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Long-short commodity investing: A review of the literature

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  • Miffre, Joëlle

Abstract

This article reviews recent academic studies that analyze the performance of long-short strategies in commodity futures markets. Special attention is devoted to the strategies based on roll-yields, inventory levels or hedging pressure that directly arise from the theory of storage and the hedging pressure hypothesis. Alternative strategies based on past performance, risk, value, skewness, liquidity or inflation betas are also studied, alongside with recent attempts to enhance performance by modifying or combining the original signals. Overall, the literature highlights the superiority of being long-short in commodity futures markets relative to being long-only.

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  • Miffre, Joëlle, 2016. "Long-short commodity investing: A review of the literature," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 3-13.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jocoma:v:1:y:2016:i:1:p:3-13
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcomm.2016.01.001
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    Cited by:

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    2. Bahman Angoshtari & Tim Leung, 2020. "Optimal trading of a basket of futures contracts," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 253-280, June.
    3. Rad, Hossein & Low, Rand Kwong Yew & Miffre, Joëlle & Faff, Robert, 2022. "The strategic allocation to style-integrated portfolios of commodity futures," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 28(C).
    4. Tom Erik Sønsteng Henriksen & Alois Pichler & Sjur Westgaard & Stein Frydenberg, 2019. "Can commodities dominate stock and bond portfolios?," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 282(1), pages 155-177, November.
    5. Simone Bernardi & Markus Leippold & Harald Lohre, 2018. "Maximum diversification strategies along commodity risk factors," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 24(1), pages 53-78, January.
    6. Gagnon, Marie-Hélène & Manseau, Guillaume & Power, Gabriel J., 2020. "They're back! Post-financialization diversification benefits of commodities," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    7. Rad, Hossein & Low, Rand Kwong Yew & Miffre, Joëlle & Faff, Robert, 2020. "Does sophistication of the weighting scheme enhance the performance of long-short commodity portfolios?," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 164-180.
    8. Awasthi, Kritika & Ahmad, Wasim & Rahman, Abdul & Phani, B.V., 2020. "When US sneezes, clichés spread: How do the commodity index funds react then?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    9. Stadtmüller, Immo & Auer, Benjamin R. & Schuhmacher, Frank, 2022. "On the time-varying dynamics of stock and commodity momentum returns," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PB).
    10. Sakkas, Athanasios & Tessaromatis, Nikolaos, 2020. "Factor based commodity investing," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    11. Söhnke M. Bartram & Harald Lohre & Peter F. Pope & Ananthalakshmi Ranganathan, 2021. "Navigating the factor zoo around the world: an institutional investor perspective," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 91(5), pages 655-703, July.
    12. Bredin, Don & O'Sullivan, Conall & Spencer, Simon, 2021. "Forecasting WTI crude oil futures returns: Does the term structure help?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    13. Fethke, Tobias & Prokopczuk, Marcel, 2018. "Is Commodity Index Investing Profitable?," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-635, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    14. Benjamin R. Auer, 2021. "Have trend-following signals in commodity futures markets become less reliable in recent years?," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 35(4), pages 533-553, December.
    15. Lang, Korbinian & Auer, Benjamin R., 2020. "The economic and financial properties of crude oil: A review," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    G13; G14; Commodities; Long-short strategies; Performance; Backwardation; Contango;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G13 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Contingent Pricing; Futures Pricing
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading

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