Risk-Adjusted Performance of Random Forest Models in High-Frequency Trading

Fuente: arXiv
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autori principali: Deep, Akash, Shirvani, Abootaleb, Monico, Chris, Rachev, Svetlozar, Fabozzi, Frank J.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1866912252970401792
author Deep, Akash
Shirvani, Abootaleb
Monico, Chris
Rachev, Svetlozar
Fabozzi, Frank J.
author_facet Deep, Akash
Shirvani, Abootaleb
Monico, Chris
Rachev, Svetlozar
Fabozzi, Frank J.
contents Because of the theoretical challenges posed by the Efficient Market Hypothesis to technical analysis, the effectiveness of technical indicators in high-frequency trading remains inadequately explored, particularly at the minute-level frequency, where effects of the microstructure of the market dominate. This study evaluates the integration of traditional technical indicators with random forest regression models using minute-level SPY data, analyzing 13 distinct model configurations. Our empirical results reveal a stark contrast between in-sample and out-of-sample performance, with $R^2$ values deteriorating from 0.749--0.812 during training to negative values in testing. A feature importance analysis demonstrates that primary price-based features dominate the predictions made by the model, accounting for over 60% of the importance, while established technical indicators, such as RSI and Bollinger Bands, account for only 14%--15%. Although the indicator-enhanced models achieved superior risk-adjusted metrics, with Rachev ratios between 0.919 and 0.961, they consistently underperformed a simple buy-and-hold strategy, generating returns ranging from -2.4% to -3.9%. These findings challenge conventional assumptions about the usefulness of technical indicators in algorithmic trading, suggesting that in high-frequency contexts, they may be more relevant to risk management rather than to predicting returns. For practitioners and researchers, our findings indicate that successful high-frequency trading strategies should focus on adaptive feature selection and regime-specific modeling rather than relying on traditional technical indicators, as well as indicating the critical importance of robust out-of-sample testing in the development of a model.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_15448
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Risk-Adjusted Performance of Random Forest Models in High-Frequency Trading
Deep, Akash
Shirvani, Abootaleb
Monico, Chris
Rachev, Svetlozar
Fabozzi, Frank J.
Computational Finance
Risk Management
Because of the theoretical challenges posed by the Efficient Market Hypothesis to technical analysis, the effectiveness of technical indicators in high-frequency trading remains inadequately explored, particularly at the minute-level frequency, where effects of the microstructure of the market dominate. This study evaluates the integration of traditional technical indicators with random forest regression models using minute-level SPY data, analyzing 13 distinct model configurations. Our empirical results reveal a stark contrast between in-sample and out-of-sample performance, with $R^2$ values deteriorating from 0.749--0.812 during training to negative values in testing. A feature importance analysis demonstrates that primary price-based features dominate the predictions made by the model, accounting for over 60% of the importance, while established technical indicators, such as RSI and Bollinger Bands, account for only 14%--15%. Although the indicator-enhanced models achieved superior risk-adjusted metrics, with Rachev ratios between 0.919 and 0.961, they consistently underperformed a simple buy-and-hold strategy, generating returns ranging from -2.4% to -3.9%. These findings challenge conventional assumptions about the usefulness of technical indicators in algorithmic trading, suggesting that in high-frequency contexts, they may be more relevant to risk management rather than to predicting returns. For practitioners and researchers, our findings indicate that successful high-frequency trading strategies should focus on adaptive feature selection and regime-specific modeling rather than relying on traditional technical indicators, as well as indicating the critical importance of robust out-of-sample testing in the development of a model.
title Risk-Adjusted Performance of Random Forest Models in High-Frequency Trading
topic Computational Finance
Risk Management
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.15448