IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/assmgt/v19y2018i5d10.1057_s41260-018-0080-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A critique of momentum strategies

Author

Listed:
  • Yang Gao

    (The University of Sydney Business School)

  • Henry Leung

    (The University of Sydney Business School)

  • Stephen Satchell

    (The University of Sydney Business School
    University of Cambridge)

Abstract

Given the key role of momentum-based trading strategies in active investing, assessing the merits of various trading strategies based on momentum should be of value to investors and managers alike. We summarise five momentum-based trading strategies which are well analysed in the academic literature, and introduce our new strategy named partial moment momentum (PMM) which distinguishes between upside and downside risks in the calculation of positions. Some empirical analyses suggest PMM outperforms the existing strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang Gao & Henry Leung & Stephen Satchell, 2018. "A critique of momentum strategies," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(5), pages 341-350, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:pal:assmgt:v:19:y:2018:i:5:d:10.1057_s41260-018-0080-0
    DOI: 10.1057/s41260-018-0080-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41260-018-0080-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41260-018-0080-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fong, Wai Mun & Wong, Wing Keung & Lean, Hooi Hooi, 2005. "International momentum strategies: a stochastic dominance approach," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 89-109, February.
    2. Richards, Anthony J, 1997. "Winner-Loser Reversals in National Stock Market Indices: Can They Be Explained?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(5), pages 2129-2144, December.
    3. Harrison Hong & Terence Lim & Jeremy C. Stein, 2000. "Bad News Travels Slowly: Size, Analyst Coverage, and the Profitability of Momentum Strategies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 265-295, February.
    4. Harrison Hong & Jeremy C. Stein, 1999. "A Unified Theory of Underreaction, Momentum Trading, and Overreaction in Asset Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 2143-2184, December.
    5. Tarun Chordia & Lakshmanan Shivakumar, 2002. "Momentum, Business Cycle, and Time‐varying Expected Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(2), pages 985-1019, April.
    6. Thomas J. George & Chuan-Yang Hwang, 2004. "The 52-Week High and Momentum Investing," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(5), pages 2145-2176, October.
    7. Ole E. Barndorff‐Nielsen & Neil Shephard, 2002. "Econometric analysis of realized volatility and its use in estimating stochastic volatility models," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 64(2), pages 253-280, May.
    8. Robert A. Levy, 1967. "Relative Strength As A Criterion For Investment Selection," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 22(4), pages 595-610, December.
    9. De Bondt, Werner F M & Thaler, Richard, 1985. "Does the Stock Market Overreact?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 40(3), pages 793-805, July.
    10. Bruce N. Lehmann, 1990. "Fads, Martingales, and Market Efficiency," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(1), pages 1-28.
    11. Andersen, Torben G. & Bollerslev, Tim & Diebold, Francis X. & Ebens, Heiko, 2001. "The distribution of realized stock return volatility," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 43-76, July.
    12. Barroso, Pedro & Santa-Clara, Pedro, 2015. "Momentum has its moments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 111-120.
    13. Lo, Andrew W & MacKinlay, A Craig, 1990. "When Are Contrarian Profits Due to Stock Market Overreaction?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 3(2), pages 175-205.
    14. Clifford S. Asness & Tobias J. Moskowitz & Lasse Heje Pedersen, 2013. "Value and Momentum Everywhere," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(3), pages 929-985, June.
    15. Ron Bird & Xiaojun Gao & Danny Yeung, 2017. "Time-series and cross-sectional momentum strategies under alternative implementation strategies," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 42(2), pages 230-251, May.
    16. Gao, Yang & Leung, Henry & Satchell, Stephen, 2022. "Partial moment momentum," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    17. Okunev, John & White, Derek, 2003. "Do Momentum-Based Strategies Still Work in Foreign Currency Markets?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(2), pages 425-447, June.
    18. Jegadeesh, Narasimhan, 1990. "Evidence of Predictable Behavior of Security Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(3), pages 881-898, July.
    19. Israel, Ronen & Moskowitz, Tobias J., 2013. "The role of shorting, firm size, and time on market anomalies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(2), pages 275-301.
    20. Kent Daniel & David Hirshleifer & Avanidhar Subrahmanyam, 1998. "Investor Psychology and Security Market Under- and Overreactions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(6), pages 1839-1885, December.
    21. Avramov, Doron & Cheng, Si & Hameed, Allaudeen, 2016. "Time-Varying Liquidity and Momentum Profits," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(6), pages 1897-1923, December.
    22. Jonathan Lewellen, 2002. "Momentum and Autocorrelation in Stock Returns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(2), pages 533-564, March.
    23. Jegadeesh, Narasimhan & Titman, Sheridan, 1995. "Overreaction, Delayed Reaction, and Contrarian Profits," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 8(4), pages 973-993.
    24. Tobias J. Moskowitz & Mark Grinblatt, 1999. "Do Industries Explain Momentum?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(4), pages 1249-1290, August.
    25. Narasimhan Jegadeesh & Sheridan Titman, 2001. "Profitability of Momentum Strategies: An Evaluation of Alternative Explanations," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(2), pages 699-720, April.
    26. K. Geert Rouwenhorst, 1998. "International Momentum Strategies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(1), pages 267-284, February.
    27. Michael J. Cooper & Roberto C. Gutierrez & Allaudeen Hameed, 2004. "Market States and Momentum," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(3), pages 1345-1365, June.
    28. Conrad, Jennifer & Kaul, Gautam, 1998. "An Anatomy of Trading Strategies," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 11(3), pages 489-519.
    29. Moskowitz, Tobias J. & Ooi, Yao Hua & Pedersen, Lasse Heje, 2012. "Time series momentum," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(2), pages 228-250.
    30. Grinblatt, Mark & Titman, Sheridan & Wermers, Russ, 1995. "Momentum Investment Strategies, Portfolio Performance, and Herding: A Study of Mutual Fund Behavior," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(5), pages 1088-1105, December.
    31. John M. Griffin & Xiuqing Ji & J. Spencer Martin, 2003. "Momentum Investing and Business Cycle Risk: Evidence from Pole to Pole," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(6), pages 2515-2547, December.
    32. Jegadeesh, Narasimhan & Titman, Sheridan, 1993. "Returns to Buying Winners and Selling Losers: Implications for Stock Market Efficiency," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(1), pages 65-91, March.
    33. De Bondt, Werner F M & Thaler, Richard H, 1987. "Further Evidence on Investor Overreaction and Stock Market Seasonalit y," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(3), pages 557-581, July.
    34. Jensen, Michael C & Bennington, George A, 1970. "Random Walks and Technical Theories: Some Additional Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 25(2), pages 469-482, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sabri Boubaker & Lechuan Du & Zhenya Liu, 2022. "Industry momentum with correlation consolidation: evidence from China," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(1), pages 73-82, February.
    2. Liu, Zhenya & Lu, Shanglin & Wang, Shixuan, 2021. "Asymmetry, tail risk and time series momentum," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Adam Zaremba & Jacob Koby Shemer, 2018. "Price-Based Investment Strategies," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-319-91530-2, September.
    2. Simarjeet Singh & Nidhi Walia, 2022. "Momentum investing: a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 72(1), pages 87-113, February.
    3. Gao, Yang & Leung, Henry & Satchell, Stephen, 2022. "Partial moment momentum," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    4. Fernando F. Ferreira & A. Christian Silva & Ju-Yi Yen, 2019. "Detailed study of a moving average trading rule," Papers 1907.00212, arXiv.org.
    5. Fernando F. Ferreira & A. Christian Silva & Ju-Yi Yen, 2014. "Information ratio analysis of momentum strategies," Papers 1402.3030, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2014.
    6. Martin H. Schmidt, 2017. "Trading strategies based on past returns: evidence from Germany," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 31(2), pages 201-256, May.
    7. Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 2018. "Equity market momentum: A synthesis of the literature and suggestions for future work," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 291-296.
    8. Stephen A. Gorman & Frank J. Fabozzi, 2021. "The ABC’s of the alternative risk premium: academic roots," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(6), pages 405-436, October.
    9. Shah Saeed Hassan Chowdhury & Rashida Sharmin & M Arifur Rahman, 2019. "Presence and Sources of Contrarian Profits in the Bangladesh Stock Market," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 20(1), pages 84-104, February.
    10. Benjamin Chabot & Eric Ghysels & Ravi Jagannathan, 2009. "Momentum Cycles and Limits to Arbitrage Evidence from Victorian England and Post-Depression US Stock Markets," NBER Working Papers 15591, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Narayan, Paresh Kumar & Phan, Dinh Hoang Bach, 2017. "Momentum strategies for Islamic stocks," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 96-112.
    12. Sina Ehsani & Juhani T. Linnainmaa, 2019. "Factor Momentum and the Momentum Factor," NBER Working Papers 25551, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Daniel, Kent & Moskowitz, Tobias J., 2016. "Momentum crashes," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 221-247.
    14. Yang, Yunlin & Gebka, Bartosz & Hudson, Robert, 2019. "Momentum effects in China: A review of the literature and an empirical explanation of prevailing controversies," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 78-101.
    15. Benjamin Chabot & Eric Ghysels & Ravi Jagannathan, 2008. "Price Momentum In Stocks: Insights From Victorian Age Data," NBER Working Papers 14500, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Giulio Bottazzi & Pietro Dindo & Daniele Giachini, 2019. "Momentum and reversal in financial markets with persistent heterogeneity," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 455-487, December.
    17. Balvers, Ronald J. & Wu, Yangru, 2006. "Momentum and mean reversion across national equity markets," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 24-48, January.
    18. Ardila-Alvarez, Diego & Forro, Zalan & Sornette, Didier, 2021. "The acceleration effect and Gamma factor in asset pricing," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 569(C).
    19. Espinoza, Nicolás & Espinoza, Tomás, 2014. "The Momentum Effect In The Chilean Stock Market," Abante, Escuela de Administracion. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 12(1), pages 1-32.
    20. Baltzer, Markus & Jank, Stephan & Smajlbegovic, Esad, 2019. "Who trades on momentum?," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 56-74.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Momentum; Trend; Portfolio management;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G17 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Financial Forecasting and Simulation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:assmgt:v:19:y:2018:i:5:d:10.1057_s41260-018-0080-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.