In this short note, we consider mean-variance optimized portfolios with transaction costs. We show that introducing quadratic transaction costs makes the optimization problem more difficult than using linear transaction costs. The reason lies in the specification of the budget constraint, which is no longer linear. We provide numerical algorithms for solving this issue and illustrate how transaction costs may considerably impact the expected returns of optimized portfolios.
The effect of proportional transaction costs on systematically generated portfolios is studied empirically. The performance of several portfolios (the index tracking portfolio, the equally-weighted portfolio, the entropy-weighted portfolio, and the diversity-weighted portfolio) in the presence of dividends and transaction costs is examined under different configurations involving the trading frequency, constituent list size, and renewing frequency. Moreover, a method to smooth transaction costs is proposed.
We theoretically and empirically study portfolio optimization under transaction costs and establish a link between turnover penalization and covariance shrinkage with the penalization governed by transaction costs. We show how the ex ante incorporation of transaction costs shifts optimal portfolios towards regularized versions of efficient allocations. The regulatory effect of transaction costs is studied in an econometric setting incorporating parameter uncertainty and optimally combining predictive distributions resulting from high-frequency and low-frequency data. In an extensive empirical …
Recent progress in portfolio choice has made a wide class of problems involving transaction costs tractable. We review the basic approach to these problems, and outline some directions for future research.
We apply numerical dynamic programming techniques to solve discrete-time multi-asset dynamic portfolio optimization problems with proportional transaction costs and shorting/borrowing constraints. Examples include problems with multiple assets, and many trading periods in a finite horizon problem. We also solve dynamic stochastic problems, with a portfolio including one risk-free asset, an option, and its underlying risky asset, under the existence of transaction costs and constraints. These examples show that it is now tractable to solve such problems.
An investor with constant relative risk aversion and an infinite planning horizon trades a risky and a safe asset with constant investment opportunities, in the presence of small transaction costs and a binding exogenous portfolio constraint. We explicitly derive the optimal trading policy, its welfare, and implied trading volume. As an application, we study the problem of selecting a prime broker among alternatives with different lending rates and margin requirements. Moreover, we discuss how changing regulatory constraints affect the deposit rates offered for illiquid loans.
We employ perturbation analysis technique to study multi-asset portfolio optimisation with transaction cost. We allow for correlations in risky assets and obtain optimal trading methods for general utility functions. Our analytical results are supported by numerical simulations in the context of the Long Term Growth Model.
This survey is an introduction to asymptotic methods for portfolio-choice problems with small transaction costs. We outline how to derive the corresponding dynamic programming equations and simplify them in the small-cost limit. This allows to obtain explicit solutions in a wide range of settings, which we illustrate for a model with mean-reverting expected returns and proportional transaction costs. For even more complex models, we present a policy iteration scheme that allows to compute the solution numerically.
In this work, we consider the optimal portfolio selection problem under hard constraints on trading amounts, transaction costs and different rates for borrowing and lending when the risky asset returns are serially correlated. No assumptions about the correlation structure between different time points or about the distribution of the asset returns are needed. The problem is stated as a dynamic tracking problem of a reference portfolio with desired return. Our approach is tested on a set of a real data from Russian Stock Exchange MICEX.
For portfolio optimisation under proportional transaction costs, we provide a duality theory for general cadlag price processes. In this setting, we prove the existence of a dual optimiser as well as a shadow price process in a generalised sense. This shadow price is defined via a "sandwiched" process consisting of a predictable and an optional strong supermartingale and pertains to all strategies which remain solvent under transaction costs. We provide examples showing that in the present general setting the shadow price process has to be of this generalised form.
We consider an investor with constant absolute risk aversion who trades a risky asset with general Ito dynamics, in the presence of small proportional transaction costs. Kallsen and Muhle-Karbe (2012) formally derived the leading-order optimal trading policy and the associated welfare impact of transaction costs. In the present paper, we carry out a convex duality approach facilitated by the concept of shadow price processes in order to verify the main results of Kallsen and Muhle-Karbe under well-defined regularity conditions.
The aim of this work is to extend the capital growth theory developed by Kelly, Breiman, Cover and others to asset market models with transaction costs. We define a natural generalization of the notion of a numeraire portfolio proposed by Long and show how such portfolios can be used for constructing growth-optimal investment strategies. The analysis is based on the classical von Neumann-Gale model of economic dynamics, a stochastic version of which we use as a framework for the modelling of financial markets with frictions.
The growth-optimal portfolio optimization strategy pioneered by Kelly is based on constant portfolio rebalancing which makes it sensitive to transaction fees. We examine the effect of fees on an example of a risky asset with a binary return distribution and show that the fees may give rise to an optimal period of portfolio rebalancing. The optimal period is found analytically in the case of lognormal returns. This result is consequently generalized and numerically verified for broad return distributions and returns generated by a GARCH process. Finally we study the case when investment is reba…
In this paper we consider a discrete-time risk sensitive portfolio optimization over a long time horizon with proportional transaction costs. We show that within the log-return i.i.d. framework the solution to a suitable Bellman equation exists under minimal assumptions and can be used to characterize the optimal strategies for both risk-averse and risk-seeking cases. Moreover, using numerical examples, we show how a Bellman equation analysis can be used to construct or refine optimal trading strategies in the presence of transaction costs.
In this paper, asymptotic results in a long-term growth rate portfolio optimization model under both fixed and proportional transaction costs are obtained. More precisely, the convergence of the model when the fixed costs tend to zero is investigated. A suitable limit model with purely proportional costs is introduced and an optimal strategy is shown to consist of keeping the risky fraction process in a unique interval $[A,B]\subseteq\,]0,1[$ with minimal effort. Furthermore, the convergence of optimal boundaries, asymptotic growth rates, and optimal risky fraction processes is rigorously prov…
This paper studies a portfolio optimization problem in a discrete-time Markovian model of a financial market, in which asset price dynamics depend on an external process of economic factors. There are transaction costs with a structure that covers, in particular, the case of fixed plus proportional costs. We prove that there exists a self-financing trading strategy maximizing the average growth rate of the portfolio wealth. We show that this strategy has a Markovian form. Our result is obtained by large deviations estimates on empirical measures of the price process and by a generalization of …
We propose two methods to obtain exact solutions for the Almgren-Chriss model about optimal execution of portfolio transactions. In the first method we rewrite the Almgren-Chriss equation and find two exact solutions. In the second method, employing a general reparametrized time, we show that the Almgren-Chriss equation can be reduced to some known equations which can be exactly solved in different cases.For this last case we obtain a quantity conserved. In addition, we show that in both methods the Almgren-Chriss equation is equivalent to a Riccati equation.
In this paper we derive the optimal execution trajectory for a trader who wishes to buy or sell a large position of shares which evolve as a geometric Brownian process in contrast to the arithmetic model which prevails in the existing literature, and with a general temporary impact $h$. We provide a couple of examples which illustrate the results. We would like to stress the fact that in this paper we use understandable user-friendly techniques.
In frictionless markets, utility maximization problems are typically solved either by stochastic control or by martingale methods. Beginning with the seminal paper of Davis and Norman [Math. Oper. Res. 15 (1990) 676--713], stochastic control theory has also been used to solve various problems of this type in the presence of proportional transaction costs. Martingale methods, on the other hand, have so far only been used to derive general structural results. These apply the duality theory for frictionless markets typically to a fictitious shadow price process lying within the bid-ask bounds of …
In this paper we investigate a new class of growth rate maximization problems based on impulse control strategies such that the average number of trades per time unit does not exceed a fixed level. Moreover, we include proportional transaction costs to make the portfolio problem more realistic. We provide a Verification Theorem to compute the optimal growth rate as well as an optimal trading strategy. Furthermore, we prove the existence of a constant boundary strategy which is optimal. At the end, we compare our approach to other discrete-time growth rate maximization problems in numerical exa…
We build the time series of optimal realized portfolio weights from high-frequency data and we suggest a novel Dynamic Conditional Weights (DCW) model for their dynamics. DCW is benchmarked against popular model-based and model-free specifications in terms of weights forecasts and portfolio allocations. Next to portfolio variance, certainty equivalent and turnover, we introduce the break-even transaction costs as an additional measure that identifies the range of transaction costs for which one allocation is preferred to another. By comparing minimum-variance portfolios built on the components…
We consider the maximization of the long-term growth rate in the Black-Scholes model under proportional transaction costs as in Taksar, Klass and Assaf [Math. Oper. Res. 13, 1988]. Similarly as in Kallsen and Muhle-Karbe [Ann. Appl. Probab., 20, 2010] for optimal consumption over an infinite horizon, we tackle this problem by determining a shadow price, which is the solution of the dual problem. It can be calculated explicitly up to determining the root of a deterministic function. This in turn allows to explicitly compute fractional Taylor expansions, both for the no-trade region of the optim…
Optimizing Investment Strategies with Lazy Factor and Probability Weighting: A Price Portfolio Forecasting and Mean-Variance Model with Transaction Costs Approach
In this paper, optimal consumption and investment decisions are studied for an investor who can invest in a fixed interest rate bank account and a stock whose price is a log normal diffusion. We present the method of the HJB equation in order to explicitly solve problems of this type with modifications such as a fixed percentage transaction cost and a mandatory bequest function. It is shown that the investor treats the mandatory bequest as an expense that she factors into her personal wealth when making consumption and transaction decisions. Furthermore, the investor keeps her portfolio propor…
We study optimal investment with multiple assets in the presence of small proportional transaction costs. Rather than computing an asymptotically optimal no-trade region, we optimize over suitable trading frequencies. We derive explicit formulas for these and the associated welfare losses due to small transaction costs in a general, multidimensional diffusion setting, and compare their performance to a number of alternatives using Monte Carlo simulations.
We present a simulation-and-regression method for solving dynamic portfolio allocation problems in the presence of general transaction costs, liquidity costs and market impacts. This method extends the classical least squares Monte Carlo algorithm to incorporate switching costs, corresponding to transaction costs and transient liquidity costs, as well as multiple endogenous state variables, namely the portfolio value and the asset prices subject to permanent market impacts. To do so, we improve the accuracy of the control randomization approach in the case of discrete controls, and propose a g…
We investigate the application of two heuristic methods, genetic algorithms and tabu/scatter search, to the optimisation of realistic portfolios. The model is based on the classical mean-variance approach, but enhanced with floor and ceiling constraints, cardinality constraints and nonlinear transaction costs which include a substantial illiquidity premium. It is shown that genetic algorithms can optimise such portfolios effectively and within reasonable times. This approach also copes easily with extensive modifications such as the addition of more intricate constraints, discontinuous variabl…
Portfolio optimisation typically aims to provide an optimal allocation that minimises risk, at a given return target, by diversifying over different investments. However, the potential scope of such risk diversification can be limited if investments are concentrated in only one country, or more specifically one currency. Multi-currency portfolio is an alternative to achieve higher returns and more diversified portfolios but it requires a careful management of the entailed risks from changes in exchange rates. The deviation between asset and currency exposures in a portfolio is defined as the "…
We present an optimal investment theorem for a currency exchange model with random and possibly discontinuous proportional transaction costs. The investor's preferences are represented by a multivariate utility function, allowing for simultaneous consumption of any prescribed selection of the currencies at a given terminal date. We prove the existence of an optimal portfolio process under the assumption of asymptotic satiability of the value function. Sufficient conditions for asymptotic satiability of the value function include reasonable asymptotic elasticity of the utility function, or a gr…
We study partial hedging for game options in markets with transaction costs bounded from below. More precisely, we assume that the investor's transaction costs for each trade are the maximum between proportional transaction costs and a fixed transaction costs. We prove that in the continuous time Black--Scholes (BS) model, there exists a trading strategy which minimizes the shortfall risk. Furthermore, we use binomial models in order to provide numerical schemes for the calculation of the shortfall risk and the corresponding optimal portfolio in the BS model.
This note provides a neat and enjoyable expansion and application of the magnificent Ordentlich-Cover theory of "universal portfolios." I generalize Cover's benchmark of the best constant-rebalanced portfolio (or 1-linear trading strategy) in hindsight by considering the best bilinear trading strategy determined in hindsight for the realized sequence of asset prices. A bilinear trading strategy is a mini two-period active strategy whose final capital growth factor is linear separately in each period's gross return vector for the asset market. I apply Cover's ingenious (1991) performance-weight…
In this note, we extend an evolutionary stochastic portfolio optimization framework to include probabilistic constraints. Both the stochastic programming-based modeling environment as well as the evolutionary optimization environment are ideally suited for an integration of various types of probabilistic constraints. We show an approach on how to integrate these constraints. Numerical results using recent financial data substantiate the applicability of the presented approach.
While absence of arbitrage in frictionless financial markets requires price processes to be semimartingales, non-semimartingales can be used to model prices in an arbitrage-free way, if proportional transaction costs are taken into account. In this paper, we show, for a class of price processes which are not necessarily semimartingales, the existence of an optimal trading strategy for utility maximisation under transaction costs by establishing the existence of a so-called shadow price. This is a semimartingale price process, taking values in the bid ask spread, such that frictionless trading …
We present an expansion for portfolio optimization in the presence of small, instantaneous, quadratic transaction costs. Specifically, the magnitude of transaction costs has a coefficient that is of the order $ε$ small, which leads to the optimization problem having an asymptotically-singular Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation whose solution can be expanded in powers of $\sqrtε$. In this paper we derive explicit formulae for the first two terms of this expansion. Analysis and simulation are provided to show the behavior of this approximating solution.
We prove a general duality result for multi-stage portfolio optimization problems in markets with proportional transaction costs. The financial market is described by Kabanov's model of foreign exchange markets over a finite probability space and finite-horizon discrete time steps. This framework allows us to compare vector-valued portfolios under a partial ordering, so that our model does not require liquidation into some numeraire at terminal time. We embed the vector-valued portfolio problem into the set-optimization framework, and generate a problem dual to portfolio optimization. Using re…
Portfolio optimization is one of the most attentive fields that have been researched with machine learning approaches. Many researchers attempted to solve this problem using deep reinforcement learning due to its efficient inherence that can handle the property of financial markets. However, most of them can hardly be applicable to real-world trading since they ignore or extremely simplify the realistic constraints of transaction costs. These constraints have a significantly negative impact on portfolio profitability. In our research, a conservative level of transaction fees and slippage are c…
This paper studies the optimal consumption under the addictive habit formation preference in markets with transaction costs and unbounded random endowments. To model the proportional transaction costs, we adopt the Kabanov's multi-asset framework with a cash account. At the terminal time T, the investor can receive unbounded random endowments for which we propose a new definition of acceptable portfolios based on the strictly consistent price system (SCPS). We prove a type of super-hedging theorem using the acceptable portfolios which enables us to obtain the consumption budget constraint cond…
We discuss - in what is intended to be a pedagogical fashion - generalized "mean-to-risk" ratios for portfolio optimization. The Sharpe ratio is only one example of such generalized "mean-to-risk" ratios. Another example is what we term the Fano ratio (which, unlike the Sharpe ratio, is independent of the time horizon). Thus, for long-only portfolios optimizing the Fano ratio generally results in a more diversified and less skewed portfolio (compared with optimizing the Sharpe ratio). We give an explicit algorithm for such optimization. We also discuss (Fano-ratio-inspired) long-short strategi…
We consider the problem of optimizing the expected logarithmic utility of the value of a portfolio in a binomial model with proportional transaction costs with a long time horizon. By duality methods, we can find expressions for the boundaries of the no-trade-region and the asymptotic optimal growth rate, which can be made explicit for small transaction costs. Here we find that, contrary to the classical results in continuous time, the size of the no-trade-region as well as the asymptotic growth rate depend analytically on the level of transaction costs, implying a linear first order effect of…
Duality for robust hedging with proportional transaction costs of path dependent European options is obtained in a discrete time financial market with one risky asset. Investor's portfolio consists of a dynamically traded stock and a static position in vanilla options which can be exercised at maturity. Both the stock and the option trading is subject to proportional transaction costs. The main theorem is duality between hedging and a Monge-Kantorovich type optimization problem. In this dual transport problem the optimization is over all the probability measures which satisfy an approximate ma…
Two major financial market complexities are transaction costs and uncertain volatility, and we analyze their joint impact on the problem of portfolio optimization. When volatility is constant, the transaction costs optimal investment problem has a long history, especially in the use of asymptotic approximations when the cost is small. Under stochastic volatility, but with no transaction costs, the Merton problem under general utility functions can also be analyzed with asymptotic methods. Here, we look at the long-run growth rate problem when both complexities are present, using separation of …
