Quant BuffetRelax, Not Over Thinking

Timing Betting-Against-Beta (BAB) Anomaly v.2

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Academic paper

VIX-managed portfolios

AuthorsMiloš Božović

Institute
  • ?University of Belgrade – Faculty of Economics and Business
  • RSUniversity of Belgrade
  • ?University of Belgrade - Faculty of Economics
  • ?University of Belgrade - Faculty of Economics and Business

Strategy in a nutshell

Develop a portfolio using BAB (Betting Against Beta) principles from Frazzini & Pedersen (2014), long low-beta and short high-beta assets. Use conditional variance σ’_t² to adjust weights monthly: increase exposure if risk falls, decrease if risk rises. Rebalance monthly to maintain the “managed” improved portfolio.

Economic rationale

This strategy leverages VIX-based volatility scaling. Implied volatility helps manage near-term variance and tail risk while providing moderate return timing ability, improving the risk-return profile of the managed BAB portfolio.

Backtest performance

Annualised return12.8%
Volatility10%
Beta0.517
Sharpe ratio1.28
Sortino ratio0.412
Win rate50%

Full Python code

from AlgorithmImports import *
import numpy as np
from pandas.core.frame import DataFrame
from typing import List, Dict

class TimingBettingAgainstBetaAnomalyv2(QCAlgorithm):

def Initialize(self):
self.SetStartDate(2000, 1, 1)
self.SetCash(100000)

# daily price data
self.data:Dict[Symbol, RollingWindow] = {}
self.period:int = 12 * 21

self.factor_perf_d_period:int = 21
self.factor_perf_min_period:int = 36
self.factor_performance:List[float] = []
self.leverage_restriction:float = 2.

self.symbol:Symbol = self.AddEquity('SPY', Resolution.Daily).Symbol
self.data[self.symbol] = RollingWindow[float](self.period)

self.vix:Symbol = self.AddData(CBOE, 'VIX', Resolution.Daily).Symbol
self.data[self.vix] = RollingWindow[float](self.factor_perf_d_period)

self.long:List[Symbol] = []
self.short:List[Symbol] = []
self.long_lvg:float = 1.   # leverage for long portfolio calculated from average beta
self.short_lvg:float = 1.  # leverage for short portfolio calculated from average beta
self.leverage_cap:float = 2.

self.coarse_count:int = 1000
self.quantile:int = 10
self.min_share_price:float = 5.

self.selection_flag:bool = False
self.UniverseSettings.Resolution = Resolution.Daily
self.AddUniverse(self.FundamentalSelectionFunction)
self.Settings.MinimumOrderMarginPortfolioPercentage = 0.
self.Schedule.On(self.DateRules.MonthStart(self.symbol), self.TimeRules.AfterMarketOpen(self.symbol), self.Selection)

def OnSecuritiesChanged(self, changes: SecurityChanges) -> None:
for security in changes.AddedSecurities:
    security.SetFeeModel(CustomFeeModel())
    security.SetLeverage(self.leverage_cap * self.leverage_restriction * 5)
    
def FundamentalSelectionFunction(self, fundamental: List[Fundamental]) -> List[Symbol]:
# update the rolling window every day
for stock in fundamental:
    symbol:Symbol = stock.Symbol

    if symbol in self.data:
        # store daily price
        self.data[symbol].Add(stock.AdjustedPrice)

# selection once a month
if not self.selection_flag:
    return Universe.Unchanged

# store BAB performance
if self.long and self.short:
    long_closes:np.ndarray = np.array([np.array(list(self.data[symbol])[:self.factor_perf_d_period][::-1]) for symbol in self.long])
    short_closes:np.ndarray = np.array([np.array(list(self.data[symbol])[:self.factor_perf_d_period][::-1]) for symbol in self.short])
    long_returns:np.ndarray = (np.diff(long_closes) / long_closes[:,:-1])
    short_returns:np.ndarray = (np.diff(short_closes) / short_closes[:,:-1])

    factor_perf:float = np.cumproduct(1 + (np.mean(long_returns, axis=0) - np.mean(short_returns, axis=0)))[-1] - 1

    self.factor_performance.append(factor_perf)

selected:List[Symbol] = [x.Symbol
    for x in sorted([x for x in fundamental if x.HasFundamentalData and x.Market == 'usa' and x.AdjustedPrice >= self.min_share_price and x.MarketCap != 0],
        key = lambda x: x.DollarVolume, reverse = True)[:self.coarse_count]]

rebalance:bool = False
if self.data[self.symbol].IsReady:
    rebalance = True

beta:Dict[Symbol, float] = {}

for symbol in selected:
    # warmup price rolling windows
    if symbol not in self.data:
        self.data[symbol] = RollingWindow[float](self.period)
        history:DataFrame = self.History(symbol, self.period, Resolution.Daily)
        if history.empty:
            self.Log(f"Not enough data for {symbol} yet")
            continue
        closes:pd.Series = history.loc[symbol].close
        for time, close in closes.items():
            self.data[symbol].Add(close)
    
    if rebalance:
        if self.data[symbol].IsReady:
            market_closes:np.ndarray = np.array(list(self.data[self.symbol]))
            stock_closes:np.ndarray = np.array(list(self.data[symbol]))
            
            market_returns:np.ndarray = (market_closes[:-1] - market_closes[1:]) / market_closes[1:]
            stock_returns:np.ndarray = (stock_closes[:-1] - stock_closes[1:]) / stock_closes[1:]
            
            cov:float = np.cov(stock_returns[::-1], market_returns[::-1])[0][1]
            market_variance:float = np.var(market_returns)
            beta[symbol] = cov / market_variance

if len(beta) >= self.quantile:
    # sort by beta
    sorted_by_beta:List = sorted(beta.items(), key = lambda x:x[1], reverse=True)
    quantile:int = int(len(sorted_by_beta) / self.quantile)
    self.long = [x for x in sorted_by_beta[-quantile:]]
    self.short = [x for x in sorted_by_beta[:quantile]]
    
    # create zero-beta portfolio
    long_mean_beta:float = np.mean([x[1] for x in self.long])
    short_mean_beta:float = np.mean([x[1] for x in self.short])
    
    self.long = [x[0] for x in self.long]
    self.short = [x[0] for x in self.short]
    
    # cap leverage
    self.long_lvg = min(self.leverage_cap, abs(1. / long_mean_beta))
    self.short_lvg = min(self.leverage_cap, abs(1. / short_mean_beta))

return self.long + self.short

def OnData(self, data: Slice) -> None:
# store vix value
if self.vix in data and data[self.vix]:
    self.data[self.vix].Add(data[self.vix].Value)

if not self.selection_flag:
    return
self.selection_flag = False

if len(self.factor_performance) < self.factor_perf_min_period or not self.data[self.vix].IsReady:
    return

# calculate variance
sample_std:float = np.std(self.factor_performance) * np.sqrt(12)
conditional_variance:float = sum((np.array(list(self.data[self.vix])) / 100) ** 2) / 12
w:float = min([self.leverage_restriction, sample_std / conditional_variance])

# trade execution
stocks_invested:List[Symbol] = [x.Key for x in self.Portfolio if x.Value.Invested]
for symbol in stocks_invested:
    if symbol not in self.long + self.short:
        self.Liquidate(symbol)

long_len:int = len(self.long)
short_len:int = len(self.short)

for symbol in self.long:
    if symbol in data and data[symbol]:
        self.SetHoldings(symbol, (1. / long_len) * self.long_lvg * w)

for symbol in self.short:
    if symbol in data and data[symbol]:
        self.SetHoldings(symbol, -(1. / short_len) * self.short_lvg * w)

self.long.clear()
self.short.clear()

self.long_lvg = 1
self.short_lvg = 1

def Selection(self) -> None:
self.selection_flag = True
    
# Custom fee model.
class CustomFeeModel(FeeModel):
def GetOrderFee(self, parameters):
fee = parameters.Security.Price * parameters.Order.AbsoluteQuantity * 0.00005
return OrderFee(CashAmount(fee, "USD"))