Karim, Sitara & Lucey, Brian M. & Vigne, Samuel A., 2024. "Shining in or fading out: Do precious metals sparkle for cryptocurrencies?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    13. Andrea Flori, 2019. "Cryptocurrencies In Finance: Review And Applications," International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Finance (IJTAF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 22(05), pages 1-22, August.
    14. Mohamed Yousfi & Abderrazak Dhaoui & Houssam Bouzgarrou, 2021. "Risk Spillover during the COVID-19 Global Pandemic and Portfolio Management," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-29, May.
    15. Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Raheem, Ibrahim Dolapo & Kang, Sang Hoon, 2019. "Time-varying dynamic conditional correlation between stock and cryptocurrency markets using the copula-ADCC-EGARCH model," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 535(C).
    16. Bhuiyan, Rubaiyat Ahsan & Husain, Afzol & Zhang, Changyong, 2021. "A wavelet approach for causal relationship between bitcoin and conventional asset classes," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    17. Nikolaos Antonakakis & Ioannis Chatziantoniou & David Gabauer, 2021. "The impact of Euro through time: Exchange rate dynamics under different regimes," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 1375-1408, January.
    18. Nikolaos A. Kyriazis, 2021. "A Survey on Volatility Fluctuations in the Decentralized Cryptocurrency Financial Assets," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-46, June.
    19. Mensi, Walid & Al Rababa'a, Abdel Razzaq & Vo, Xuan Vinh & Kang, Sang Hoon, 2021. "Asymmetric spillover and network connectedness between crude oil, gold, and Chinese sector stock markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    20. Liu, Jianjian & Wang, Shuhan & Xiang, Lijin & Ma, Shiqun & Xiao, Zumian, 2024. "Unveiling hidden connections: Spillover among BRICS' cryptocurrency-implied exchange rate discounts and US financial markets," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bitcoin; Global industry sectors; Return spillovers; Portfolio diversification;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes; State Space Models
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:191:y:2020:i:c:s0165176519304768. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolet .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.