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Pairs Trading: Performance of a Relative Value Arbitrage Rule

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  • William N. Goetzmann

    () (Yale University, School of Management)

  • Evan Geov Gatev

    () (Department of Finance)

  • K. Geert Rouwenhorst

    () (School of Management)

Abstract

We test a Wall Street investment strategy known as "pairs trading" with daily data over the period 1962 through 1997. Stocks are matched into pairs according to minimum distance in historical normalized price space. We test the profitability of several trading rules with six-month trading periods over the 1962-1997 period, and find average annualized excess returns of up to 12 percent for a number of self-financing portfolios of top pairs. Part of these profits may be due to market microstructure effects. Nevertheless, our historical trading profits exceed a conservative estimate of transaction costs through most of the period. We bootstrap random pairs in order to distinguish pairs trading from pure mean-reversion strategies. The bootstrap results suggest that the ?pairs? effect differs from previously documented mean reversion profits.

Suggested Citation

  • William N. Goetzmann & Evan Geov Gatev & K. Geert Rouwenhorst, 1998. "Pairs Trading: Performance of a Relative Value Arbitrage Rule," Yale School of Management Working Papers ysm109, Yale School of Management.
    • Handle: RePEc:ysm:somwrk:ysm109
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    JEL classification:

    • G1 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets

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