IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eurase/v13y2023i1d10.1007_s40822-022-00221-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Pairs trading in the index options market

Author

Listed:
  • Marianna Brunetti

    (University of Rome Tor Vergata, CEFIN & CEIS)

  • Roberta De Luca

    (Bank of Italy)

Abstract

We test the Index options market efficiency by means of a statistical arbitrage strategy, i.e. pairs trading. Using data on five Index Option Markets of the Euro Area, we first identify any potential option mispricing based on deviations from the long-run relationship linking their implied volatilities. Then, we evaluate the profitability of a simple pair trading strategy on the mispriced options. Despite the fact that the signals of potential mispricing are frequent, the statistical arbitrage does not produce significant profits, thus providing evidence in support of Index Option market efficiency. The results, which remain unchanged in a variety of robustness checks, also prove that the observed profits are strongly associated to the moneyness of the options traded while they do not correlate to options’ maturity or to financial market turbulence.

Suggested Citation

  • Marianna Brunetti & Roberta De Luca, 2023. "Pairs trading in the index options market," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 13(1), pages 145-173, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eurase:v:13:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s40822-022-00221-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s40822-022-00221-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40822-022-00221-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s40822-022-00221-9?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 look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mark Cummins & Andrea Bucca, 2012. "Quantitative spread trading on crude oil and refined products markets," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(12), pages 1857-1875, December.
    2. Elyas Elyasiani & Luca Gambarelli & Silvia Muzzioli, 2021. "The skewness index: uncovering the relationship with volatility and market returns," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(31), pages 3619-3635, July.
    3. Evnine, Jeremy & Rudd, Andrew, 1985. "Index Options: The Early Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 40(3), pages 743-756, July.
    4. Fung, Joseph K W & Mok, Henry M K, 2001. "Index Options-Futures Arbitrage: A Comparative Study with Bid/Ask and Transaction Data," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 36(1), pages 71-94, February.
    5. Nicolas Huck, 2015. "Pairs trading: does volatility timing matter?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(57), pages 6239-6256, December.
    6. Jacobs, Heiko & Weber, Martin, 2015. "On the determinants of pairs trading profitability," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 75-97.
    7. Shiller, Robert J, 1981. "The Use of Volatility Measures in Assessing Market Efficiency," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 36(2), pages 291-304, May.
    8. Nicolas Huck, 2015. "Pairs trading: does volatility timing matter?," Post-Print hal-01370246, HAL.
    9. Gary W. Emery & Qingfeng (Wilson) Liu, 2002. "An analysis of the relationship between electricity and natural‐gas futures prices," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(2), pages 95-122, February.
    10. Burton G. Malkiel, 2003. "The Efficient Market Hypothesis and Its Critics," Working Papers 111, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    11. Fama, Eugene F, 1991. "Efficient Capital Markets: II," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(5), pages 1575-1617, December.
    12. Thaler, Richard H, 1987. "The January Effect," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 197-201, Summer.
    13. Engle, Robert & Granger, Clive, 2015. "Co-integration and error correction: Representation, estimation, and testing," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 39(3), pages 106-135.
    14. Burton G. Malkiel, 2003. "The Efficient Market Hypothesis and Its Critics," Working Papers 111, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    15. Nicolas Huck & Komivi Afawubo, 2015. "Pairs trading and selection methods: is cointegration superior?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(6), pages 599-613, February.
    16. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 2015. "A five-factor asset pricing model," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 1-22.
    17. Ackert, Lucy F. & Tian, Yisong S., 2001. "Efficiency in index options markets and trading in stock baskets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(9), pages 1607-1634, September.
    18. De Bondt, Werner F M & Thaler, Richard, 1985. "Does the Stock Market Overreact?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 40(3), pages 793-805, July.
    19. repec:pri:cepsud:91malkiel is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Jae Ha Lee & Nandkumar Nayar, 1993. "A transactions data analysis of arbitrage between index options and index futures," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(8), pages 889-902, December.
    21. Newey, Whitney & West, Kenneth, 2014. "A simple, positive semi-definite, heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation consistent covariance matrix," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 33(1), pages 125-132.
    22. Oleg Bondarenko, 2003. "Statistical Arbitrage and Securities Prices," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 16(3), pages 875-919, July.
    23. Fama, Eugene F, 1970. "Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 25(2), pages 383-417, May.
    24. Hossein Rad & Rand Kwong Yew Low & Robert Faff, 2016. "The profitability of pairs trading strategies: distance, cointegration and copula methods," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(10), pages 1541-1558, October.
    25. Fama, Eugene F., 1998. "Market efficiency, long-term returns, and behavioral finance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 283-306, September.
    26. Christian Dunis & Pierre Lequeux, 2000. "Intraday data and hedging efficiency in interest spread trading," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(4), pages 332-352.
    27. Stoll, Hans R, 1969. "The Relationship between Put and Call Option Prices," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 24(5), pages 801-824, December.
    28. Christopher Krauss, 2017. "Statistical Arbitrage Pairs Trading Strategies: Review And Outlook," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 513-545, April.
    29. Paul Berhanu Girma & Albert S. Paulson, 1999. "Risk arbitrage opportunities in petroleum futures spreads," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(8), pages 931-955, December.
    30. Jensen, Michael C., 1978. "Some anomalous evidence regarding market efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(2-3), pages 95-101.
    31. Burton G. Malkiel, 2003. "The Efficient Market Hypothesis and Its Critics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(1), pages 59-82, Winter.
    32. Matthew Clegg & Christopher Krauss, 2018. "Pairs trading with partial cointegration," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 121-138, January.
    33. 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.
    34. Hogan, Steve & Jarrow, Robert & Teo, Melvyn & Warachka, Mitch, 2004. "Testing market efficiency using statistical arbitrage with applications to momentum and value strategies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(3), pages 525-565, September.
    35. Black, Fischer & Scholes, Myron S, 1973. "The Pricing of Options and Corporate Liabilities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 637-654, May-June.
    36. João Frois Caldeira & Gulherme Valle Moura, 2013. "Selection of a Portfolio of Pairs Based on Cointegration: A Statistical Arbitrage Strategy," Brazilian Review of Finance, Brazilian Society of Finance, vol. 11(1), pages 49-80.
    37. Mao Liang Li & Chin Man Chui & Chang Qing Li, 2014. "Is pairs trading profitable on China AH-share markets?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(16), pages 1116-1121, November.
    38. Nicolas Huck & Komivi Afawubo, 2015. "Pairs trading and selection methods: is cointegration superior?," Post-Print hal-01369852, HAL.
    39. Marco Avellaneda & Jeong-Hyun Lee, 2010. "Statistical arbitrage in the US equities market," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(7), pages 761-782.
    40. Joseph K. W. Fung & Kam C. Chan, 1994. "On the arbitrage‐free pricing relationship between index futures and index options: A note," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(8), pages 957-962, December.
    41. Brunetti, Marianna & Torricelli, Costanza, 2005. "Put-call parity and cross-markets efficiency in the index options markets: evidence from the Italian market," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 508-532.
    42. Carmen López-Martín & Sonia Benito Muela & Raquel Arguedas, 2021. "Efficiency in cryptocurrency markets: new evidence," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(3), pages 403-431, September.
    43. Perlin, M., 2007. "Evaluation of pairs trading strategy at the Brazilian financial market," MPRA Paper 8308, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Krauss, Christopher, 2015. "Statistical arbitrage pairs trading strategies: Review and outlook," FAU Discussion Papers in Economics 09/2015, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Economics.
    2. Marianna Brunetti & Roberta De Luca, 2023. "Pre-selection in cointegration-based pairs trading," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 32(5), pages 1611-1640, December.
    3. Flori, Andrea & Regoli, Daniele, 2021. "Revealing Pairs-trading opportunities with long short-term memory networks," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 295(2), pages 772-791.
    4. Marianna Brunetti & Roberta de Luca, 2022. "Sensitivity of profitability in cointegration-based pairs trading," Centro Studi di Banca e Finanza (CEFIN) (Center for Studies in Banking and Finance) 0090, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia "Marco Biagi".
    5. Fernando Caneo & Werner Kristjanpoller, 2021. "Improving statistical arbitrage investment strategy: Evidence from Latin American stock markets," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 4424-4440, July.
    6. Han, Chulwoo & He, Zhaodong & Toh, Alenson Jun Wei, 2023. "Pairs trading via unsupervised learning," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 307(2), pages 929-947.
    7. Clegg, Matthew & Krauss, Christopher, 2016. "Pairs trading with partial cointegration," FAU Discussion Papers in Economics 05/2016, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Economics.
    8. Thomas Delcey & Francesco Sergi, 2019. "The Efficient Market Hypothesis and Rational Expectations. How Did They Meet and Live (Happily?) Ever After," Working Papers hal-02187362, HAL.
    9. Matthew Clegg & Christopher Krauss, 2018. "Pairs trading with partial cointegration," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 121-138, January.
    10. Thomas Delcey & Francesco Sergi, 2019. "The Efficient Market Hypothesis and Rational Expectations. How Did They Meet and Live (Happily?) Ever After," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-02187362, HAL.
    11. Paul Handro & Bogdan Dima, 2024. "Analyzing Financial Markets Efficiency: Insights from a Bibliometric and Content Review," Journal of Financial Studies, Institute of Financial Studies, vol. 16(9), pages 119-175, May.
    12. Roland Rothenstein, 2018. "Quantification of market efficiency based on informational-entropy," Papers 1812.02371, arXiv.org.
    13. Ashok Chanabasangouda Patil & Shailesh Rastogi, 2019. "Time-Varying Price–Volume Relationship and Adaptive Market Efficiency: A Survey of the Empirical Literature," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-18, June.
    14. Thomas Holtfort, 2019. "From standard to evolutionary finance: a literature survey," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 69(2), pages 207-232, June.
    15. Committee, Nobel Prize, 2013. "Understanding Asset Prices," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2013-1, Nobel Prize Committee.
    16. Stefanescu, Razvan & Dumitriu, Ramona, 2016. "Particularitǎţi ale evoluţiei variabilelor financiare [Some particularities of the financial variables evolution]," MPRA Paper 73481, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 02 Sep 2016.
    17. Taufiq Choudhry & Ranadeva Jayasekera, 2015. "Level of efficiency in the UK equity market: empirical study of the effects of the global financial crisis," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 213-242, February.
    18. Schwert, G. William, 2003. "Anomalies and market efficiency," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 15, pages 939-974, Elsevier.
    19. 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.
    20. Kamal, Mona, 2014. "Studying the Validity of the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) in the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) after the 25th of January Revolution," MPRA Paper 54708, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Pairs trading; Option market efficiency; Cointegration; Statistical arbitrage;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • C44 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Operations Research; Statistical Decision Theory
    • C5 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling

    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:spr:eurase:v:13:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s40822-022-00221-9. 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://www.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.