We develop a novel ranking methodology to rank the market forecaster. In particular, we distinguish forecasts by their specificity, rather than considering all predictions and forecasts equally important, and we also analyze the impact of the number of forecasts made by a particular forecaster....

With the advent in recent years of large financial data sets, machine learning and high-performance computing, analysts can backtest millions (if not billions) of alternative investment strategies. Backtest optimizers search for combinations of parameters that maximize the simulated historical...

Many investors rely on market experts and forecasters when making investment decisions, such as when to buy or sell securities. Ranking and grading market forecasters provides investors with metrics on which they may choose forecasters with the best record of accuracy for their particular market...

At what loss should a portfolio manager be stopped-out? What is an acceptable time under water? We demonstrate that, under standard portfolio theory assumptions, the answer to the latter question is strikingly unequivocal: On average, the recovery spans three times the period involved in...

In mathematical finance, backtest overfitting relates to the usage of historical market data (a backtest) to develop an investment strategy, where the strategy profits from random patterns rather than variables' signals. Backtest overfitting is now thought to be a primary reason why quantitative...

We carry out several test cases to illustrate how the Probability of Backtest Overfitting (PBO) performs under different scenarios. We also assess the accuracy of PBO using two alternative approaches (Monte Carlo Methods and Extreme Value Theory).The paper "The Probability of Backtest...

Several features of financial research make it particularly prone to the occurrence of false discoveries. First, the probability of finding a positive (profitable investment strategy) is very low, due to intense competition. Second, true findings are mostly short-lived, as a result of the...

Proofs to the propositions in "Stop-Outs Under Serial Correlation".The paper "Stop-Outs Under Serial Correlation and 'The Triple Penance Rule" to which these Appendices apply is available at the following URL: "http://ssrn.com/abstract=2201302" http://ssrn.com/abstract=2201302

In the field of mathematical finance, a “backtest” is the usage of historical market data to assess the performance of a proposed trading strategy. It is a relatively simple matter for a present-day computer system to explore thousands, millions or even billions of variations of a proposed...

Most firms and portfolio managers rely on backtests (or historical simulations of performance) to select investment strategies and allocate them capital. Standard statistical techniques designed to prevent regression over-fitting, such as hold-out, tend to be unreliable and inaccurate in the...