101 Formulaic Alphas

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101 Formulaic Alphas

Zura Kakushadze
Published on 1/5/2016
Equities
Factor investing
Momentum
Reversal
Volatility effect
Volume effect

This paper presents 101 explicit formulaic alphas for quantitative trading, complete with computer code. The alphas have an average holding period ranging from 0.6 to 6.4 days and exhibit a low average pairwise correlation of 15.9%, indicating diversification benefits. The empirical analysis shows that alpha returns are strongly correlated with volatility but have no significant dependence on turnover, confirming earlier indirect findings. Additionally, turnover is found to have poor explanatory power for alpha correlations. The work provides a valuable resource for practitioners and researchers in quantitative finance, offering a diverse set of trading signals with transparent construction.

Highlights

  • 1Provides explicit formulas and computer code for 101 real-life quantitative trading alphas.
  • 2Average holding period of alphas ranges from 0.6 to 6.4 days.
  • 3Average pairwise correlation among alphas is low at 15.9%.
  • 4Alpha returns are strongly correlated with volatility but not significantly with turnover.
  • 5Turnover has poor explanatory power for alpha correlations.

Methods

  • M
    Formulaic alpha construction using explicit mathematical expressions.
  • M
    Empirical analysis of alpha correlations, volatility, and turnover.
  • M
    Statistical analysis of holding periods and return characteristics.

Results

  • R
    101 distinct formulaic alphas with low average pairwise correlation (15.9%).
  • R
    Alpha returns exhibit strong correlation with volatility.
  • R
    No significant dependence of alpha returns on turnover.
  • R
    Turnover does not explain alpha correlations well.
  • R
    Average holding period spans 0.6 to 6.4 days.
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