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Economic significance of market timing rules in the Forward Freight Agreement markets

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  • Nomikos, Nikos K.
  • Doctor, Kaizad

Abstract

Quantitative market timing strategies have been traditionally tested in liquid commodity and financial futures, often with mixed results with respect to their performance. We extend this methodology to a non-storable commodity, freight, where hitherto this analysis has not been carried out. The freight futures market is mature and increasingly liquid, making it a good case for diversification and trading opportunities. We carry out a comprehensive study of quantitative trading strategies in the FFA (Forward Freight Agreements) market on a wide variety of contracts and maturities with a number of trading rules. We find that in spite of robustness checks, trading rules do outperform the buy-and-hold benchmark in general. We also explore the possibility that illiquidity and a small sample size may impact the results of the tests and therefore offer an intuitive approach to mitigate their effects. A procedure that augments the Hansen (2005) SPA (Superior Predictive Ability) methodology and allows us to use it for smaller sample sizes with increased confidence is also proposed.

Suggested Citation

  • Nomikos, Nikos K. & Doctor, Kaizad, 2013. "Economic significance of market timing rules in the Forward Freight Agreement markets," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 77-93.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transe:v:52:y:2013:i:c:p:77-93
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tre.2012.11.009
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    2. Yu, Fangping & Xiang, Zhiyuan & Wang, Xuanhe & Yang, Mo & Kuang, Haibo, 2023. "An innovative tool for cost control under fragmented scenarios: The container freight index microinsurance," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    3. Alexandridis, George & Kavussanos, Manolis G. & Kim, Chi Y. & Tsouknidis, Dimitris A. & Visvikis, Ilias D., 2018. "A survey of shipping finance research: Setting the future research agenda," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 164-212.
    4. Yuting Gong & Xueqin Wang & Mo Zhu & Ying‐En Ge & Wenming Shi, 2023. "Maximum utility portfolio construction in the forward freight agreement markets: Evidence from a multivariate skewed t copula," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(1), pages 69-89, January.
    5. Chen, Feier & Tian, Kang & Ding, Xiaoxu & Miao, Yuqi & Lu, Chunxia, 2016. "Finite-size effect and the components of multifractality in transport economics volatility based on multifractal detrending moving average method," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 462(C), pages 1058-1066.

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