Timing Betting-Against-Beta (BAB) Anomaly v.2
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Miloš Božović
- ?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"))