Anti-Persistent Values of the Hurst Exponent Anticipate Mean Reversion in Pairs Trading: The Cryptocurrencies Market as a Case Study

Pairs trading is a short-term speculation trading strategy based on matching a long position with a short position in two assets in the hope that their prices will return to their historical equilibrium. In this paper, we focus on identifying opportunities where mean reversion will happen quickly, a...

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Main Authors: Mar Grande, Florentino Borondo, Juan Carlos Losada, Javier Borondo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-09-01
Series:Mathematics
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/12/18/2911
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author Mar Grande
Florentino Borondo
Juan Carlos Losada
Javier Borondo
author_facet Mar Grande
Florentino Borondo
Juan Carlos Losada
Javier Borondo
author_sort Mar Grande
collection DOAJ
description Pairs trading is a short-term speculation trading strategy based on matching a long position with a short position in two assets in the hope that their prices will return to their historical equilibrium. In this paper, we focus on identifying opportunities where mean reversion will happen quickly, as the commission costs associated with keeping the positions open for an extended period of time can eliminate excess returns. To this end, we propose the use of the local Hurst exponent as a signal to open trades in the cryptocurrencies market. We conduct a natural experiment to show that the spread of pairs with anti-persistent values of Hurst revert to their mean significantly faster. Next, we verify that this effect is universal across pairs with different levels of co-movement. Finally, we back-test several pairs trading strategies that include <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>H</mi><mo><</mo><mn>0.5</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> as an indicator and check that all of them result in profits. Hence, we conclude that the Hurst exponent represents a meaningful indicator to detect pairs trading opportunities in the cryptocurrencies market.
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spelling doaj-art-ae50fbe998aa4d58be1925d651ebe0bc2025-08-20T01:55:38ZengMDPI AGMathematics2227-73902024-09-011218291110.3390/math12182911Anti-Persistent Values of the Hurst Exponent Anticipate Mean Reversion in Pairs Trading: The Cryptocurrencies Market as a Case StudyMar Grande0Florentino Borondo1Juan Carlos Losada2Javier Borondo3Grupo de Sistemas Complejos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Av Puerta de Hierro 2, 28040 Madrid, SpainDepartamento de Química, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, SpainGrupo de Sistemas Complejos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Av Puerta de Hierro 2, 28040 Madrid, SpainAGrowingData, 04001 Almería, SpainPairs trading is a short-term speculation trading strategy based on matching a long position with a short position in two assets in the hope that their prices will return to their historical equilibrium. In this paper, we focus on identifying opportunities where mean reversion will happen quickly, as the commission costs associated with keeping the positions open for an extended period of time can eliminate excess returns. To this end, we propose the use of the local Hurst exponent as a signal to open trades in the cryptocurrencies market. We conduct a natural experiment to show that the spread of pairs with anti-persistent values of Hurst revert to their mean significantly faster. Next, we verify that this effect is universal across pairs with different levels of co-movement. Finally, we back-test several pairs trading strategies that include <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>H</mi><mo><</mo><mn>0.5</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> as an indicator and check that all of them result in profits. Hence, we conclude that the Hurst exponent represents a meaningful indicator to detect pairs trading opportunities in the cryptocurrencies market.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/12/18/2911pairs tradingefficient markettime seriescryptocurrenciesHurstprices
spellingShingle Mar Grande
Florentino Borondo
Juan Carlos Losada
Javier Borondo
Anti-Persistent Values of the Hurst Exponent Anticipate Mean Reversion in Pairs Trading: The Cryptocurrencies Market as a Case Study
Mathematics
pairs trading
efficient market
time series
cryptocurrencies
Hurst
prices
title Anti-Persistent Values of the Hurst Exponent Anticipate Mean Reversion in Pairs Trading: The Cryptocurrencies Market as a Case Study
title_full Anti-Persistent Values of the Hurst Exponent Anticipate Mean Reversion in Pairs Trading: The Cryptocurrencies Market as a Case Study
title_fullStr Anti-Persistent Values of the Hurst Exponent Anticipate Mean Reversion in Pairs Trading: The Cryptocurrencies Market as a Case Study
title_full_unstemmed Anti-Persistent Values of the Hurst Exponent Anticipate Mean Reversion in Pairs Trading: The Cryptocurrencies Market as a Case Study
title_short Anti-Persistent Values of the Hurst Exponent Anticipate Mean Reversion in Pairs Trading: The Cryptocurrencies Market as a Case Study
title_sort anti persistent values of the hurst exponent anticipate mean reversion in pairs trading the cryptocurrencies market as a case study
topic pairs trading
efficient market
time series
cryptocurrencies
Hurst
prices
url https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/12/18/2911
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