Fully automated futures trading

Thanks for listing the rules. I see some new ones I haven't seen before. Do they add any significant improvement to the performance? Or is it mostly efforts of diminishing returns?
 
Hi GAT,

I have a question regarding the adjustment you use to compute weights given different Sharpe ratios and correlation uncertainty.
I implemented both adjustments in my system and I was surprised when I found that weights were more extreme than I was expecting in some cases. It seems that these extreme weights are produced by the Sharpe ratio adjustment, probably because I have just ~12 years of market data and the SR I measure for some strategies is very high in this period (I decided a while ago to use minute candlesticks, probably a mistake).
When I use these extreme weights my backtested SR from 1.20 to 1.55. At first I thought I was using some kind of perfect forecasting when computing the weights, but if I'm doing that I couldn't find it. Maybe by luck in this short period there was a consistency in the strategies that had good sharpe. My gut says that this increase is too good to be true.
Anyway, for now I've decided to use a hack similar to what you do with correlation uncertainty. The same way that we want to model uncertainty in future correlations, not in past correlations, I don't know how much futures SRs are going to behave as past SRs.

I was just wondering following you last reply (rolling back instrument fitting) if you had similar experience.

Thanks,
Luis
 
You guys are lucky! I was down about 10% today, about the same as my biggest single daily loss in backtests.

Still up about 26% on the year (down about 5% on the month), so not complaining too much. In fact, it was a good test of my trader psychology. I placed my trades and didn't tinker with my system, so I'm happy in that respect.

same here. ~10% daily loss. Second largest daily loss, much bigger than the ones in Mar 2020. I am a bit greedy and running vol target higher than normal. Got hammered in BZ and HO. KC/CT/CC/SB is bleeding as well. Some ZN/UB/ZB longs are helping, but not enough.
 
Well I spoke too soon. I guess the market sold off after my closing mark 7pm GMT, , or my mark was delayed for some reason, but I dropped another 8% when my NAV updated at 00:30 this morning :-( So I'm in line with the 10% loss seen by others.

Certainly my worst day since I started trading...

GAT
 
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Thanks for listing the rules. I see some new ones I haven't seen before. Do they add any significant improvement to the performance? Or is it mostly efforts of diminishing returns?

Not significant performance, no. I'll include some stats on rules in my blog post (if I'm still trading next week!!!)

GAT
 
Hi GAT,

I have a question regarding the adjustment you use to compute weights given different Sharpe ratios and correlation uncertainty.
I implemented both adjustments in my system and I was surprised when I found that weights were more extreme than I was expecting in some cases. It seems that these extreme weights are produced by the Sharpe ratio adjustment, probably because I have just ~12 years of market data and the SR I measure for some strategies is very high in this period (I decided a while ago to use minute candlesticks, probably a mistake).
When I use these extreme weights my backtested SR from 1.20 to 1.55. At first I thought I was using some kind of perfect forecasting when computing the weights, but if I'm doing that I couldn't find it. Maybe by luck in this short period there was a consistency in the strategies that had good sharpe. My gut says that this increase is too good to be true.
Anyway, for now I've decided to use a hack similar to what you do with correlation uncertainty. The same way that we want to model uncertainty in future correlations, not in past correlations, I don't know how much futures SRs are going to behave as past SRs.

I was just wondering following you last reply (rolling back instrument fitting) if you had similar experience.

Thanks,
Luis

Which adjustments specifically? I've done this a few different ways. The most recent accounts for the length of data history.

"Rolling back instrument fitting" not sure what you mean here, but yes I've reverted to using simple handcrafted weights for forecast weights. My logic here was that I'd introduced so much complexity with dynamic fitting that I wanted to simplify the main part of the system a little.

GAT
 
Which adjustments specifically? I've done this a few different ways. The most recent accounts for the length of data history.
GAT

Exactly, I meant the one that accounts for the length of data history. I will try the previous version of the adjustment without the bootstrap to understand what's going on, but probably I should use simple handcrafted weights for forecast weights as well.

Also started using Dynamic Optimization for live trading last week (around -10% as some others).

Thanks!
 
Todays trades give some insight into the DO process. I reran my backtest this morning, principally to account for the reduction in available capital, hence some of the slightly peverse buy/sell orders.

Code:
Order ID    Instrument    Contract    Strategy    Fill Time    Fill Amount    Fill Price
31686    DOW    20211200    dynamic_TF_carry    2021-11-29T01:02:12.000Z    1    35034
31687    NASDAQ_micro    20211200    dynamic_TF_carry    2021-11-29T01:02:40.000Z    -1    16196
31688    NASDAQ_micro    20211200    dynamic_TF_carry    2021-11-29T01:08:17.000Z    -1    16216.5
31689    EUROSTX    20211200    dynamic_TF_carry    2021-11-29T01:15:41.000Z    -1    4150
31690    DAX    20211200    dynamic_TF_carry    2021-11-29T01:16:07.000Z    -1    15399
31691    DAX    20211200    dynamic_TF_carry    2021-11-29T01:16:37.000Z    -1    15397
31692    DAX    20211200    dynamic_TF_carry    2021-11-29T01:17:04.000Z    -1    15394
31693    NIKKEI400    20211200    dynamic_TF_carry    2021-11-29T01:45:54.000Z    -1    17800
31694    FTSECHINAA    20211200    dynamic_TF_carry    2021-11-29T03:00:10.000Z    -1    15467
31695    EU-AUTO    20211200    dynamic_TF_carry    2021-11-29T08:00:43.000Z    -1    640.1
31696    EU-OIL    20211200    dynamic_TF_carry    2021-11-29T08:05:13.000Z    1    269.6
31697    EU-RETAIL    20211200    dynamic_TF_carry    2021-11-29T08:05:33.000Z    -1    440.1
31698    HEATOIL    20220200    dynamic_TF_carry    2021-11-29T10:29:57.000Z    -1    2.1809
31699    EU-TECH    20211200    dynamic_TF_carry    2021-11-29T10:31:08.000Z    -1    790
31700    EU-UTILS    20211200    dynamic_TF_carry    2021-11-29T10:31:51.000Z    -1    389.1
31701    NASDAQ_micro    20211200    dynamic_TF_carry    2021-11-29T10:32:37.000Z    1    16204.75
31702    DOW    20211200    dynamic_TF_carry    2021-11-29T10:33:06.000Z    -1    35056
31703    BRE    20211200_20220100    _ROLL_PSEUDO_STRATEGY    2021-11-29T10:38:40.000Z    1,-1    0.00135

Slippage

Order ID    Instrument    Strategy    Trade    Price Point Value    Delay    Bid/Ask    Execution    vs Limit    vs Parent Limit    Total Trading
31686    DOW    dynamic_TF_carry    1    0.3749334493    -148.8485793772    -0.3749334493    1.8746672466    1.1248003479    null    1.4997337973
31687    NASDAQ_micro    dynamic_TF_carry    -1    1.4997337973    226.2723366602    -0.562400174    1.1248003479    0    null    0.562400174
31688    NASDAQ_micro    dynamic_TF_carry    -1    1.4997337973    234.5208725451    -0.562400174    23.6208073067    22.4960069588    null    23.0584071327
31689    EUROSTX    dynamic_TF_carry    -1    8.4847814513    632.1162181213    -4.2423907256    0    null    null    -4.2423907256
31690    DAX    dynamic_TF_carry    -1    0.8484781451    137.0292204384    -8.0605423787    0    null    null    -8.0605423787
31691    DAX    dynamic_TF_carry    -1    0.8484781451    135.7565032207    -6.787825161    -1.6969562903    null    null    -8.4847814513
31692    DAX    dynamic_TF_carry    -1    0.8484781451    134.9080250755    -7.6363033062    -2.5454344354    null    null    -10.1817377416
31693    NIKKEI400    dynamic_TF_carry    -1    0.6625026714    359.4076992096    -1.6562566784    3.3125133568    null    null    1.6562566784
31694    FTSECHINAA    dynamic_TF_carry    -1    0.7498668986    74.9866898625    -0.7498668986    1.4997337973    null    null    0.7498668986
31695    EU-AUTO    dynamic_TF_carry    -1    42.4239072565    193.0287780169    -120.9081356809    4.2423907256    null    null    -116.6657449553
31696    EU-OIL    dynamic_TF_carry    1    42.4239072565    -178.1804104771    -33.9391258052    29.6967350795    null    null    -4.2423907256
31697    EU-RETAIL    dynamic_TF_carry    -1    42.4239072565    246.0586620875    -4.2423907256    0    null    null    -4.2423907256
31698    HEATOIL    dynamic_TF_carry    -1    31494.4097422707    -6154.0076636397    -18.8966458454    37.7932916907    0    null    18.8966458454
31699    EU-TECH    dynamic_TF_carry    -1    42.4239072565    392.4211421223    -6.3635860885    -16.9695629026    -29.6967350795    null    -23.3331489911
31700    EU-UTILS    dynamic_TF_carry    -1    42.4239072565    216.361927008    -4.2423907256    8.4847814513    0    null    4.2423907256
31701    NASDAQ_micro    dynamic_TF_carry    1    1.4997337973    -240.5198077341    -0.562400174    1.1248003479    0    null    0.562400174
31702    DOW    dynamic_TF_carry    -1    0.3749334493    146.224045232    -0.3749334493    9.7482696821    8.9984027835    null    9.3733362328
31703    BRE    _ROLL_PSEUDO_STRATEGY    1,-1    74986.6898625494    5.6240017397    -1.8746672466    0    -3.7493344931    null    -1.8746672466

GAT
 
Well I spoke too soon. I guess the market sold off after my closing mark 7pm GMT, , or my mark was delayed for some reason, but I dropped another 8% when my NAV updated at 00:30 this morning :-( So I'm in line with the 10% loss seen by others.

Certainly my worst day since I started trading...

GAT

Markets are somewhat recovering today. +3.5% for the day so far, but of course, the day's not done yet.
 
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