I am preparing to write a research finishing my Msc. assessing various subjects on the matter of volatility. Specifically whether adding long volatility to a tradition asset portfolio is able to add any value in terms of risk return in a broad sense, due to the assumed negative correlated between the two. My doubt arises when it seems to me that weighting down on equities would provide the same kind of “hedge” or alternatively buying equity puts. Where tweaking the equity weights would prevent the negative rollover spread incurred by going long on volatility using derivatives. Especially from the viewpoint of private investors vis a vis institutional parties.
Alternatively I want to assess whether adding short volatility exposure would improve risk return characteristics, whether is it possible to capture the volatility spread and improve portfolio risk return over the long term.
What are your thought on the subject and the feasibility of such a study.
There have been many, many university projects on this topic. You should at least come up with some novel approach. Maybe vary strikes or maturitie, trade index spreads, or infer exit or entry points for your strategy based on some conditions.
Thank you for your response! Much appreciated! Indeed, there has been plenty research on the topic in general. I wish to assess the performance in various configurations (moneyness, maturity) and market climates . By you knowledge would there be a benefit of modeling historical volatility (by means of GARCH or the like) obtain a forecast and somehow dynamically adjust the Putwrite strategy?
I don’t know, generically, what you are describing has been repeated 1000x already. You should probably find some existing research papers first, and attempt to improve on them somehow with a creative approach.
Got that. What bothers me is that there seem to be papers on covered call writing in abundance (like really) However research on cash secured put strategies seems to be minimal. Ironically their performance seems to be stronger. What am I missing? Surely for backtesting the strategies it would not matter right.
Lncognito, don’t be afraid to research something already done 1000x times. You can still do it better, gain new insights.
Just look at the number of coffee shops sprouting, wanting to be or better than Starbucks some day. But let’s not forget that Starbucks too started off in similar fashion one day.
Regarding long/short volatility addition to traditional portfolio, my prediction is short would perform better in average, but with a fatter left tail. Let me know your findings.