Optimizing the Pairs-Trading Strategy Using Deep Reinforcement Learning with Trading and Stop-Loss Boundaries

Many researchers have tried to optimize pairs trading as the numbers of opportunities for arbitrage profit have gradually decreased. Pairs trading is a market-neutral strategy; it profits if the given condition is satisfied within a given trading window, and if not, there is a risk of loss. In this...

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Main Authors: Taewook Kim, Ha Young Kim
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2019-01-01
Series:Complexity
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/3582516
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author Taewook Kim
Ha Young Kim
author_facet Taewook Kim
Ha Young Kim
author_sort Taewook Kim
collection DOAJ
description Many researchers have tried to optimize pairs trading as the numbers of opportunities for arbitrage profit have gradually decreased. Pairs trading is a market-neutral strategy; it profits if the given condition is satisfied within a given trading window, and if not, there is a risk of loss. In this study, we propose an optimized pairs-trading strategy using deep reinforcement learning—particularly with the deep Q-network—utilizing various trading and stop-loss boundaries. More specifically, if spreads hit trading thresholds and reverse to the mean, the agent receives a positive reward. However, if spreads hit stop-loss thresholds or fail to reverse to the mean after hitting the trading thresholds, the agent receives a negative reward. The agent is trained to select the optimum level of discretized trading and stop-loss boundaries given a spread to maximize the expected sum of discounted future profits. Pairs are selected from stocks on the S&P 500 Index using a cointegration test. We compared our proposed method with traditional pairs-trading strategies which use constant trading and stop-loss boundaries. We find that our proposed model is trained well and outperforms traditional pairs-trading strategies.
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issn 1076-2787
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spelling doaj-art-28e8fd7a3e524f8a874817d2c7cf883d2025-08-20T03:54:47ZengWileyComplexity1076-27871099-05262019-01-01201910.1155/2019/35825163582516Optimizing the Pairs-Trading Strategy Using Deep Reinforcement Learning with Trading and Stop-Loss BoundariesTaewook Kim0Ha Young Kim1Qraft Technologies, Inc., Ttukseom-ro 1-gil, Sungdong-gu, Seoul 04778, Republic of KoreaGraduate School of Information, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 03722, Republic of KoreaMany researchers have tried to optimize pairs trading as the numbers of opportunities for arbitrage profit have gradually decreased. Pairs trading is a market-neutral strategy; it profits if the given condition is satisfied within a given trading window, and if not, there is a risk of loss. In this study, we propose an optimized pairs-trading strategy using deep reinforcement learning—particularly with the deep Q-network—utilizing various trading and stop-loss boundaries. More specifically, if spreads hit trading thresholds and reverse to the mean, the agent receives a positive reward. However, if spreads hit stop-loss thresholds or fail to reverse to the mean after hitting the trading thresholds, the agent receives a negative reward. The agent is trained to select the optimum level of discretized trading and stop-loss boundaries given a spread to maximize the expected sum of discounted future profits. Pairs are selected from stocks on the S&P 500 Index using a cointegration test. We compared our proposed method with traditional pairs-trading strategies which use constant trading and stop-loss boundaries. We find that our proposed model is trained well and outperforms traditional pairs-trading strategies.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/3582516
spellingShingle Taewook Kim
Ha Young Kim
Optimizing the Pairs-Trading Strategy Using Deep Reinforcement Learning with Trading and Stop-Loss Boundaries
Complexity
title Optimizing the Pairs-Trading Strategy Using Deep Reinforcement Learning with Trading and Stop-Loss Boundaries
title_full Optimizing the Pairs-Trading Strategy Using Deep Reinforcement Learning with Trading and Stop-Loss Boundaries
title_fullStr Optimizing the Pairs-Trading Strategy Using Deep Reinforcement Learning with Trading and Stop-Loss Boundaries
title_full_unstemmed Optimizing the Pairs-Trading Strategy Using Deep Reinforcement Learning with Trading and Stop-Loss Boundaries
title_short Optimizing the Pairs-Trading Strategy Using Deep Reinforcement Learning with Trading and Stop-Loss Boundaries
title_sort optimizing the pairs trading strategy using deep reinforcement learning with trading and stop loss boundaries
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/3582516
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AT hayoungkim optimizingthepairstradingstrategyusingdeepreinforcementlearningwithtradingandstoplossboundaries