Quant BuffetRelax, Not Over Thinking

Arbitrage Comovement Effect in ETFs

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Academic paper

Arbitrage Comovement

AuthorsJohn J. Shim

Institute
  • University of Notre Dame
  • ARUniversity of Mendoza
  • ?University of Notre Dame - Mendoza College of Business

Strategy in a nutshell

Form long–short portfolios of heavily traded U.S. equity ETFs based on arbitrage sensitivity. Go long high-sensitivity ETFs, short low-sensitivity ETFs, and rebalance monthly using value-weighted constituent weights.

Economic rationale

High ETF trading activity distorts prices via arbitrage co-movement, affecting factor exposures. Exploiting these mechanical mispricings allows the strategy to capture returns while highlighting inefficiencies at the individual security level.

Backtest performance

Annualised return8.07%
Volatility8.8%
Sharpe ratio0.92