EURO 2025 Leeds
Abstract Submission

262. A hidden Markov model for statistical arbitrage in international crude oil futures markets

Invited abstract in session MC-9: New challenges for risk management, stream OR in Finance and Insurance .

Monday, 12:30-14:00
Room: Clarendon SR 2.01

Authors (first author is the speaker)

1. Francesco Rotondi
Finance, Bocconi University
2. Viviana Fanelli
DEMDI, University of Bari
3. Claudio Fontana
LPMA, Paris Diderot University

Abstract

We study statistical arbitrage strategies in international crude oil futures markets. We analyse strategies that extend classical pairs trading strategies, considering two benchmark crude oil futures (Brent and WTI) together with the recently introduced Shanghai crude oil futures. We show that the time series of these three futures prices are cointegrated and we introduce a mean-reverting regime-switching process modulated by a hidden Markov chain to model the cointegration spread. By relying on this model and applying online filter-based parameter estimators, we implement and test several statistical arbitrage strategies. Our analysis reveals that statistical arbitrage strategies involving the recently introduced Shanghai futures are profitable even under conservative levels of transaction costs and over different time periods. Statistical arbitrage strategies involving only two of these three futures contracts or the three traditional crude oil futures (Brent, WTI, Dubai) deliver a lower investment performance.
(This is a joint work with V. Fanelli and C. Fontana)

Keywords

Status: accepted


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