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Exploiting commodity momentum along the futures curves

Author

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  • de Groot, Wilma
  • Karstanje, Dennis
  • Zhou, Weili

Abstract

This study examines novel momentum strategies in commodities futures markets that incorporate term-structure information. We show that momentum strategies that invest in contracts on the futures curve with the largest expected roll-yield or the strongest momentum earn significantly higher risk-adjusted returns than a traditional momentum strategy, which only invests in the nearest contracts. Moreover, when incorporating conservative transaction costs we observe that our low-turnover momentum strategy more than doubles the net return compared to a traditional momentum strategy.

Suggested Citation

  • de Groot, Wilma & Karstanje, Dennis & Zhou, Weili, 2014. "Exploiting commodity momentum along the futures curves," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 79-93.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:48:y:2014:i:c:p:79-93
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2014.08.008
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

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    2. Yang, Yurun & Göncü, Ahmet & Pantelous, Athanasios A., 2018. "Momentum and reversal strategies in Chinese commodity futures markets," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 177-196.
    3. Han, Yufeng & Hu, Ting & Yang, Jian, 2016. "Are there exploitable trends in commodity futures prices?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 214-234.
    4. Massimo Guidolin & Manuela Pedio, 2022. "Switching Coefficients or Automatic Variable Selection: An Application in Forecasting Commodity Returns," Forecasting, MDPI, vol. 4(1), pages 1-32, February.
    5. Paschke, Raphael & Prokopczuk, Marcel & Wese Simen, Chardin, 2020. "Curve momentum," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    6. Massimo Guidolin & Manuela Pedio, 2020. "Distilling Large Information Sets to Forecast Commodity Returns: Automatic Variable Selection or HiddenMarkov Models?," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 20140, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    7. Bianchi, Robert J. & Fan, John Hua & Zhang, Tingxi, 2021. "Investable commodity premia in China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    8. Prokopczuk, Marcel & Symeonidis, Lazaros & Wese Simen, Chardin & Wichmann, Robert, 2023. "Convenience yield risk," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    9. Kim, Byungoh & Suh, Sangwon, 2018. "Sentiment-based momentum strategy," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 52-68.
    10. Adam Zaremba & Jacob Koby Shemer, 2018. "Price-Based Investment Strategies," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-319-91530-2, January.
    11. Jun Yuan & Qi Xu & Ying Wang, 2023. "Probability weighting in commodity futures markets," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(4), pages 516-548, April.
    12. Meng Han, 2023. "Commodity momentum and reversal: Do they exist, and if so, why?," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(9), pages 1204-1237, September.
    13. Fan, John Hua & Qiao, Xiao, 2023. "Commodity momentum: A tale of countries and sectors," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    14. Benjamin R. Auer, 2021. "Have trend-following signals in commodity futures markets become less reliable in recent years?," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 35(4), pages 533-553, December.
    15. Loïc Maréchal, 2023. "A tale of two premiums revisited," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(5), pages 580-614, May.
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    17. Miffre, Joëlle, 2016. "Long-short commodity investing: A review of the literature," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 3-13.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Commodity futures; Momentum; Term structure; Futures curve; Roll yield; Transaction costs;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G13 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Contingent Pricing; Futures Pricing
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading

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