IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/rdg/icmadp/icma-dp2012-01.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The (De)merits of Minimum-Variance Hedging: Application to the Crack Spread

Author

Listed:
  • Carol Alexander

    (ICMA Centre, Henley Business School, University of Reading)

  • Marcel Prokopczuk

    (ICMA Centre, Henley Business School, University of Reading)

  • Anannit Sumawon

    (ICMA Centre, Henley Business School, University of Reading)

Abstract

We study the empirical performance of the classical minimum-variance hedging strategy, comparing several econometric models for estimating hedge ratios of crude oil, gasoline and heating oil crack spreads. Given the great variability and large jumps in both spot and futures prices, great care is required when processing the relevant data and accounting for the costs of maintaining and re-balancing the hedge position. We find that the variance reduction produced by all models are statistically and economically indistinguishable from the one-for-one 'naïve' hedge. However, margin and transaction costs produced by GARCH-based models are excessive. Therefore we encourage hedgers to use a na ¨ive hedging strategy on the crack spread bundles now offered by the exchange as it is the cheapest and easiest to implement. Our conclusion contradicts the majority of the existing literature, which favours the implementation of GARCH-based hedging strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Carol Alexander & Marcel Prokopczuk & Anannit Sumawon, 2012. "The (De)merits of Minimum-Variance Hedging: Application to the Crack Spread," ICMA Centre Discussion Papers in Finance icma-dp2012-01, Henley Business School, University of Reading.
    • Handle: RePEc:rdg:icmadp:icma-dp2012-01
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.icmacentre.ac.uk/files/discussion-papers/DP-2012-01.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. A. F. Herbst & D. D. Kare & S. C. Caples, 1989. "Hedging effectiveness and minimum risk hedge ratios in the presence of autocorrelation: Foreign currency futures," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 9(3), pages 185-197, June.
    2. Leland L. Johnson, 1960. "The Theory of Hedging and Speculation in Commodity Futures," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 27(3), pages 139-151.
    3. Engle, Robert F. & Kroner, Kenneth F., 1995. "Multivariate Simultaneous Generalized ARCH," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 122-150, February.
    4. Cecchetti, Stephen G & Cumby, Robert E & Figlewski, Stephen, 1988. "Estimation of the Optimal Futures Hedge," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(4), pages 623-630, November.
    5. Kevin B. Grier & Ólan T. Henry & Nilss Olekalns & Kalvinder Shields, 2004. "The asymmetric effects of uncertainty on inflation and output growth," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(5), pages 551-565.
    6. Lien, Donald & Yang, Li, 2008. "Asymmetric effect of basis on dynamic futures hedging: Empirical evidence from commodity markets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 187-198, February.
    7. Chang, Chia-Lin & McAleer, Michael & Tansuchat, Roengchai, 2011. "Crude oil hedging strategies using dynamic multivariate GARCH," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 912-923, September.
    8. Kroner, Kenneth F. & Sultan, Jahangir, 1993. "Time-Varying Distributions and Dynamic Hedging with Foreign Currency Futures," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(4), pages 535-551, December.
    9. Joanne Hill & Thomas Schneeweis, 1982. "The Hedging Effectiveness Of Foreign Currency Futures," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 5(1), pages 95-104, March.
    10. Baillie, Richard T & Myers, Robert J, 1991. "Bivariate GARCH Estimation of the Optimal Commodity Futures Hedge," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 6(2), pages 109-124, April-Jun.
    11. Lee, Hsiang-Tai, 2009. "Optimal futures hedging under jump switching dynamics," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 446-456, June.
    12. Ederington, Louis H, 1979. "The Hedging Performance of the New Futures Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 34(1), pages 157-170, March.
    13. Lien, Donald, 2009. "A note on the hedging effectiveness of GARCH models," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 110-112, January.
    14. Michael S. Haigh & Matthew T. Holt, 2002. "Crack spread hedging: accounting for time-varying volatility spillovers in the energy futures markets," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(3), pages 269-289.
    15. Gagnon, Louis & Lypny, Gregory J. & McCurdy, Thomas H., 1998. "Hedging foreign currency portfolios," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 197-220, September.
    16. Lien, Donald, 2005. "The use and abuse of the hedging effectiveness measure," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 277-282.
    17. Hsiang-Tai Lee & Jonathan Yoder, 2007. "A bivariate Markov regime switching GARCH approach to estimate time varying minimum variance hedge ratios," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(10), pages 1253-1265.
    18. Galai, Dan, 1979. "A Proposal for Indexes for Traded Call Options," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 34(5), pages 1157-1172, December.
    19. Ji, Qiang & Fan, Ying, 2011. "A dynamic hedging approach for refineries in multiproduct oil markets," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 881-887.
    20. Christian Dunis & Jason Laws & Ben Evans, 2008. "Trading futures spread portfolios: applications of higher order and recurrent networks," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(6), pages 503-521.
    21. Figlewski, Stephen, 1984. "Hedging Performance and Basis Risk in Stock Index Futures," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 657-669, July.
    22. Michael S. Haigh & Matthew T. Holt, 2000. "Hedging Multiple Price Uncertainty in International Grain Trade," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 82(4), pages 881-896.
    23. Lee, Hsiang-Tai, 2010. "Regime switching correlation hedging," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(11), pages 2728-2741, November.
    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. Olson, Eric & Vivian, Andrew & Wohar, Mark E., 2019. "What is a better cross-hedge for energy: Equities or other commodities?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    2. Čech, František & Zítek, Michal, 2022. "Marine fuel hedging under the sulfur cap regulations," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    3. Donald Lien & Hsiang‐Tai Lee & Her‐Jiun Sheu, 2018. "Hedging systematic risk in the commodity market with a regime‐switching multivariate rotated generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity model," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(12), pages 1514-1532, December.
    4. Bessler, Wolfgang & Leonhardt, Alexander & Wolff, Dominik, 2016. "Analyzing hedging strategies for fixed income portfolios: A Bayesian approach for model selection," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 239-256.
    5. Vollmer, Teresa & von Cramon-Taubadel, Stephan, 2020. "The Optimal Wheat Futures Hedge at the Euronext Paris from a Farmer’s Perspective," German Journal of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Department for Agricultural Economics, vol. 69(1), March.
    6. Olson, Eric & Vivian, Andrew & Wohar, Mark E., 2017. "Do commodities make effective hedges for equity investors?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1274-1288.
    7. Su, EnDer, 2017. "Stock index hedging using a trend and volatility regime-switching model involving hedging cost," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 233-254.
    8. Chun, Dohyun & Cho, Hoon & Kim, Jihun, 2019. "Crude oil price shocks and hedging performance: A comparison of volatility models," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 1132-1147.
    9. Su, EnDer, 2013. "Stock index hedge using trend and volatility regime switch model considering hedging cost," MPRA Paper 49190, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Michael S. Haigh & Matthew T. Holt, 2002. "Combining time-varying and dynamic multi-period optimal hedging models," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 29(4), pages 471-500, December.
    11. Rozaimah Zainudin & Roselee Shah Shaharudin, 2011. "Multi Mean Garch Approach to Evaluating Hedging Performance in the Crude Palm Oil Futures Market," Asian Academy of Management Journal of Accounting and Finance (AAMJAF), Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, vol. 7(1), pages 111-130.
    12. Chang, Chia-Lin & McAleer, Michael & Tansuchat, Roengchai, 2011. "Crude oil hedging strategies using dynamic multivariate GARCH," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 912-923, September.
    13. Goswami, Alankrita & Karali, Berna & Adjemian, Michael K., 2023. "Hedging with futures during nonconvergence in commodity markets," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 32(C).
    14. Wang, Yudong & Geng, Qianjie & Meng, Fanyi, 2019. "Futures hedging in crude oil markets: A comparison between minimum-variance and minimum-risk frameworks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 815-826.
    15. Atreya Chakraborty & John Barkoulas, 1999. "Dynamic futures hedging in currency markets," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(4), pages 299-314.
    16. Fu, Junhui, 2014. "Multi-objective hedging model with the third central moment and the capital budget," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 213-219.
    17. Zhao, Jieyuan & Goodwin, Barry K., 2012. "Dynamic Cross-Hedge Ratios: An Application of Copula Models," 2012 Annual Meeting, August 12-14, 2012, Seattle, Washington 124610, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    18. Gagnon, Louis & Lypny, Gregory J. & McCurdy, Thomas H., 1998. "Hedging foreign currency portfolios," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 197-220, September.
    19. Yu‐Sheng Lai, 2022. "Use of high‐frequency data to evaluate the performance of dynamic hedging strategies," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(1), pages 104-124, January.
    20. Billio, Monica & Casarin, Roberto & Osuntuyi, Anthony, 2018. "Markov switching GARCH models for Bayesian hedging on energy futures markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 545-562.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Hedging; Crack Spread; GARCH; Minimum-Variance Hedge;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • C52 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Evaluation, Validation, and Selection
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    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:rdg:icmadp:icma-dp2012-01. 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: Marie Pearson (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bsrdguk.html .

    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.