We draw conclusions from the empirical results in chapter 4 and make
recommendations of future research on this topic.
Figure 1. Framework
Motivation and Purpose
The Cointegration Model
Research Method
One-stage method:
Complete the optimal asset allocation for both phases at the beginning of the first phase
based on the initial price.
Two-stage method:
Complete the optimal asset allocation for each phase at the
beginning of each phase based on prices at that time.
Discuss dynamic asset allocation using the mean-variance optimization method.
Comparison of Two Methods
Numerical Illustrations
Conclusions and Recommendations
Forecast asset price using PCB Cointegration Model.
,
, 2 1 , 2 2 , 2
, 1 , 2 1
, 1
+ +
=
+ Ξ +
=
− t
t t
t t T t
b x x
b x x
θ
θ t =1,2,...,n; ~ (0, )
, 2
,
1 Σ
= N b
b b
iid
t t t
2 The Cointegration Model
In this chapter, we will show Cointegration Model which will be used to organize
the sequence information of the price of the financial commodity in this paper.
Before being engaged in each type of statistical inference of the time series, we
should first examine whether the sequence is in stationary state. When the time series is
stationary, its data follows a stochastic process, but the probability distribution of this
stochastic process does not change along with time; otherwise, this time series is called
non-stationary time series.
Elam & Dixon (1988) pointed out that the price series of financial products usually
show the characteristic of non-stationary process. That means the price sequence is a
random walk type in which the price sequence of current period is not affected by the
price sequence of the previous period. If a time series is non-stationary, the commonly
used method to convert it to stationary is to take the difference on the variable or
eliminate the tendency item. However, the conversion could potentially eliminate the
implicit long-term message from the data, so to avoid this potential problem, we could
adopt the cointegration concept proposed by Granger. According to the cointegration
concept, a stable long-term balanced relation might exist between unstable variables,
and this relation might cause synchronized tendency on the variables. Therefore, we use
formula(3) transformed from PCB Cointegration Model to model price sequence of
finance commodity in this paper.
PCB Cointegration model
,
Next, rewrite Eq.(2) in vector andmatrix forms.
3.1 Notations
x denotes the random vector of asset prices taken logarithm at time t. According to t
formula(3), xt =β +Πxt−1+ut. Whent≥2, thex can be rewritten as: t we allocate at stage t. When we know the price of assetsx , we should know all the t
weights that are less than or equal to that at staget+1. For example, when we
know the price of assetsx1, we should know the price of assetsx , then we can 0
know the weightsw1andw2. In addition, positive weight represents buying of
stocks; negative weight means selling or short selling of stocks. Prices of financial
products do not always go up; they may go down as well. Short selling is the
trading option to maximize profits during down time, thus we allow short selling in
this paper. Because our assumption allows short selling of stocks, the sum of the
weights in each stage does not need to be equal to one.
Λ denotes the fees charged for different trading methods, such as buying, selling, and
short selling of stocks. It is determined based on the weight. For the convenience of
problem solving and calculation, we represent it using a fixed ratio. And we assume
that Λis a symmetric positive definite matrix. The model of the transaction cost in
this paper is wTΛw 2
1 . The reason we use quadratic form to present the model of
transaction costs in this paper is to avoid the transaction costs becoming negative.
Because we allow negative weight, we must use the quadratic form to ensure that
transaction cost is positive.
Since we apply two-period dynamic asset allocation, the maximum number of t =2.
3.2 Objective functions
Markowitz's mean-variance portfolio optimization methods provide two
approaches: (1) under fixed risk, find the maximum return or (2) under fixed
remuneration, minimize the risk. The method that we chose in this paper is the former,
which is to find maximum return under fixed risk. In the special case of the following
section, we will verify that both methods give the same return when undertaking a unit
risk.
This paper uses two-stage mean-variance portfolio optimization framework, and
the objective function is as follows:
( )
1 1 2 2 0 1 1(
2 1) (
2 1)
02 ,
1 2
max 1 ,
2 1
x w w w
w w w E x
r w r w E w
w
f T T T T
w
C = w + − Λ + − Λ − (10)
Restriction is as follow:
Var w1Tr1+w2Tr2 x0 =σ02
That means we want to optimize the net expected return of two-period, which is
deducting transaction cost under the constraint of restricting the variance of total return
toσ02at the end.
The objective function (10) and its restriction in this case which use the Lagrange
multipliers method can be rewritten as:
( )
1 1 2 2 0 1 1(
2 1) (
2 1)
02 ,
1 2
max 1 ,
2 1
x w w w
w w w E x
r w r w E w
w
f T T T T
w
C = w + − Λ + − Λ −
[
1 1 2 2 0 02]
2 σ
λ + −
− C Var wTr wTr x (11)
where λC is a Lagrange multiplier.
Below we will discuss one-stage method and two-stage method respectively.
3.3 Dynamic portfolio selection methods
3.3.1 One-stage method
At statex , we optimize asset allocation for two periods according to asset prices 0
at statex .0
First, the objective function sort out from (11) is as follow:
( )
w =E w r x0 −12w Λ∗w−λ
21[
Var w r x0 −σ
02]
The vectors andmatrices represent respectively:
Then to optimize the objective function, we perform the first order differential equal to
zero on it.
According to 3.1 (8)、(9), the results are derived as follows:
Therefore, our approach is to get a starting estimate λ1∗ by using Taylor expansion first.
(The detailed derivations are in Appendix1.1.1.)
A
(The detailed derivations are in Appendix1.1.2.)
2
(15), and then we can get a new estimated value from the right side of the equation. We
then confirm if the difference between the initial estimated value and the new estimated
value is less than the estimated error of our setting. If not, we take the new estimated
value and substitute it into the left side of the formula until the values of two sides are
very close, expressing convergence, then we stop. If so, we can get an answer directly,
which results in a more accurate estimated valueλ1S.
The optimal weight of one stage method:
wCO∗ =Ψ∗−1A where Ψ∗ =
(
Λ∗ +λ1SB)
(16) Expected return after deducting transaction cost of one-stage method as follows:∗ − ∗ Λ∗ ∗ = ∗ − ∗ Λ∗ ∗CO
T CO T
CO CO T CO T
CO r x w w w A w w
w
E 2
1 2
1
0
= AT ⋅Ψ∗−1⋅A− AT ⋅Ψ∗−1⋅Λ∗⋅Ψ∗−1⋅A 2
1
= AT ⋅Ψ∗−1⋅A−21
(
AT ⋅Ψ∗−1⋅A−λ1S ⋅σ02)
= 12
(
AT ⋅Ψ∗−1⋅A+λ1S ⋅σ02)
3.3.2 Two-stage method
At beginning of the first period, we will allocate the weight of asset based on the
initial price. We will then re-allocate the weight of asset again based on the asset price at
beginning of the second period.
In this method, we use the backward way to solve it. In other words, we get the
optimal weight of the second phase by using the objective function of the second phase.
Then we apply the optimal weight of the second stage to the overall objective function
to get the optimal weight of the first phase.
In this paper, we don’t consider the transaction cost in the objective function of the
second stage. Instead, we use an undetermined coefficient a1 to adjust the change.
Step1.
order differential equal to zero on it.
0
According to 3.1 (8)、(9), the results are derived as follows:
1
The deduced result is obtained:
1
Step2.
Next, we must take the optimal weight of the second phase (17), which multiplies
an undetermined coefficienta1, to substitute it into the optimal objective function of two
periods (11), as shown below:
(
1 1)
1 1 1 2 2 0 1 1(
1 2 1) (
1 2 1)
0The objective function is sorted out as following:
( )
V =E V Z x0 −21E V CV x0 −λ22[
Var V Z x0 −σ02]
The vectors andmatrices represent respectively:
After the first order differential, we get:
2 =0
−
−HV GV
F λ
F
V∗ =Ω−1 where Ω=
(
H +λ2G)
(19) According to 3.1 (8)、(9), the results are derived as follows:(The detailed derivations are in Appendix2.1.1.)
(
1 0 1)
1 0also get a starting estimateλ∗2 by Taylor expansion.
(The detailed derivations are in Appendix2.1.2.)
F
(The detailed derivations are in Appendix2.1.3.)
2 0 2 1
1
1⋅ − ⋅Ω ⋅ ⋅Ω ⋅ =λ ⋅σ
Ω
⋅ − F F − H − F
FT T (21)
Next, we take the initial estimated value λ∗2 into the function Ω−1of the left side of
Eq.(21), so that we can get a new estimated value of the right side of the equation. We
then confirm if the difference of the initial estimated valueλ∗2and the new estimated
value is less than the estimated error of our setting. If not, we take the new estimated
value and substitute it into the left side of the formula until the value of two sides are
very close, expressing convergence, then we stop; If so, we can get an answer directly,
which would result in a more accurate estimated valueλS2.
The two-stage method obtains a vectorVλ∗which is combination of the optimal weight of
the first stage and a scale factor. Vλ∗ =Ω∗−1F where Ω∗ =
(
H+λS2G)
(22) Expected return of two-stage method minus transition cost is represented as follows:0
0 2
1E V CV x
x Z V
E λ∗T − λ∗T λ∗
∗
∗
∗ −
=VλTF VλTHVλ 2
1
= FT ⋅Ω∗−1⋅F − FT ⋅Ω∗−1⋅H⋅Ω∗−1⋅F 2
1
= FT ⋅Ω∗−1⋅F −12
(
FT ⋅Ω∗−1⋅H −λ2S ⋅σ02)
= 12
(
FT ⋅Ω∗−1⋅F +λ2S ⋅σ02)
3.4 Special Cases
In this section, we will show four special cases.
Case #1: The first example is the typical Markowitz mean-variance portfolio
optimization approach in which asset allocation decisions are made at the beginning of
the investment period according to the price at the time regardless of the length of the
investment period. In other words, the asset allocation weight will not be changed
through time. This method is also known as static method. In this paper, we will
transform the PCB Cointegration Model to formula(3), and then incorporate the new
model together with the transaction cost model into the static method.
The objective function of the static method is as follows:
fC
( )
w =maxw E wTr x0 −12wTΛw−λ
2[
Var wTr x0 −σ
02]
[
02]
2 2
1 Λ −λ −σ
−
=wTAS wT w wTBSw
According to the definition of return in 3.1 (8)、(9), the return random vector is as
follows:
(
2 1) (
1 0)
2 1 1 1 2 1 0 10
2 x x x x x r r u u x u
x
r = − = − + − = + =Πβ+Π + +β +Π +
=Π1x0 +
(
Π+I) (
β + Π1+I)
u1+u2 =Π1x0 +(
Π+I)
β+Πu1+u2 (23) After taking the first order differential, we get:S
S A
w =Μ−1 where Μ =
(
Λ+λBS)
(24)
Result derived according to Eq.(23) is as follows:
(
I)
β u u x x(
I)
βx E x r
E 0 = Π1 0 + Π+ +Π 1 + 2 0 =Π1 0 + Π+
Var r x0 =Var Π1x0 +
(
Π+I)
β +Πu1+u2 x0 =ΠΣ∗ΠT +Σ∗ Then, with the same approach used previously to estimate valueλ, we get a moreaccurate estimateλS, thus the expected return after deducting transaction cost of static
method is as follows:
E w∗STr x0 −12w∗STΛwS∗ =12
(
AST ⋅Μ∗−1⋅AS +λS ⋅σ02)
Case #2: Given the conditionΛ≠0;β =0, compare the two dynamic methods to
determine which method gives higher expected return after deducting transaction cost.
(See Appendix 1.2、2.2 for the detailed derivations)
The objective function is as follows:
( )
1 1 2 2 0 1 1(
2 1) (
2 1)
02 ,
1 2
max 1 ,
2 1
x w w w
w w w E x
r w r w E w
w
f T T T T
w
C = w + − Λ + − Λ −
−λ2C
[
Var w1Tr1+w2Tr2 x0 −σ02]
Expected return after deducting transaction cost of one-stage method is as follows:
E w∗COTr x0 −12wCO∗ TΛ∗wCO∗ = 21
(
A0T ⋅Ψ∗−1⋅A0 +λ3S ⋅σ02)
Expected return after deducting transaction cost of two-stage method is as follows:E Vλ∗TZ x0 −21E Vλ∗TCVλ∗ x0 = 12
(
F0T ⋅Ω0∗−1⋅F0T +λ4S ⋅σ02)
Case #3: Given the conditionΛ=0;β ≠0, compare the two dynamic methods to
determine which method gives higher expected return after deducting transaction cost.
(See Appendix 1.3.1、2.3.1 for the detailed derivations)
The objective function is as follows:
(
1, 2)
max, 1 1 2 2 0 2[
1 1 2 2 0 02]
2 1
λ
+ −σ
− +
= E w r w r x Var w r w r x w
w
f T T T T
w
w
Expected return of one-stage method is as follows:
E wO∗Tr x0 =σO ATB−1A
Expected return of two-stage method is as follows:
E Vλ∗TZ x0 =σO FTG−1F
We will have further discussion on this case. In previous discussion, we talk about
seeking maximum return while undertaking the fixed risk. We want to verify if the
return per unit of risk remains the same when seeking for a minimum risk for a fixed
return. We decided to use this case for discussion because the λ values are estimated
in the cases involving transaction costs, which could affect the verification results. In
addition, if the verification results are the same in this case then the case where the
intercept item equals to zero will also have the same result.
(See Appendix 1.3.2、2.3.2 for the detailed derivations)
The objective function is as following:
(
w w)
w w Var wTr wTr x[
E wTr wTr x O]
f = + −
λ
+ −µ
0 2 2 1 1 0
2 2 1 , 1
2
1, min 2
2
1
The minimum variance of one-stage method is:
A B x A
r w
Var O T O1
2
0 T
−
∗ = µ
The minimum variance of two-stage method is:
− ∗
∗
∗
∗ =
F G F x Z V
Var T T O1
2
0
λ µ
Before comparing the minimum variance method and the maximum return method,
we need to defineδ , which denotes the return per unit of risk.
The comparison of the two methods using one-stage method:
The minimum variance method:
A B A A B A
T
T O O ov
1
1 2
−
−
=
= µ
δ µ
The maximum return method:
A B A A
B
A T
O T O or
1
1 −
− =
= σ
δ σ
Above shows that the return per unit of risk remains the same when seeking for a
minimum risk for a fixed return using one-stage method.
The comparison of the two methods using two-stage method:
The minimum variance method:
− ∗
∗
∗
− ∗
∗
∗
=
= F G F
F G F
T
T O O tv
1
1
µ2
δ µ
The maximum return method:
F G F F
G
F T
O T O or
1
1 −
− =
= σ
δ σ
This part can not be proved by the analytical way; we can only verify it with numerical
method in the next chapter.
Case #4: Given the conditionΛ=0;β =0, compare the two dynamic methods to
determine which method can give higher expected return after deducting transaction
costs. (See Appendix 1.4 、2.4 the detailed derivations)
The objective function is as following:
(
1, 2)
max, 1 1 2 2 0 2[
1 1 2 2 0 02]
2 1
λ
+ −σ
− +
= E w r w r x Var w r w r x w
w
f T T T T
w
w
Expected return of one-stage method is as follows:
E wO∗Tr x0 =σO A0TB−1A0
Expected return of two-stage method is as follows:
E Vλ∗TZ x0 =σO F0TG0−1F0
From section 3.3 and 3.4, we observe that when transaction costs are involved, we
can only get estimated λ value whether there is intercept item or not. In contrast,
when there is no transaction cost, regardless of the intercept item, λ can always be solved. In addition, in the caseΛ=0;β ≠0, we can prove that the two methods of
Markowitz mean-variance portfolio optimization approach using one-stage method have
the same δ value. We will use the numerical methods to verify if the return per unit of
risk remains the same when seeking for a minimum risk for a fixed return using
two-stage method in the next section.
4 Numerical Illustrations
The data in this paper is collected from Taiwan Economic Journal Data Bank,
consisting 253 records of each kind of the Taiwan sector index during 08/18/2009 and
08/18/2010.
4.1 Unit root test and cointegration test
The statistical analysis software Eviews is used to analyze the 19 sector indices,
examine if they are stationary, and find the cointegration relation. 5 out of the 19 sector
indices from the Taiwan market are chosen for asset allocation, including (1) Building
Construction, (2) Financial and Insurance, (3) Steel and Iron, (4) Electronic and
Electrical, and (5) Biotech. Data of these 5 sectors are I(1) series. I(1) series, a sequence
that can become a stable series after the first difference. Among which (1) Building
Construction and (2) Financial and Insurance indices are cointegrated; the other 3 sector
indices are not co-integrated with these 2 sectors.
4.2 Parameter estimation
The estimated values for parameters θ1、θ2、Ξ are derived using formula(1):
With formula(1) and the estimated θ、Ξ values, use Eviews to estimate the covariance
matrix for formula(1)
From formula(5) we get:
From formula(6) we get:
4.3 Transaction costs
A 0.1425% transaction fee is charged for buying, selling and short selling stocks,
and a trading tax of 0.3% is imposed when selling and short selling stocks. Lending fee
for short selling is about 0.08%. The above figures do not include any discount. So, in
short, the cost of buying stocks is the transaction fee while the cost for selling stock is
the trading tax plus the transaction fee; and the cost for short selling is the sum of
transaction fee, trading tax, and lending fee. To simplify, a fixed ratio is used as
transaction cost for buying, selling and short selling:
(Securities transaction tax + borrowing cost) / 2 + transaction fee = 0.3325%
The transaction cost matrix is as below:
4.4 Numerical results
In this section, the real data is applied to the model, and the values of the vectors,
matrix, and parameters of the two dynamic programming methods are examined.
4.4.1 Results of one-stage method
The vector and matrix of formula (12) in this paper are:
Expected return matrix A
Transaction cost matrix Λ∗
4.4.2 Results of two-stage method
The vector and matrix of formula (18) are:
Expected return matrix F
Expected transaction cost matrix H
Covariance matrix G
4.5 Methods Comparison
In order to compare the one-stage method with the two-stage method and
determine which method can give higher expected return under the same risk, we apply the estimated parameters and the actual asset price datax to the formula of the expected 0
return and transaction cost derived in this paper.
For the empirical research, we found that the size ofΣwill affect the comparison
results. We first examine the results by using differentΣvalues. We will sum the
covariance matrix estimated by the 5 sector indices and that the identity matrix
multiplied with different coefficients, respectively. And then we observe the changes
under the two cases: (1)Λ≠0;
β
≠0(2)Λ=0;β
≠0. We only discuss these two casesbecause the information used in this paper has an intercept item.
According to the first table, the net expected returns of the two-stage method are
much better than those of the one-stage method. However, the expected returns of the
one-stage method are more sensitive to the change of the covariance matrix. So with the
reduction of the diagonal covariance matrix, the net expected returns of the two-stage
method will be closer to that of the one-stage method.
Table 1. Comparison of expected net return Expect net return
Λ ≠ 0 ; β ≠ 0 Λ = 0 ; β ≠ 0
Σ+5* identity (0.0014, 0.0408) (0.0015, 0.0408) Σ+1* identity (0.0032, 0.0409) (0.0033, 0.0409) Σ+0.5* identity (0.0045, 0.0409) (0.0046, 0.0410) Σ+0.1* identity (0.0097, 0.0414) (0.0103, 0.0415) Σ+0.05* identity (0.0133, 0.0419) (0.0146, 0.0421) Σ+0.01* identity (0.0265, 0.0454) (0.0323, 0.0468) Σ+0.005* identity (0.0345, 0.0483) (0.0453, 0.0519) Σ+0.001* identity (0.0575, 0.0583) (0.0575, 0.0583)
Note 1. The results of this table is under σ =0.05.
Note 2. The numbers in the table are in the following order: one-stage method, two-stage method.
The second table shows that when the diagonal of covariance matrix is smaller
than10-4, the one-stage method performs better than the two-stage method. The
covariance matrix of this paper is about10-4, so obtained numerical result of the one-stage method is better than that of the two-stage method. In addition, we also
observe that when the diagonal of covariance matrix is reduced to10-4from10-3, the net
expected returns of the above two cases increase significantly.
Table 2. Comparison of expected net return
Expect net return
Λ ≠ 0 ; β ≠ 0 Λ = 0 ; β ≠ 0
Σ+0.0001* identity (0.1017, 0.0858) (0.1940, 0.1432)
Σ (0.1630, 0.1249) (0.2637, 0.1916)
Note 1. The results of this table is under σ =0.05.
Note 2. The numbers in the table are in the following order: one-stage method, two-stage method.
From the above two tables, we observe that the expected net returns increase with
the reduction of the covariance matrix. Relatively, the expected net return of the
one-stage method is more sensitive to the change of the covariance matrix than the
expected net return of the two-stage method. A slight change to a small covariance
matrix can cause significant changes in expected net returns. In addition, when the
return rate is lower, there is almost no difference in the expected net returns whether
transaction cost is taken into account. When the return rate is higher, the difference
between the case of transaction cost and that of no transaction cost is relatively large.
However, that won’t affect the comparison results of the two methods.
Now we understand the impact of the change of the covariance matrix, let us look
at the comparison of two dynamic methods under different standard deviations.
Table 3 shows that the expected net return of the one-stage method is still better
than that of the two-stage method under a different standard deviation.
Table 3. Comparison of expected net return
Expect net return σ0=0.05 σ0=0.1 σ0=0.15
0
;
0 ≠
≠
Λ β
0
;
0 ≠
=
Λ β
(0.1630, 0.1249) (0.2637, 0.1916)
(0.2404, 0.1765) (0.5274, 0.3833)
(0.2832, 0.1816) (0.7911, 0.5749)
Note. The numbers in the table are in the following order: one-stage method, two-stage method.
In addition, we can see from Table 4 that higher risk gives higher return, but the
return per risk unit degrades.
Table 4. Comparison of net return and the return per risk unit under 0
;
0 ≠
≠
Λ β
05 .
0=0
σ σ0=0.1 σ0=0.15 Expect net return
Delta
(0.1630, 0.1249) (3.26, 2.498)
(0.2404, 0.1765) (2.404, 1.916)
(0.2832, 0.1816) (1.888, 1.211)
Note: Delta represents the return per risk unit.
Finally, we used the numerical method and verified that the return per unit of risk
remains the same when seeking for a minimum risk for a fixed return using two-stage.
5 Conclusions and Recommendations
In the past, many studies conducted in Taiwan and abroad had confirmed the
importance of asset allocation. The topic of asset allocation has attracted great attention
from investors. Today, with the availability of many investment products, investors can
use portfolio to diversify investment risk and apply research results to maximize the
return profits.
The shortcomings of the approach of traditional asset allocation are: regardless of
the length of the investment, asset allocation decision is made at the beginning of the
investment period using the price at that time. The allocation weight will not change
over the period of time. The approach of traditional asset allocation does not consider
over the period of time. The approach of traditional asset allocation does not consider