Idiosyncratic Volatility Strategies in Commodity Futures Markets (original) (raw)

Commodity Futures Returns and Idiosyncratic Volatility

2013

This paper studies the relationship between idiosyncratic volatility and expected returns in commodity futures markets. Measuring idiosyncratic volatility relative to traditional pricing models that fail to account for backwardation and contango leads to the puzzling conclusion that idiosyncratic volatility is negatively priced. In sharp contrast, idiosyncratic volatility is not priced when the fundamental backwardation and contango cycle of commodity futures markets is factored in an appropriate benchmark. Further evidence suggests that the idiosyncratic volatility inferred from traditional benchmarks acts as proxy for the risk associated with contangoed contracts.

Idiosyncratic Volatility and Expected Commodity Futures Returns

Social Science Research Network, 2012

This article investigates the relationship between expected returns and past idiosyncratic volatility in commodity futures markets. Measuring the idiosyncratic volatility of 27 commodity futures contracts with traditional pricing models that fail to account for backwardation and contango leads to the puzzling finding that idiosyncratic volatility is significantly negatively priced cross-sectionally. However, idiosyncratic volatility is not priced when the phases of backwardation and contango are suitably factored in the pricing model. A time-series portfolio analysis similarly suggests that failing to recognize the fundamental risk associated with the inexorable phases of backwardation and contango leads to overstated profitability of the idiosyncratic volatility mimicking portfolios.

Is idiosyncratic volatility priced in commodity futures markets

Commodity Strategies Based on Momentum, Term Structure and Idiosyncratic Volatility

Journal of Futures Markets 35(3), 274-297 , 2015

This article demonstrates that momentum, term structure and idiosyncratic volatility signals in commodity futures markets are not overlapping which inspires a novel triple-screen strategy. We show that simultaneously buying contracts with high past performance, high roll-yields and low idiosyncratic volatility, and shorting contracts with poor past performance, low roll-yields and high idiosyncratic volatility yields a Sharpe ratio over the 1985 to 2011 period which is five times that of the S&P-GSCI. The triple-screen strategy dominates the double-screen and individual strategies and this outcome cannot be attributed to overreaction, liquidity risk, transaction costs or the financialization of commodity futures markets.

Idiosyncratic momentum in commodity futures

This paper provides novel findings on idiosyncratic momentum in commodity futures. Momentum strategy that forms portfolios on the basis of commodity-specific returns delivers compelling investment returns which are substantially more robust and superior to total return momentum on an absolute and risk-adjusted basis. Furthermore, idiosyncratic return momentum is materially more persistent than total return momentum in that it delivers statistically significant positive returns over longer term horizons including ranking periods of up to 24 months. A set of commodity specific and equity markets inspired factors are examined. Notably, the results corroborate that hedging pressure and term structure are sources of risk premium in commodity futures. The analysis in this chapter expose that momentum in commodity futures is fundamentally different to the momentum effect in equity markets. Specifically, momentum in commodity futures is entirely attributed to the momentum effect in long-only portfolios whilst none of the short-only strategies' returns are either profitable or statistically significant. Lastly, the two types of long-only momentum significantly outperform a passive investing into a broad market index such as S&P GSCI. The views expressed here are those of the authors and not necessarily those of any affiliated institutions.

Hedging vs. speculative pressures on commodity futures returns

2011

This study introduces a non linear model for commodity futures prices which accounts for pressures due to hedging and speculative activities. The linkage with the corresponding spot market is considered assuming that a long term equilibrium relationship holds between futures and spot pricing. Over the 1990-2010 time period, a dynamic interaction between spot and futures returns in five commodity markets (copper, cotton, oil, silver, and soybeans) is empirically validated. An error correction relationship for the cash returns and a non linear parameterization of the corresponding futures returns are combined with a bivariate CCC-GARCH representation of the conditional variances. Hedgers and speculators are contemporaneously at work in the futures markets, the role of the latter being far from negligible. In order to capture the consequences of the growing impact of financial flows on commodity market pricing, a two-state regime switching model for futures returns is developed. The empirical findings indicate that hedging and speculative behavior change across the two regimes, which we associate with low and high return volatility, according to a distinctive pattern, which is not homogeneous across commodities

Market Efficiency and the Risks and Returns of Dynamic Trading Strategies with Commodity Futures

Proceedings of the First Interdisciplinary Chess Interactions Conference, 2010

This paper investigates relationships between profits from dynamic trading strategies, risk premium, convenience yields, and net hedging pressures for commodity futures. The term structure of oil, gold, copper and soybeans futures markets contains predictive power for the corresponding term premium. However, only oil futures and soybean futures lead their spot premia. Significant momentum profits are identified in both outright futures and spread trading strategies when the spot premium and the term premium are used to form winner and loser portfolios. Profits from active strategies based on winner and loser portfolios are conditioned on market structure and net hedging pressure effects. Dynamic trading strategies based on contracts with extreme backwardation, extreme contango, and extreme hedging pressures are also tested. On average, spread trading outperforms outright futures trading in capturing the term structure risk and hedging pressure risk. Amongst such strategies, a long-short position in the long-term spread offers the greatest and most significant return and it offers the only exploitable trading profits conditional on past hedging pressure.

Futures Price Volatility in Commodities Markets: The Role of Short Term vs Long Term Speculation

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

This paper evaluates how different types of speculation affect the volatility of commodities' futures prices. We adopt four indexes of speculation: Working's T, the market share of non-commercial traders, the percentage of net long speculators over total open interest in future markets, which proxy for long term speculation, and scalping, which proxies for short term speculation. We consider four energy commodities (light sweet crude oil, heating oil, gasoline and natural gas) and seven non-energy commodities (cocoa, coffee, corn, oats, soybean oil, soybeans and wheat) over the period 1986-2010 analyzed at weekly frequency. Using GARCH models we find that speculation significantly affects volatility of returns: short term speculation has a positive and significant impact on volatility, while long term speculation generally has a negative effect. The robustness exercise shows that: i) scalping is positive and significant also at higher and lower data frequencies; ii) results remain unchanged through different model specifications (GARCH-in-mean, EGARCH, and TARCH); iii) results are robust to different specifications of the mean equation.

EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMODITY FUTURES IN CURBING SPOT VOLATILITY

1 Abstract This study examines the impact of introduction of futures trading on the spot price volatility in the commodity market. The paper considers the United States of America, South Africa and Ethiopian economies. Three commodities i.e. coffee, maize and wheat from New York Mercantile Exchange, South African Futures Exchange and Ethiopian Commodity Exchange are analyzed. ARCH LM test is used to check for heteroskedasticity and GARCH and EGARCH are used to check for the behavior of volatility for the pre-and post-futures periods. For all the three economies, the results indicate presence of the ARCH effect in the log returns. For conditional and unconditional variances; spot price volatility for coffee has decreased after futures trading across all the economies and the EGARCH has also shown reduction in persistence of volatility in the post-futures period in the three economies; while that of maize has reduced for the Ethiopian economy but increased in both the US and South African economies. For wheat, the conditional variance has been found to rise in the post-futures period in all the three economies. These results imply that more positive feedback from futures trading is bound to be seen for maize in the less developed economies as opposed to the developed economies as opposed to the other products. This paper has focused on the overlooked factor by earlier researchers, i.e. of economic-gap amongst countries , in looking at the impact of the futures trading on the spot price variation.

Idiosyncratic Volatility Strategies in Commodity Futures Markets (original) (raw)

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