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Markowitz meets technical analysis: Building optimal portfolios by exploiting information in trend-following signals

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  • Santos, André A.P.
  • Torrent, Hudson S.

Abstract

Technical indicators are widely used by market participants to identify trends in asset prices and in trading volumes. However, it is unclear how to reconcile this approach with a portfolio selection policy that guide investment decisions in many assets at the same time. We bridge the gap between Markowitz approach to mean–variance portfolios and technical analysis by devising a portfolio strategy in which optimal weights are directly parameterized as a function of multiple trend-following signals. We present an empirical application in which four commonly used technical indicators are employed to obtain portfolios of all constituents of the S&P500 index.

Suggested Citation

  • Santos, André A.P. & Torrent, Hudson S., 2022. "Markowitz meets technical analysis: Building optimal portfolios by exploiting information in trend-following signals," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:49:y:2022:i:c:s1544612322002963
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2022.103063
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Hwang, Yoontae & Park, Junpyo & Lee, Yongjae & Lim, Dong-Young, 2023. "Stop-loss adjusted labels for machine learning-based trading of risky assets," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PA).
    2. Wang, Jianzhou & Lv, Mengzheng & Wang, Shuai & Gao, Jialu & Zhao, Yang & Wang, Qiangqiang, 2024. "Can multi-period auto-portfolio systems improve returns? Evidence from Chinese and U.S. stock markets," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PB).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bootstrap; Parametric portfolios; Risk-adjusted performance; Transaction costs;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B26 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Financial Economics
    • C58 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Financial Econometrics
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions

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