We construct a zero-net-worth uninformed "naive investor" who uses a random portfolio allocation strategy. We then compare the returns of the momentum strategist to the return distribution of naive investors. For this purpose we reward momentum profits relative to the return percentiles of the...

Investing in financial securities inevitably involves risks on the one hand and opportunities on the other hand. This thesis bundles four different studies on risks and/or opportunities in financial markets. In one study, we examine the cross-sectional explanatory power of different...

In this note we revisit the 2011 and 2013 papers of Blitz, Huij, and Martens (BHM2011), and Blitz, Huij, Lansdorp, and Verbeek (BHLV2013) in which momentum and reversal strategies on residual returns are proposed. Our results indicate that the main findings of these studies, that residual...

We propose an alternative investment strategy for pairs trading using Archimedean copulas in order to cover a wider range of tail dependence patterns and apply it to the S&P 500 stocks from 1990 to 2015. Empirical results show that our mixed copula approach generates higher average and risk...

This paper offers theoretical, empirical, and simulated evidence that momentum regularities in asset prices are not anomalies. Within a general, frictionless, rational expectations, risk-based asset pricing framework, riskier assets tend to be in the loser portfolios after (large) increases in...

We utilize seventeen years of comprehensive daily portfolio and trading data identified at the individual investor level, to analyze the relative trading performance of the entire universe of households, all domestic financial institutions and all foreign institutions in the Finnish market. We...

We study firm-level characteristics that a manager would employ as signalling tools in order to time the market (i.e. repurchases and issues). Following the market timing framework, we develop a two-factor asset pricing model comprising a “market” and a “mispricing” factor, which is able...

This paper is the second in a series of critiques of the assumption that stable economic relations exist between certain "firm characteristics" and expected returns. The paper explains why this is not the case for past returns and provides theoretical, empirical, and simulated evidence that the...