IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/rqfnac/v60y2023i1d10.1007_s11156-022-01099-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Enhancing stock market anomalies with machine learning

Author

Listed:
  • Vitor Azevedo

    (Technical University Kaiserslautern)

  • Christopher Hoegner

    (McKinsey & Company)

Abstract

We examine the predictability of 299 capital market anomalies enhanced by 30 machine learning approaches and over 250 models in a dataset with more than 500 million firm-month anomaly observations. We find significant monthly (out-of-sample) returns of around 1.8–2.0%, and over 80% of the models yield returns equal to or larger than our linearly constructed baseline factor. For the best performing models, the risk-adjusted returns are significant across alternative asset pricing models, considering transaction costs with round-trip costs of up to 2% and including only anomalies after publication. Our results indicate that non-linear models can reveal market inefficiencies (mispricing) that are hard to conciliate with risk-based explanations.

Suggested Citation

  • Vitor Azevedo & Christopher Hoegner, 2023. "Enhancing stock market anomalies with machine learning," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 195-230, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:rqfnac:v:60:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s11156-022-01099-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s11156-022-01099-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11156-022-01099-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11156-022-01099-z?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. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1992. "The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 427-465, June.
    2. Kewei Hou, 2007. "Industry Information Diffusion and the Lead-lag Effect in Stock Returns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 20(4), pages 1113-1138.
    3. Fama, Eugene F., 1998. "Market efficiency, long-term returns, and behavioral finance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 283-306, September.
    4. X. Frank Zhang, 2006. "Information Uncertainty and Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(1), pages 105-137, February.
    5. Bodnar, Taras & Mazur, Stepan & Okhrin, Yarema, 2017. "Bayesian estimation of the global minimum variance portfolio," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 256(1), pages 292-307.
    6. Christian L Dunis & Spiros D Likothanassis & Andreas S Karathanasopoulos & Georgios S Sermpinis & Konstantinos A Theofilatos, 2013. "A hybrid genetic algorithm–support vector machine approach in the task of forecasting and trading," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 14(1), pages 52-71, February.
    7. John H. Cochrane, 2011. "Presidential Address: Discount Rates," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(4), pages 1047-1108, August.
    8. Jacobs, Heiko & Müller, Sebastian, 2020. "Anomalies across the globe: Once public, no longer existent?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(1), pages 213-230.
    9. Carhart, Mark M, 1997. "On Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 57-82, March.
    10. Daniele Fanelli, 2013. "Positive results receive more citations, but only in some disciplines," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 94(2), pages 701-709, February.
    11. Adeodato, Paulo J.L. & Arnaud, Adrian L. & Vasconcelos, Germano C. & Cunha, Rodrigo C.L.V. & Monteiro, Domingos S.M.P., 2011. "MLP ensembles improve long term prediction accuracy over single networks," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 661-671.
    12. Gah-Yi Ban & Noureddine El Karoui & Andrew E. B. Lim, 2018. "Machine Learning and Portfolio Optimization," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(3), pages 1136-1154, March.
    13. Basak, Suryoday & Kar, Saibal & Saha, Snehanshu & Khaidem, Luckyson & Dey, Sudeepa Roy, 2019. "Predicting the direction of stock market prices using tree-based classifiers," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 552-567.
    14. Campbell R. Harvey, 2017. "Presidential Address: The Scientific Outlook in Financial Economics," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(4), pages 1399-1440, August.
    15. Sohyung Kim & Cheol Lee, 2014. "Implementability of Trading Strategies Based on Accounting Information: Piotroski (2000) Revisited," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 553-558, December.
    16. Jeremiah Green & John R. M. Hand & X. Frank Zhang, 2017. "The Characteristics that Provide Independent Information about Average U.S. Monthly Stock Returns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(12), pages 4389-4436.
    17. repec:bla:jfinan:v:58:y:2003:i:5:p:1969-1996 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Fischer, Thomas & Krauss, Christopher, 2018. "Deep learning with long short-term memory networks for financial market predictions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 270(2), pages 654-669.
    19. Alex Chinco & Adam D. Clark‐Joseph & Mao Ye, 2019. "Sparse Signals in the Cross‐Section of Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 74(1), pages 449-492, February.
    20. Dewald, William G & Thursby, Jerry G & Anderson, Richard G, 1986. "Replication in Empirical Economics: The Journal of Money, Credit and Banking Project," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(4), pages 587-603, September.
    21. Andrew Y. Chen & Tom Zimmermann, 2022. "Open Source Cross-Sectional Asset Pricing," Critical Finance Review, now publishers, vol. 11(2), pages 207-264, May.
    22. R. David Mclean & Jeffrey Pontiff, 2016. "Does Academic Research Destroy Stock Return Predictability?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(1), pages 5-32, February.
    23. Grundy, Bruce D & Martin, J Spencer, 2001. "Understanding the Nature of the Risks and the," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 14(1), pages 29-78.
    24. Kewei Hou & Chen Xue & Lu Zhang, 2015. "Editor's Choice Digesting Anomalies: An Investment Approach," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(3), pages 650-705.
    25. Robert Novy-Marx & Mihail Velikov, 2016. "A Taxonomy of Anomalies and Their Trading Costs," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(1), pages 104-147.
    26. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 2015. "A five-factor asset pricing model," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 1-22.
    27. Daniele Fanelli, 2012. "Negative results are disappearing from most disciplines and countries," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 90(3), pages 891-904, March.
    28. Kewei Hou & Chen Xue & Lu Zhang, 2020. "Replicating Anomalies," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(5), pages 2019-2133.
    29. Tobek, Ondrej & Hronec, Martin, 2021. "Does it pay to follow anomalies research? Machine learning approach with international evidence," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    30. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    31. Barroso, Pedro & Santa-Clara, Pedro, 2015. "Momentum has its moments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 111-120.
    32. Jennifer Conrad & Michael Cooper & Gautam Kaul, 2003. "Value versus Glamour," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(5), pages 1969-1995, October.
    33. William F. Sharpe, 1964. "Capital Asset Prices: A Theory Of Market Equilibrium Under Conditions Of Risk," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 19(3), pages 425-442, September.
    34. Adeodato, Paulo J.L. & Arnaud, Adrian L. & Vasconcelos, Germano C. & Cunha, Rodrigo C.L.V. & Monteiro, Domingos S.M.P., 2011. "MLP ensembles improve long term prediction accuracy over single networks," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 661-671, July.
    35. John M. Griffin & Patrick J. Kelly & Federico Nardari, 2010. "Do Market Efficiency Measures Yield Correct Inferences? A Comparison of Developed and Emerging Markets," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(8), pages 3225-3277, August.
    36. Friedman, Jerome H., 2002. "Stochastic gradient boosting," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 367-378, February.
    37. Basu, S, 1977. "Investment Performance of Common Stocks in Relation to Their Price-Earnings Ratios: A Test of the Efficient Market Hypothesis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(3), pages 663-682, June.
    38. Fama, Eugene F & MacBeth, James D, 1973. "Risk, Return, and Equilibrium: Empirical Tests," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 607-636, May-June.
    39. James B. Heaton & Nicholas Polson & Jan H. Witte, 2017. "Rejoinder to ‘Deep learning for finance: deep portfolios’," Applied Stochastic Models in Business and Industry, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(1), pages 19-21, January.
    40. Hong, Harrison & Kacperczyk, Marcin, 2009. "The price of sin: The effects of social norms on markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 15-36, July.
    41. Christian Dunis & Jason Laws & Ben Evans, 2008. "Trading futures spread portfolios: applications of higher order and recurrent networks," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(6), pages 503-521.
    42. José M. Matías & Juan C. Reboredo, 2012. "Forecasting Performance of Nonlinear Models for Intraday Stock Returns," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2), pages 172-188, March.
    43. J. B. Heaton & N. G. Polson & J. H. Witte, 2017. "Deep learning for finance: deep portfolios," Applied Stochastic Models in Business and Industry, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(1), pages 3-12, January.
    44. Masaya Abe & Hideki Nakayama, 2018. "Deep Learning for Forecasting Stock Returns in the Cross-Section," Papers 1801.01777, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2018.
    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. Cakici, Nusret & Fieberg, Christian & Metko, Daniel & Zaremba, Adam, 2023. "Machine learning goes global: Cross-sectional return predictability in international stock markets," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    2. Cakici, Nusret & Shahzad, Syed Jawad Hussain & Będowska-Sójka, Barbara & Zaremba, Adam, 2024. "Machine learning and the cross-section of cryptocurrency returns," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    3. Vitor Azevedo & Georg Sebastian Kaiser & Sebastian Mueller, 2023. "Stock market anomalies and machine learning across the globe," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(5), pages 419-441, September.
    4. Zongrun Wang & Tangtang He & Xiaohang Ren & Luu Duc Toan Huynh, 2024. "Robust portfolio strategies based on reference points for personal experience and upward pacesetters," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 63(3), pages 863-887, October.
    5. Jozef Barunik & Martin Hronec & Ondrej Tobek, 2024. "Predicting the distributions of stock returns around the globe in the era of big data and learning," Papers 2408.07497, arXiv.org.

    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. Vitor Azevedo & Georg Sebastian Kaiser & Sebastian Mueller, 2023. "Stock market anomalies and machine learning across the globe," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(5), pages 419-441, September.
    2. Stephen A. Gorman & Frank J. Fabozzi, 2021. "The ABC’s of the alternative risk premium: academic roots," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(6), pages 405-436, October.
    3. Cakici, Nusret & Zaremba, Adam & Bianchi, Robert J. & Pham, Nga, 2021. "False discoveries in the anomaly research: New insights from the Stock Exchange of Melbourne (1927–1987)," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    4. Söhnke M. Bartram & Harald Lohre & Peter F. Pope & Ananthalakshmi Ranganathan, 2021. "Navigating the factor zoo around the world: an institutional investor perspective," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 91(5), pages 655-703, July.
    5. Adam Zaremba & Jacob Koby Shemer, 2018. "Price-Based Investment Strategies," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-319-91530-2, June.
    6. Cakici, Nusret & Fieberg, Christian & Metko, Daniel & Zaremba, Adam, 2023. "Machine learning goes global: Cross-sectional return predictability in international stock markets," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    7. Harvey, Campbell R. & Liu, Yan, 2021. "Lucky factors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(2), pages 413-435.
    8. Doron Avramov & Si Cheng & Lior Metzker, 2023. "Machine Learning vs. Economic Restrictions: Evidence from Stock Return Predictability," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(5), pages 2587-2619, May.
    9. Hou, Kewei & Xue, Chen & Zhang, Lu, 2017. "Replicating Anomalies," Working Paper Series 2017-10, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    10. Hoang, Khoa & Huang, Ronghong & Truong, Helen, 2023. "Resurrecting the market factor: A case of data mining across international markets," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    11. Azevedo, Vitor, 2023. "Analysts’ underreaction and momentum strategies," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    12. Cakici, Nusret & Zaremba, Adam, 2022. "Salience theory and the cross-section of stock returns: International and further evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 689-725.
    13. Hanauer, Matthias X. & Windmüller, Steffen, 2023. "Enhanced momentum strategies," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    14. Hollstein, Fabian, 2022. "The world of anomalies: Smaller than we think?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    15. Shi, Huai-Long & Zhou, Wei-Xing, 2022. "Factor volatility spillover and its implications on factor premia," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    16. Christian Fieberg & Daniel Metko & Thorsten Poddig & Thomas Loy, 2023. "Machine learning techniques for cross-sectional equity returns’ prediction," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 45(1), pages 289-323, March.
    17. Qianwei Ying & Tahir Yousaf & Qurat ul Ain & Yasmeen Akhtar & Muhammad Shahid Rasheed, 2019. "Stock Investment and Excess Returns: A Critical Review in the Light of the Efficient Market Hypothesis," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-22, June.
    18. Huber, Daniel & Jacobs, Heiko & Müller, Sebastian & Preissler, Fabian, 2023. "International factor models," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    19. Joachim Freyberger & Andreas Neuhierl & Michael Weber, 2020. "Dissecting Characteristics Nonparametrically," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(5), pages 2326-2377.
    20. Kaplanski, Guy, 2023. "The race to exploit anomalies and the cost of slow trading," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Anomalies; Machine learning models; Efficient market hypothesis; Asset pricing models;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G29 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Other
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting

    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:kap:rqfnac:v:60:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s11156-022-01099-z. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://springer.com .

    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.