IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v71y2025ics1544612324014661.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are cryptocurrencies priced in the cross-section? A portfolio approach

Author

Listed:
  • Assamoi, Vincent K.
  • Ekponon, Adelphe
  • Guo, Zihan

Abstract

We use portfolio sorting to examine cryptocurrency returns in connection to other asset classes. Using the 110 cryptocurrencies with the highest market capitalization from September 2014 to June 2021, we consider 23 financial and uncertainty factors. We find that cryptocurrencies have a strong relationship with measures of uncertainty, equity markets, foreign exchange, and precious metals. Our results provide evidence that cryptocurrencies are related to other assets through portfolio sorting, complementing studies that have found that factors related to the cryptocurrency market itself can explain their prices.

Suggested Citation

  • Assamoi, Vincent K. & Ekponon, Adelphe & Guo, Zihan, 2025. "Are cryptocurrencies priced in the cross-section? A portfolio approach," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:71:y:2025:i:c:s1544612324014661
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2024.106437
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612324014661
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2024.106437?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. Schilling, Linda & Uhlig, Harald, 2019. "Some simple bitcoin economics," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 16-26.
    2. Pavel Ciaian & Miroslava Rajcaniova & d’Artis Kancs, 2016. "The economics of BitCoin price formation," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(19), pages 1799-1815, April.
    3. Routledge, Bryan & Zetlin-Jones, Ariel, 2022. "Currency stability using blockchain technology," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    4. Lin William Cong & Zhiguo He & Jiasun Li & Wei Jiang, 2021. "Decentralized Mining in Centralized Pools [Concentrating on the fall of the labor share]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(3), pages 1191-1235.
    5. Koijen, Ralph S.J. & Lustig, Hanno & Van Nieuwerburgh, Stijn, 2017. "The cross-section and time series of stock and bond returns," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 50-69.
    6. Joseph Abadi & Markus Brunnermeier, 2018. "Blockchain Economics," NBER Working Papers 25407, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Scott R. Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis, 2016. "Measuring Economic Policy Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1593-1636.
    8. Elie Bouri & Mahamitra Das & Rangan Gupta & David Roubaud, 2018. "Spillovers between Bitcoin and other assets during bear and bull markets," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(55), pages 5935-5949, November.
    9. Dobrynskaya, Victoria, 2024. "Is downside risk priced in cryptocurrency market?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    10. Raphael Auer & Stijn Claessens, 2018. "Regulating cryptocurrencies: assessing market reactions," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, September.
    11. Lin William Cong & Zhiguo He, 2019. "Blockchain Disruption and Smart Contracts," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(5), pages 1754-1797.
    12. Hanno Lustig & Adrien Verdelhan, 2007. "The Cross Section of Foreign Currency Risk Premia and Consumption Growth Risk," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(1), pages 89-117, March.
    13. Makarov, Igor & Schoar, Antoinette, 2020. "Trading and arbitrage in cryptocurrency markets," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 100409, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Kyle Jurado & Sydney C. Ludvigson & Serena Ng, 2015. "Measuring Uncertainty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(3), pages 1177-1216, March.
    15. Gary B. Gorton & Fumio Hayashi & K. Geert Rouwenhorst, 2013. "The Fundamentals of Commodity Futures Returns," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 17(1), pages 35-105.
    16. Bouazizi, Tarek & Galariotis, Emilios & Guesmi, Khaled & Makrychoriti, Panagiota, 2023. "Investigating the nature of interaction between crypto-currency and commodity markets," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    17. Kim, Alisa & Trimborn, Simon & Härdle, Wolfgang Karl, 2021. "VCRIX — A volatility index for crypto-currencies," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    18. Sean Foley & Jonathan R Karlsen & Tālis J Putniņš, 2019. "Sex, Drugs, and Bitcoin: How Much Illegal Activity Is Financed through Cryptocurrencies?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(5), pages 1798-1853.
    19. Bouri, Elie & Molnár, Peter & Azzi, Georges & Roubaud, David & Hagfors, Lars Ivar, 2017. "On the hedge and safe haven properties of Bitcoin: Is it really more than a diversifier?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 192-198.
    20. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1992. "The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 427-465, June.
    21. Makarov, Igor & Schoar, Antoinette, 2020. "Trading and arbitrage in cryptocurrency markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(2), pages 293-319.
    22. Balcilar, Mehmet & Bouri, Elie & Gupta, Rangan & Roubaud, David, 2017. "Can volume predict Bitcoin returns and volatility? A quantiles-based approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 74-81.
    23. Shanken, Jay, 1992. "On the Estimation of Beta-Pricing Models," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 5(1), pages 1-33.
    24. Aysu Ahmadova & Taghi Guliyev & Khatai Aliyev, 2024. "The Relationship between Bitcoin and Nasdaq, U.S. Dollar Index and Commodities," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 14(1), pages 281-289, January.
    25. Albert S. Hu & Christine A. Parlour & Uday Rajan, 2019. "Cryptocurrencies: Stylized facts on a new investible instrument," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 48(4), pages 1049-1068, December.
    26. Andrade, Sandro C. & Ekponon, Adelphe & Jeanneret, Alexandre, 2023. "Sovereign risk premia and global macroeconomic conditions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(1), pages 172-197.
    27. Lin William Cong & Ye Li & Neng Wang, 2021. "Tokenomics: Dynamic Adoption and Valuation [The demand of liquid assets with uncertain lumpy expenditures]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(3), pages 1105-1155.
    28. Lucey, Brian M. & Vigne, Samuel A. & Yarovaya, Larisa & Wang, Yizhi, 2022. "The cryptocurrency uncertainty index," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    29. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1995. "Size and Book-to-Market Factors in Earnings and Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(1), pages 131-155, March.
    30. Corbet, Shaen & Lucey, Brian & Urquhart, Andrew & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2019. "Cryptocurrencies as a financial asset: A systematic analysis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 182-199.
    31. Gur Huberman & Jacob D Leshno & Ciamac Moallemi, 2021. "Monopoly without a Monopolist: An Economic Analysis of the Bitcoin Payment System [Blockchain Economics]," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 88(6), pages 3011-3040.
    32. Sydney C. Ludvigson & Sai Ma & Serena Ng, 2021. "Uncertainty and Business Cycles: Exogenous Impulse or Endogenous Response?," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 369-410, October.
    33. Beat Weber, 2016. "Bitcoin and the legitimacy crisis of money," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 40(1), pages 17-41.
    34. Ur Koumba & Calvin Mudzingiri & Jules Mba, 2020. "Does uncertainty predict cryptocurrency returns? A copula-based approach," Macroeconomics and Finance in Emerging Market Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 67-88, January.
    35. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    36. Michael Sockin & Wei Xiong, 2023. "A Model of Cryptocurrencies," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(11), pages 6684-6707, November.
    37. Brooks, Chris & Fernandez-Perez, Adrian & Miffre, Joëlle & Nneji, Ogonna, 2016. "Commodity risks and the cross-section of equity returns," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 134-150.
    38. Ji, Qiang & Bouri, Elie & Roubaud, David & Kristoufek, Ladislav, 2019. "Information interdependence among energy, cryptocurrency and major commodity markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 1042-1055.
    39. Yukun Liu & Aleh Tsyvinski & Xi Wu, 2022. "Common Risk Factors in Cryptocurrency," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(2), pages 1133-1177, April.
    40. Yukun Liu & Aleh Tsyvinski, 2021. "Risks and Returns of Cryptocurrency," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(6), pages 2689-2727.
    41. Huang, Linxian, 2024. "The relationship between cryptocurrencies and convention financial market: Dynamic causality test and time-varying influence," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 811-826.
    42. Papadamou, Stephanos & Kyriazis, Nikolaos A. & Tzeremes, Panayiotis G., 2021. "Non-linear causal linkages of EPU and gold with major cryptocurrencies during bull and bear markets," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Ahmed, Walid M.A., 2022. "Robust drivers of Bitcoin price movements: An extreme bounds analysis," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    2. Matteo Benetton & Giovanni Compiani, 2024. "Investors’ Beliefs and Cryptocurrency Prices," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 14(2), pages 197-236.
    3. Borri, Nicola & Shakhnov, Kirill, 2023. "Cryptomarket discounts," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    4. Aysan, Ahmet Faruk & Caporin, Massimiliano & Cepni, Oguzhan, 2024. "Not all words are equal: Sentiment and jumps in the cryptocurrency market," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    5. Liebi, Luca J., 2022. "Is there a value premium in cryptoasset markets?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    6. Dunbar, Kwamie & Owusu-Amoako, Johnson, 2022. "Cryptocurrency returns under empirical asset pricing," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    7. Dunbar, Kwamie & Owusu-Amoako, Johnson, 2023. "Predictability of crypto returns: The impact of trading behavior," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    8. Nicolás Magner & Nicolás Hardy, 2022. "Cryptocurrency Forecasting: More Evidence of the Meese-Rogoff Puzzle," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(13), pages 1-27, July.
    9. Jia, Boxiang & Shen, Dehua & Zhang, Wei, 2024. "Bitcoin market reactions to large price swings of international stock markets," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 72-88.
    10. Jung, Woosung & Park, Haerang, 2024. "Common factors in the returns on cryptocurrencies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    11. Li, Xiao & Wu, Ruoxi & Wang, Chen, 2024. "Impacts of bitcoin on monetary system: Is China's bitcoin ban necessary?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    12. Flori, Andrea, 2019. "News and subjective beliefs: A Bayesian approach to Bitcoin investments," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 336-356.
    13. Bruno Biais & Christophe Bisière & Matthieu Bouvard & Catherine Casamatta & Albert J. Menkveld, 2023. "Equilibrium Bitcoin Pricing," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 78(2), pages 967-1014, April.
    14. Sakkas, Athanasios & Urquhart, Andrew, 2024. "Blockchain factors," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    15. Nicola Borri, 2025. "Corporate Finance in the Age of Fintech: Scenarios and Challenges," Papers 2503.18675, arXiv.org.
    16. Li Guo & Wolfgang Karl Härdle & Yubo Tao, 2024. "A Time-Varying Network for Cryptocurrencies," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 437-456, April.
    17. Shaen Corbet & Les Oxley, 2023. "Investigating the Academic Response to Cryptocurrencies: Insights from Research Diversification as Separated by Journal Ranking," Review of Corporate Finance, now publishers, vol. 3(4), pages 487-528, September.
    18. Bhambhwani, Siddharth M. & Huang, Allen H., 2024. "Auditing decentralized finance," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(2).
    19. Luciano Somoza & Antoine Didisheim, 2022. "The End of the Crypto-Diversification Myth," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 22-53, Swiss Finance Institute.
    20. Liu, Yakun & Chen, Yan, 2024. "Skewness risk and the cross-section of cryptocurrency returns," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Asset pricing; Cryptocurrency; Portfolio sorting; Macroeconomic uncertainty;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C8 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs
    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates

    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:eee:finlet:v:71:y:2025:i:c:s1544612324014661. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    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.