High Frequency Equity Pairs Trading : Transaction Costs, Speed of Execution and Patterns in Returns

In this paper we examine the characteristics of high frequency pairs trading using a sample of FTSE100 constituent stocks for the period January to December 2007. We show that the excess returns of the strategy are extremely sensitive both to transaction costs and speed of execution. When we specify a moderate level of transaction costs (15 basis points) the excess returns of the strategy are reduced by more than 50%. Likewise, when we implement a wait one period restriction on execution the returns of the strategy are eliminated. When we further examine the time series properties of pairs trading returns we see that the majority of returns occur in the first hour of trading. Finally, we find that the excess returns bear little exposure to traditional risk factors but are weakly related to market and reversal risk factors