Product Description

Comprised of three information-packed parts, Pairs Trading presents an in-depth look at the various aspects of these strategies and provides quantitative tools to assist in their analysis. The first part of this comprehensive resource sets the context for the rest of the book by introducing preliminary material on some key topics, including time series, factor models, and Kalman filtering.

After presenting the broad ideas and concepts of this trading method, Pairs Trading delves into two different versions of pairs trading in the equity markets--statistical arbitrage pairs trading and risk arbitrage. Part II of this book details statistical arbitrage pairs trading, which is a relative value arbitrage on two securities based on the premise that there is a long-run equilibrium between the prices of the stocks comprising the pair. Part III moves on to illustrate the trading techniques and strategies associated with risk arbitrage--the widely practiced arbitrage technique that involves pairs trading arising in the context of corporate events, especially mergers and acquisitions.

Written in a straightforward and accessible style, Pairs Trading provides a framework that will allow you to boost the bottom line of any portfolio.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #135505 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

From the Inside Flap
Pairs trading is the simplest possible example of employing a market neutral strategy. It involves the trading of securities in pairs comprised of a long position in one security and a short position in the other. If performed properly, an investor will be in the ideal position of gaining in any situation--whether the market rises or falls.

Author Ganapathy Vidyamurthy examines two versions of pairs trading that arise in the context of statistical arbitrage and risk arbitrage. He offers a compelling point of view that integrates theory and practice--providing in-depth analysis and insight in both of these cases. Issues encountered when translating theory to practice are addressed in a direct manner, arming the investment professional with the quantitative tools needed to answer key questions relating to this type of trading.

Written in an easy, accessible style, the book is a seamless blend of ideas ranging from econometrics, control theory, and operations research to core financial theories like arbitrage pricing theory and the theory of contingent claims. It is organized in three information-packed parts. Part I sets the context for the rest of the book by introducing material on key topics including time series, factor models, and Kalman filtering.

Part II of the book details statistical arbitrage pairs, a relative value arbitrage based on the premise that there is a long-run equilibrium between the prices of the stocks comprising the pair. Part III moves on to illustrate the trading techniques and strategies associated with risk arbitrage. This widely practiced arbitrage technique involves pairs trading that arises in the context of corporate events, especially mergers and acquisitions. You’ll also discover why--although they are called arbitrage strategies in the industry--they are by no means risk-free.

Pairs Trading contains specific and tested formulas for identifying and investing in pairs. To further facilitate an understanding of this method, a bulleted summary highlighting key points is provided at the end of every chapter. Peppered with humor and snippets of history, Pairs Trading provides a framework for and insights on applying rigorous analysis to trading pairs in the equity markets.

From the Back Cover
Comprised of three information-packed parts, Pairs Trading presents an in-depth look at the various aspects of these strategies and provides quantitative tools to assist in their analysis. The first part of this comprehensive resource sets the context for the rest of the book by introducing preliminary material on some key topics, including time series, factor models, and Kalman filtering.

After presenting the broad ideas and concepts of this trading method, Pairs Trading delves into two different versions of pairs trading in the equity markets–statistical arbitrage pairs trading and risk arbitrage. Part II of this book details statistical arbitrage pairs trading, which is a relative value arbitrage on two securities based on the premise that there is a long-run equilibrium between the prices of the stocks comprising the pair. Part III moves on to illustrate the trading techniques and strategies associated with risk arbitrage–the widely practiced arbitrage technique that involves pairs trading arising in the context of corporate events, especially mergers and acquisitions.

Written in a straightforward and accessible style, Pairs Trading provides a framework that will allow you to boost the bottom line of any portfolio.

About the Author
Ganapathy Vidyamurthy has been working in the financial markets for nearly a decade. During this time, he created the entire risk management software infrastructure for RBC Dominion Securities in New York, and built valuation models and automated execution strategies for UBS Warburg and JP Morgan Fleming. He is currently the principal of Himalaya Consulting. Beyond finance, Mr. Vidyamurthy’s interests range from discrete optimization to algorithmic music composition--a field in which he is often cited. Mr. Vidyamurthy has a master’s degree in electrical communication engineering from the Indian Institute of Science and a master’s degree from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University.

---

Customer Reviews

Excellent Book
I totally have to disagree with the first reviewer. I would rather say the opposite: the book is mathematically too simple in many places. But on the other hand it is not a statistics book. The book tries to explain complicated matters in a simple way. If you have no idea about stochastic processes, ARIMA-models, cointegration, stationarity,... then this book might not be the right one for you. But honestly: then pairs trading might not be the right thing for you either. Pairs trading is based on statistical concepts. This book only gives a brief idea of what statistical concepts are of use for pairs trading and how to apply them. If you really want to go into pairs trading, you will have to get much deeper into statistics then then this book does or can do. In my opinion the book does a brilliant job in giving you a link between statistical models, pairs trading and financial models (like the APT). I also bought the book "Trading Pairs" by Mark Whistler, and I must say i was rather disappointed, as, to my opinion, the book does not tell you what pairs trading is really about, but the book by Ganapathy Vidyamurthy does.

the only good introduction to pairs trades
When people talk about "quant" stuff, they are generally talking about two fairly distinct kinds of quant. There are the derivatives guys (options sell side & risk hedgers), and the 'statistical arbitrage' guys. This is one of the best books for a larval 'statistical arbitrage' guy. 'Statistical arbitrage' is a term referring to the techniques used by sophisticated hedge funds and trading desks to provide 'risk free' returns. I stick in the scare quotes around these phrases, because they're not really arbitrage, though they can be pretty decoupled from market returns. The techniques go well beyond just trading pairs, so the phrase, 'stat arb' is probably with us for good, even though it is often neither stat nor arb. The mean reverting versions of these techniques were largely invented by Nunzio Tartaglia and company (primarily Gerry Bamberger according to Thorp) at Morgan Stanley in the 1980s. Many of his underlings went on to found their own hedge funds, and the secret eventually became relatively common knowledge. Boesky was one of the more famous practitioners of merger arbitrage, which is an older, related technique.

This book is a fun introduction to 'statistical arbitrage,' concentrating on the standard "mean reverting pairs" variety, and a decent explanation of merger arbitrage which he unifies with mean reverting stat arb in an interesting way. These two strategies still form the basis of a large number of high frequency techniques in one form or another. In fact, the book provides enough background material to be useful for all kinds of techniques for finding alpha; it has a very clear treatment of factor models, time series analysis (best low level one I have ever read, anywhere) and what market neutrality is and isn't. He provides a decent amount of discussion of the complexities surrounding tradeability and other practical issues that get swept under the rug in most books.

Sure, there are a lot of specific 'stat arb' techniques he doesn't mention explicitly. He doesn't talk about basket trading plays, index arbitrage, volatility arbitrage or any of the other myriad clever (and often over my head) techniques used by sophisticated fund managers to vacuum up loose change that dumb people leave on the street. So what? Vidyamurthy gives you enough material you can go out and learn the practical details of real strategies on your own. If you're gifted enough, you can go figure them out (and more) for yourself once you understand the material in the book: they're mostly variations on these themes. Why should Vidyamurthy give away the keys to the kingdom for $100? Be happy he wrote the book at all. Presumably, he makes a living actually doing 'stat arb' type things, and his motivation was to have a book to give to his underlings so he didn't have to explain GARCH and cointegration to someone who breathes out of his mouth for the 9,000th time.

Anyone who can't read this book simply doesn't have the intellectual horsepower or attention span to do this kind of trading. The book is almost excruciatingly clear, it is very short, and even does the MBA's the favor of tucking the scary mathematics involving matrices and standard deviations safely away in chapter appendices. I mean, it even has cartoons and funny anecdotes (which are actually very funny: I detect a Wodehouse fan in Vidyamurthy). You have to actually pay attention while you read, and some sections, you may have to read twice. The concepts will not leap off the page and embed themselves into your frontal lobes, but it really isn't that difficult for any intelligent person to understand. I can think of no better introduction to pairs trading, or general alpha quant type stuff than this book. It should probably be on every wannabe quant or trader's desk if it isn't already etched into the fiber of their being.

Good Little Intro into Analyzing Time Series Data
This book is small and has around 200 pages with very large font. The math is very simple to follow compared with most of the other quantitative finance books out there. In the beggining of my masters program I thought that statistics was nothing more than mumbo jumbo (as I assumed that the way to succeed in finance was via probability theory, numerical analysis, stochastic calculus, and PDE's). Overall, this book changed my outlook on statistics and how analyzing time series accurately via statistics can help you put together a good trading strategy. Please note that this book is a short refresher and only provides the reader with new ideas. I don't think that if anyone had a succesful trading strategy they would be disclosing their recipes and algorithms in a book.

Product Description

Inside The Black Box

The Simple Truth About Quantitative Trading

Rishi K Narang

Praise for

Inside the Black Box

"In Inside the Black Box: The Simple Truth About Quantitative Trading, Rishi Narang demystifies quantitative trading. His explanation and classification of alpha will enlighten even a seasoned veteran."
—Blair Hull, Founder, Hull Trading & Matlock Trading

"Rishi provides a comprehensive overview of quantitative investing that should prove useful both to those allocating money to quant strategies and those interested in becoming quants themselves. Rishi's experience as a well-respected quant fund of funds manager and his solid relationships with many practitioners provide ample useful material for his work."
—Peter Muller, Head of Process Driven Trading, Morgan Stanley

"A very readable book bringing much needed insight into a subject matter that is not often covered. Provides a framework and guidance that should be valuable to both existing investors and those looking to invest in this area for the first time. Many quants should also benefit from reading this book."
—Steve Evans, Managing Director of Quantitative Trading, Tudor Investment Corporation

"Without complex formulae, Narang, himself a leading practitioner, provides an insightful taxonomy of systematic trading strategies in liquid instruments and a framework for considering quantitative strategies within a portfolio. This guide enables an investor to cut through the hype and pretense of secrecy surrounding quantitative strategies."
—Ross Garon, Managing Director, Quantitative Strategies, S.A.C. Capital Advisors, L.P.

"Inside the Black Box is a comprehensive, yet easy read. Rishi Narang provides a simple framework for understanding quantitative money management and proves that it is not a black box but rather a glass box for those inside."
—Jean-Pierre Aguilar, former founder and CEO, Capital Fund Management

"This book is great for anyone who wants to understand quant trading, without digging in to the equations. It explains the subject in intuitive, economic terms."
—Steven Drobny, founder, Drobny Global Asset Management, and author, Inside the House of Money

"Rishi Narang does an excellent job demystifying how quants work, in an accessible and fun read. This book should occupy a key spot on anyone's bookshelf who is interested in understanding how this ever increasing part of the investment universe actually operates."

—Matthew S. Rothman, PhD, Global Head of Quantitative Equity Strategies Barclays Capital

"Inside the Black Box provides a comprehensive and intuitive introduction to "quant" strategies. It succinctly explains the building blocks of such strategies and how they fit together, while conveying the myriad possibilities and design details it takes to build a successful model driven investment strategy."
—Asriel Levin, PhD, Managing Member, Menta Capital, LLC  

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33612 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .90" h x 6.30" w x 9.14" l, .94 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780470432068
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Review
“Excellent new book . . . demystif[ies] the world of quant investing, and does so in a way that should be intelligible to any thoughtful investor. . . admirably thorough . . . and highly readable throughout. The book has a logical structure, which gradually builds an ever more complete picture of what it is that quants do, how they do it, and what the issues really are that surround quant trading. Much more than a simple "beginner's guide" to quants, and it really gets interesting in the final third, where [the author] looks in some detail at the risks inherent in quant approaches and the criticisms of quant trading—and how to evaluate them. To find out more about how to evaluate quants, read this book.”
—AR Magazine

In "Inside the Black Box," Rishi Narang makes the impossible seem possible: he takes the vastly misunderstood role of the quantitative trading strategy and makes it understandable to those with only the most tenuous working knowledge of global capital markets. How he does so is a sleight of hand no more complicated than patient, consistently eloquent writing, and easy-to-understand, basic examples."
—Markets Media Online

"The book, Inside the Black Box: The Simple Truth About Quantitative Trading, by Rishi Narang, is hands down the best introductory book I've read on the topic. Narang does a brilliant job of explaining (in simple English), how and why quantitative trading works. If you are looking for a primer on Quantitative Trading I strongly endorse and recommend this book."
—TradingMarkets.com

"In a new book on quantitative trading strategies, entitled "Inside the Black Box: The Simple Truth About Quantitative Trading," Rishi Narang, founding principal of Telesis Capital, seeks to explain with real-world examples and anecdotes what it is exactly that quants do…The book focuses on a few major questions that Narang says are important to understanding the quant world. These include: what is a quant, what are the secrets of successful quant trading, what caused the disasters in quant trading, what role did quants play in the credit crisis, and what is the future of quant trading?"
—Advanced Trading

"You may be skeptical that Rishi Narang will be able to deliver on the ambitious promise of his book, Inside the Black Box: the Simple Truth about Quantitative Trading (published by John Wiley & Sons, 2009). But he does deliver. He tells you, in language that can be understood by most educated people, what a quantitative trading system is and what a quant does."
—hedgefundsmarts.blogspot.com

From the Inside Flap
Quantitative trading strategies—known to many as “black boxes”—have gained a reputation of being difficult to explain and even harder to understand. While there is a certain level of complexity to this approach, with the right guidance, you can successfully overcome potential obstacles and begin to excel in this arena.

That’s why expert fund manager Rishi Narang has created Inside the Black Box. In a straightforward, nontechnical style—supplemented by real-world examples and informative anecdotes—this reliable resource takes you on a detailed tour through the black box. It skillfully sheds light upon the work that “quants” do, lifting the veil of mystery around quantitative trading and allowing anyone interested in doing so to understand quants and their strategies.

Divided into three comprehensive parts, Insider the Black Box opens with an accessible introduction to the discipline of quantitative trading and quickly moves on to demonstrate that what many call a black box is in fact transparent, intuitively sensible, and readily understandable. Along the way, it also explains how quant strategies can fit into your portfolio and why they are so important.

Whether you’re an institutional investor or high-networth individual, the lessons learned here will help you gain an edge in today’s turbulent market. Some of the tough questions answered throughout these pages include:

• How do quants capture alpha?
• What is the difference between theory-driven systems and data-mining strategies?
• How do quants model risk?
• What can be learned about investing in general from quantitative trading?
• And much more.

Given both the difficulty of the market environment over the past few years and the negativity surrounding hedge funds in general and quant funds in particular, there has never been a better time to become more familiar with what quantitative trading is really about. With the help of the framework found here, you can gain a firm understanding of quant strategies, discern which are more likely to succeed, and ascertain how to use specific strategies in a portfolio, to help improve the performance of your investment process.

From the Back Cover
Praise for

Inside the Black Box

"Rishi provides a comprehensive overview of quantitative investing that should prove useful both to those allocating money to quant strategies and those interested in becoming quants themselves. Rishi's experience as a well-respected quant fund of funds manager and his solid relationships with many practitioners provide ample useful material for his work."
—Peter Muller, Head of Process Driven Trading, Morgan Stanley

"A very readable book bringing much needed insight into a subject matter that is not often covered. Provides a framework and guidance that should be valuable to both existing investors and those looking to invest in this area for the first time. Many quants should also benefit from reading this book."
—Steve Evans, Managing Director of Quantitative Trading, Tudor Investment Corporation

"Without complex formulae, Narang, himself a leading practitioner, provides an insightful taxonomy of systematic trading strategies in liquid instruments and a framework for considering quantitative strategies within a portfolio. This guide enables an investor to cut through the hype and pretense of secrecy surrounding quantitative strategies."
—Ross Garon, Managing Director, Quantitative Strategies, S.A.C. Capital Advisors, L.P.

"Inside the Black Box is a comprehensive, yet easy read. Rishi Narang provides a simple framework for understanding quantitative money management and proves that it is not a black box but rather a glass box for those inside."
—Jean-Pierre Aguilar, former founder and CEO, Capital Fund Management

"This book is great for anyone who wants to understand quant trading, without digging in to the equations. It explains the subject in intuitive, economic terms."
—Steven Drobny, founder, Drobny Global Asset Management, and author, Inside the House of Money

"Rishi Narang does an excellent job demystifying how quants work, in an accessible and fun read. This book should occupy a key spot on anyone's bookshelf who is interested in understanding how this ever increasing part of the investment universe actually operates."

—Matthew S. Rothman, PhD, Global Head of Quantitative Equity Strategies Barclays Capital

"Inside the Black Box provides a comprehensive and intuitive introduction to "quant" strategies. It succinctly explains the building blocks of such strategies and how they fit together, while conveying the myriad possibilities and design details it takes to build a successful model driven investment strategy."
—Asriel Levin, PhD, Managing Member, Menta Capital, LLC

---

Customer Reviews

Finally, a clear, straightforward, accurate account of quant trading
This is an excellent book that fills an important need. It describes the nuts and bolts of quant trading without jargon or mystery. The most important point the book makes is there is no grand secret, no deep mystery. Quant traders make money using simple ideas anyone can understand, anyone can copy or come up with on their own; many of which are well-known and published. Too many books either muddy the waters that they may appear deep, or are so technical that people outside quant trading shops are unlikely to learn much from them.

The second major point, which the book makes indirectly throughout but only explicitly in the last chapter, is that simple does not mean easy. Successful quant trading requires extreme attention to details at every stage of the process. While it does not actually require great mathematical ability, people who do not think naturally in mathematical terms or who have not worked extensively in mathematical fields, are very rarely successful. Quants feel why some seemingly trivial things are vitally important, while other things can be safely ignored; without that feel you're flying blind.

The book does something important, it does it straightforwardly and well. Therefore there's not much to say about its good points. The rest of this review is criticisms, to correct the few major lapses. It's intended for people who have already read the book. If you haven't, and you have any interest in this field, buy it now and read the criticisms afterward.

I agree with Liberty4all that several reviews appear to be ballot-stuffing (this review seems to have been removed by Amazon, I don't think that's right, especially as it spawned a useful discussion with people weighing in from both sides). While I understand an author's temptation to ask a few friends to give five-star reviews, I don't approve of one-shot reviewers giving fluff. At least find some friends who review frequently and can say useful things.

The book makes a mess of the distinction between Alpha, which is earned from other active traders, and Beta, which is earned from buy-and-hold investors. What he calls "theory" in a strategy is no more than ad hoc marketing junk. Theory does not mean just saying you exploit a "documented behavioral bias" or "institutional rigidity." It means a real, sensible, testable theory of who is losing the money you're making. You need to know who those people are, why they are doing it and monitor that they keep doing it. Without a theory the only way you know your strategy stopped working is when you lose money, you never have warning, and you never know when it's safe to go back to it. Also, a theory tells you what to do when things stop working, the author seems to suggest that your only options are keep the strategy running, change it or shut it down. Professionals have several layers of backup plans. Theory is what separates a quant trader from a technical analyst.

Risk management is covered only in the portfolio management sense, in which risk a constraint or something to be minimized. Independent risk management is barely mentioned, and completely misdescribed. The author does not know what Value-at-Risk is, any paragraph with that term should be ignored. The first thing to ask any quant trader for is her VaR backtest. She should produce a number every day before trading starts such that she loses more than that amount 1 day in 20. The backtest should show the right number of break days, subject to statistical error, and those breaks should be independent in time and of the level of VaR.

Anyone who doesn't compute VaR or other periodic objective prediction is 20 years behind the time in risk management. Anyone who doesn't backtest isn't a quant (and the toy algorithms the author mentions never pass backtest). If you can't produce a good VaR, you don't understand your everyday risk, what happens 19 days out of 20 when markets are normal, so you can't possibly understand your tail risk. VaR is not a measure of risk, it tells you the range in which you can trust your models. You worry more when it is too small, when your models can only be validated in narrow circumstances, than when it is too big. It's not that you like losing money, but for two strategies with the same return and volatility track record, you trust the one that has survived significant adversity more than the one that has seen only mild days.

Leverage risk is treated only in the sense leverage multiplies your gains and losses. This is not what people mean by the term, they mean the risk leverage will disappear or the terms will change. Model risk is misdefined, it is not the risk of your trading model not working, it's the risk of pricing or hedging models giving bad results. Liquidity risk and redemption risk are not mentioned.

The author has a narrow idea of what quantitative methods can accomplish, and therefore gives quants a pass for losing money when unexpected events occur. Unexpected events are as much a part of modeling as expected events. There is less data about them, of course, and it may not be quantitative data. But if you leave them out of your model because you don't understand them or can't put a number on them, you're a number cruncher, not a quant. A quantitative theory has to account for everything that might happen. I don't mean quants never lose money in an unexpected event, I just mean that there are no excuses. If you lose money because of something, that means you bet it wouldn't happen. You might or might not have been paid a fair price for that bet, but you should have known you were making it.

The discussion of the credit crisis is superficial, it seems more a juxtaposition of phrases from editorials than a description. The account of the quant equity crisis of August 2007 is conventional but weak. The last few chapters appear to have been rushed, the writing style unravels a bit and the facts get shakier.

I think I've just told you everything bad about this book. Note that it's less than 1% of the length of the book. That pretty much sums up my judgment, this is a great book, 99% pure.

not recommend this book to a serious quant trader.
Rishi sent me an email in response to my earlier review in which I had stated "This book is written by someone who has never traded himself but has only allocated money to outside fund managers. I would not recommend this book to a serious quant trader."

While I wrote what I believed was true, Rishi informed me that I had made a false claim. From the website of Tradeworx, I understand that Rishi has set up a quant hedge fund with Manoj Narang, who I guess is his brother.

Therefore, here are my edited comments which I hope are more consructive:

Rishi's book is a good managerial overview of quant trading and the quant hedge fund business. However, unlike the book, Quantitative Trading Strategies: Harnessing the Power of Quantitative Techniques to Create a Winning Trading Program by Lars Kestner, Rishi's book lacks empirical analysis of how to build, test and deploy mathematical trading strategies. If the empirical side of quantitative trading could be emphasized in this book over the managerial side, this would be an awesome book.

Not for quants
This book is okay. It is a managerial overview of the quantitative trading field. Don't look for serious discussions of technical matters. There are some reviews on the flap which suggest this book can be useful to quants, but I think a seasoned quant will find more marketing material here than research material.

Product Description

While statistical arbitrage has faced some tough times?as markets experienced dramatic changes in dynamics beginning in 2000?new developments in algorithmic trading have allowed it to rise from the ashes of that fire. Based on the results of author Andrew Pole?s own research and experience running a statistical arbitrage hedge fund for eight years?in partnership with a group whose own history stretches back to the dawn of what was first called pairs trading?this unique guide provides detailed insights into the nuances of a proven investment strategy. Filled with in-depth insights and expert advice, Statistical Arbitrage contains comprehensive analysis that will appeal to both investors looking for an overview of this discipline, as well as quants looking for critical insights into modeling, risk management, and implementation of the strategy.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #406656 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .98" h x 6.33" w x 9.03" l, .96 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 230 pages

Review
"Over time, anything that creates an edge for a particular group of bettors—including the most astute observers of horse flesh—gets factored into the odds and becomes unreliable as a system. That's the classic argument of random walk theorists, and the equally classic response is that there's a lot of money to be made before that factoring is complete. This book is a contribution to that never-ending debate." (Hedgeworld.com)

From the Inside Flap

While statistical arbitrage has faced some tough times—as markets experienced dramatic changes in dynamics beginning in 2000—recent developments in algorithmic trading have fueled the resurgence of this discipline.

With new, sustained patterns of stock price dynamics emerging and some old patterns regaining potency, there are plenty of profitable opportunities available for the shrewd statistical arbitrageur.

Based on the results of author Andrew Pole's own research and extensive experience running a statistical arbitrage hedge fund—in partnership with a group whose own history stretches back to the dawn of what was first called pairs trading—Statistical Arbitrage provides you with comprehensive coverage of this proven investment approach. Through real-life examples and detailed discussions, this unique guide presents you with a critical analysis of what statistical arbitrage is and how it has been historically practiced; a formal theoretical underpinning for the existence of opportunities and quantification thereof; and an extensive explanation of the enormous shifts in the structure of the U.S. economy—reflected in the financial markets—with specific focus on the consequences for arbitrage possibilities.

Page by page, you'll become familiar with the nuances of modern statistical arbitrage and discover the algorithmic trading techniques you need to succeed in today's markets. Created with the serious financial professional in mind, this well-written resource:

• Introduces the concept of pairs trading and elaborates on some of its main features

• Outlines formal statistical models for more general portfolios—several popular models for time series are described, from basic weighted moving averages to dynamic factor analysis

• Addresses important questions for quantifying the magnitude of exploitable opportunities in reversion gambits

• Characterizes the problems that beset statistical arbitrage in 2000 and directly caused its catastrophic drop in returns from 2002 to 2004

• Reveals how statistical arbitrage has rebounded through technological developments in algorithmic trading

• Provides valuable insight into practical model building

Filled with innovative information and expert advice, Statistical Arbitrage contains essential analysis that will appeal to individuals looking for an overview of this discipline, and to institutional investors looking for critical insights into modeling, risk management, and implementation of this important strategy.

From the Back Cover

Praise for Statistical Arbitrage

"In this lucid, intelligent, and highly readable book, Andrew Pole presents the insights of an experienced and successful exponent of statistical arbitrage, with an uncommon mixture of flair, accessibility, and academic precision. Anyone with an interest—professional or otherwise—in what goes on inside the black boxes of mathematical trading strategies will enjoy the book."
—Nick Macleod, Head of Quantitative Research and Risk Management Ermitage Asset Management Jersey Limited

"What a find! Andy Pole provides a remarkable look at the history and evolution of what is frequently considered to be the most opaque of the myriad hedge fund strategies. His detailed focus on and clever examples of the underlying drivers of stat arb are an invaluable resource for anyone investigating the strategy for the first time. Even we old-timers will learn something."
—Judith Posnikoff, PhD, Managing Director Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company

"Andy Pole delivers a readable and comprehensive history of statistical arbitrage. Using real-life examples and accounts from his decades of experience, this book chronicles the rise in popularity of stat arb, explains its recent struggle for profitability, as well as provides novices with insights into the art and science of building their own models."
—Susan Kaderabek, Portfolio Manager, Franklin Street Partners

"Statistical Arbitrage offers a rare glimpse of insights into the otherwise opaque world of short-term trading strategies. The book provides an excellent balance conceptualizing the mathematics of short-term technical trading strategies with more practical discussions on the recent performance of such strategies. Statistical arbitrage remains for many outsiders, including hedge fund professionals, a 'black box' strategy. Andy Pole has managed to turn black into, if not white, then a lighter shade of gray."
—Christian Thygesen, Managing Director, Investcorp International Inc.

"Andy Pole has extensive practical experience of statistical arbitrage trading together with an ability to explain the underlying theory with great clarity. This book is therefore highly recommended for those looking to master the subject matter."
—Bruce Lockwood, Financial Risk Management

---

Customer Reviews

If you are a quant, don't buy this book
Like some other people, I got attracted by the title and ordered it even before it was released. Indeed, unlike the earlier publications such as Pairs Trading: Quantitative Methods and Analysis (Wiley Finance) and Applied Quantitative Methods for Trading and Investment (The Wiley Finance Series) , this book is probably the very first one dedicated entirely to Statistical Arbitrage.

Regrettably, its quantitative content is well below that of abovementioned books. As the author himself put it, "... nearly all temptation to compose a technical treatise has been resisted." As a result, all the technical stuff I learned from it can be summarized as follows: 1) the traded spread is very often non-stationary, but can be treated as locally stationary and 2) after 2004, the spread began exhibiting much sharper reversions to the mean ("catastrophe process") which complicated the trading.

None of these ideas, however, are presented in more or less strict quantitative form. I hoped that the bibliography would provide clues as to the particular models employed, but to no avail: the list of sources is quite short (22 items) with the majority of quantitative sources being obsolete (over ten years old).

All in all, this book is very much like a popular article and is not worth its price from a quant's perspective.

Save money and forests
Buying this book is (too late for me) a total waste of money. On page 52, u ll read:
"3.4.5. fractal Analysis
We refer the interested reader to the inventor, Benoit B. Mandelbrot 2004, who tells it best."
...and that s it.
This is not serious Mr Pole! Well, surf Google for free. This will tell u best about everything this "book" is about, from GARCH to exponential moving averages and other under-grad materials.

frustrating and too expensive
some interesting concepts but all very vague.There are very few practical ideas that can be taken out of this book and it's way too expensive for what it is. One would be better off by googling the table of contents of this book than by actualy reading it.

Product Description

The Complete Arbitrage Deskbook explains every aspect of the types, instruments, trading practices, and opportunities of modern equity arbitrage. It travels beyond U.S. borders to examine the worldwide opportunities inherent in arbitrage activities and demonstrates how to understand and practice equity arbitrage in the global professional environment.

Written specifically for traders, risk managers, brokers, regulators, and anyone looking for a comprehensive overview of the field of equity arbitrage, this groundbreaking reference provides:  Details of the financial instruments used in equity arbitrage--stocks, futures, money markets, and indices  Explanations of financial valuation and risk analysis, tailored to the characteristics of the underlying position and market environment  Examples of actual arbitrage situations--presenting a real-life snapshot of equity arbitrage in action

The Complete Arbitrage Deskbook is the only book to combine operational details with practical analysis of modern equity arbitrage. Concise in explanation yet comprehensive in scope, it provides an integrated overview of both the practices and the possibilities of the modern equity arbitrage marketplace.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #494712 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 508 pages

From the Back Cover
How to Understand­­and Take Advantage of­­Arbitrage Opportunities in Modern Financial Markets

The Complete Arbitrage Deskbook explains every aspect of the types, instruments, trading practices, and opportunities of modern equity arbitrage. It travels beyond U.S. borders to examine the worldwide opportunities inherent in arbitrage activities and demonstrates how to understand and practice equity arbitrage in the global professional environment.

Written specifically for traders, risk managers, brokers, regulators, and anyone looking for a comprehensive overview of the field of equity arbitrage, this groundbreaking reference provides:

• Details of the financial instruments used in equity arbitrage­­stocks, futures, money markets, and indices
• Explanations of financial valuation and risk analysis, tailored to the characteristics of the underlying position and market environment
• Examples of actual arbitrage situations­­presenting a real-life snapshot of equity arbitrage in action

The Complete Arbitrage Deskbook is the only book to combine operational details with practical analysis of modern equity arbitrage. Concise in explanation yet comprehensive in scope, it provides an integrated overview of both the practices and the possibilities of the modern equity arbitrage marketplace.

"Through the examination of actual examples and practical situations, the goal is to achieve an integrated view of arbitrage opportunities, precisely as a trader would see them..."
­­From the Introduction

When used with skill and caution, equity arbitrage­­despite relentlessly negative press and widespread popular misconceptions­­is a very low-risk strategy. It only becomes perilous in the hands of the inexperienced or overconfident. The Complete Arbitrage Deskbook provides anyone­­from capital market professionals to private traders to non-professionals with a serious interest in understanding Wall Street and its intricacies­­with a safe, solid foundation in the essential knowledge of equity arbitrage trading.

Before you can successfully employ equity arbitrage in the marketplace, you must first develop a complete understanding of its mathematics and practice. The Complete Arbitrage Deskbook covers every aspect­­mechanics, opportunities, risks, and valuation principles­­to help you move forward with knowledge and confidence. In-depth descriptions and demonstrations of each pertinent financial instrument­­stocks, futures and other derivatives, money market instruments including interest rate swaps, and stock indices­­show you what you need to know to manage these and where to focus your attention in terms of risk management. Detailed sections provide hands-on information about:

• Convergence continuums
• Cross-exchange listing
• Closed-end and convertible funds
• Holding companies
• Oscillators
• Mark-to-market versus theoretical valuation
• Valuation and random variables
• Risk management principles and tools, including value-at-risk
• Index arbitrage and absolute convergence
• Risk arbitrage and explicit convergence
• Pair trading and technical trading

Fallacies about what arbitrage is­­and is not­­are common among financial professionals. Concise yet comprehensive, The Complete Arbitrage Deskbook sidesteps fallacy to present fact. It is the only comprehensive overview of the opportunities and perils in the arbitrage markets­­and today's only complete overview and practical analysis of modern equity arbitrage.

About the Author

Stephane Reverre works for Leading Market Technologies, specializing in analytical tools for institutional investors. He is the former head of index arbitrage and quantitative trading for the Tokyo and later New York offices of Société Générale, one of the largest French banks and a leader in the field of equity derivative trading. A graduate of École Central in Paris as well as the Harvard Business School MBA program, Reverre has provided consulting services for software and trading companies and has published numerous articles on equity arbitrage in specialized magazines and publications.

---

Customer Reviews

Very comprehensive, but may not suit all time frames
Reverre has written a very comprehensive book, covering all instruments. Quite importantly, he has gone beyond conventional merger arbitrage for the equity markets, and details both fundamentally based equity arbitrage techniques and statistical arbitrage, based on return correlations. The optimal audience is probably financial institutions with a speculative timeframe of a few days and upwards. The outlined methodologies do not include intraday arbitrage; however, the astute trader could probably modify the interday strategies to the intraday trading horizon, by constantly monitoring evolving bid and ask spread differentials at the microscopic level, rather than monitoring conventional interday spreads (without placing too much, if any, emphasis on bid-ask differentials).

For the private trader, the book does provide some food for thought; however, unless a private trader has access to cutting edge technology and the appropriate price feeds, he will not be able to effectively execute too many of the posited strategies.

definitely not technical !
I bought this book in order to improve my knowledge on arbitrage. I was expecting to find some practical applications on the market like on (equity) pairs trading, yield curve arbitrage. The book provides a very broad and general overview on the concept of arbitrage and it is a very good book for someone who wants to understand the meaning of arbitrage and how and where he can do it. If you already know what arbitrage is, you dont need to read it.

Difficult, but comprehensive read
The Arbitrage Deskbook is thorough guide to arbitrage trading strategies. It is extremely comprehensive, covering arbitrage in all markets - from equities, to bonds, to commodity futures, and more. Most important is that it gets the reader to think like an arbitrageur and recognize the arbitrage opportunities presented by different situations.

This book is so comprehensive, that it does sacrifice some depth for breadth. Many complicated math problems are glossed over; it is difficult to understand some concepts thoroughly because the examples are not explained to great detail. If you see an important section, I suggest rereading it several times for better understanding.

In general, the author seems to expect the reader to have intermediate to advanced academic knowledge of finance. Familiarity with financial math and formulas will make this book easier to read. I suggest having some introductory college-level finance courses before reading, because the formulas presented may seem very cryptic if you've never seen them before reading this book.

In general, I think this is a great tool as a reference and for getting familiar with arbitrage. Don't expect to know everything by reading through it one time - there is too much information to remember on a single pass. Rather, try using this to learn how an arbitrageur seeks opportunity and then reference the topics later as you need them (i.e. keep this deskbook on your desk!). This is a great read for any student interested in entering proprietary trading or hedge funds.

Product Description

The stock market still intrigues people, but shell-shocked individual investors have learned to be more savvy and realistic with their investments. There is no way to eliminate risk when stocks fluctuate, but risk can be reduced and even controlled. Geared to individual investors, Eric Stokes unravels the mysteries behind using market neutral investing principles, enabling readers to make money by using his proven low-risk, high-return balanced techniques.

In addition to tips that cover beginning to intermediate investing topics, Stokes also presents the strategies behind market neutral investing in practical, easy-to-understand terms. Stocks go up and down, but investors shouldn’t have to limit themselves to only one-half of the equation. Enter market neutral investing, where investors can take advantage of movement in both directions—long and short investing. Market Neutral Investing teaches investors:

• How to implement this proven strategy, used since the 1940s by the most elite money managers
• What the three different types of portfolio risks are—company, sector, and market—and how to manage them
• How to sell a stock short and make money when a stock price declines
• What "hedge funds" are, how they operate, and what makes them attractive
• What the five simple measures of stock valuation are and how to use them

Stokes walks readers through these proven concepts by including real corporations and industry examples as well as business scenarios. Readers will be able to create a "hedged" investment portfolio that eliminates at least some of the market risk.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #906046 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-01
• Released on: 2004-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .58" h x 6.02" w x 9.02" l, .81 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

About the Author
Eric Stokes is publisher and founder of Market Neutral Strategy, an advisory newsletter published quarterly that teaches and advocates the principles of market neutral investing, developed through extensive back testing and research. Prior to founding Market Neutral Strategy, Stokes was president of an independent, quantitative investment research firm, ValuEngine, Inc. Over the past ten years, he has developed strategies and tools for thousands of investors and knows firsthand what works. A graduate of Michigan State University, Stokes also holds an MBA from Columbia University.

---

Customer Reviews

Insightful !
Any investor disposed to pick stocks should read this excellent short introduction to the esoteric discipline of market neutral investing. Author Eric Stokes provides a better introduction to investment risk than the usual explanations found in most popular investing books. He also discusses a variety of ways to use the underlying principles of market neutral investing without becoming a full-fledged market neutral investor. Indeed, the quantitative capabilities and research skills necessary to run a market neutral portfolio are far beyond the scope of all but the most well-staffed investment firms. But a simple strategy like purchasing shares in an index inverse fund to hedge the risk of a long index fund could make sense for many investors. To learn if this strategy is right for you, we recommend reading this book.

Great Introduction to Market Neutral investing
This book was a good introduction to market neutral investing. After reading it, I certainly have a good appreciation of what is involved.

I can't give it 5 stars however, the reason being when you short a stock the individual investor will be paying margin interest (etrade at time of writing this review was 10.24% <$50K for example). Margin interest isn't taken into consideration in the book, in fact I don't believe it was mentioned once. That's crazy to me. If you short $50K worth of stocks, and go long $50K of stocks for 1 year, and your margin interest is 10%, your combined long/short portfolio is going to have to return 5% to even breakeven. The fact that margin interest isn't mention in the book disappointed me. But like I said, this is a great book as an introduction to market neutral investing, it's easy to follow, and well written.

Great book
I thought this was a great book. It simplified the concept of investing 'short' in conjunction with a standard stock portfolio to reduce risk, without sacrificing overall returns. In todays market, this certainly sounded attractive to me. Not only conceptual, but actual information on how to easily create and trade a short strategy. Much easier than I expected to implement this kind of advanced stock investment strategy.

Product Description

This book provides a broad, mature, and systematic introduction to current financial econometric models and their applications to modeling and prediction of financial time series data. It utilizes real-world examples and real financial data throughout the book to apply the models and methods described.

The author begins with basic characteristics of financial time series data before covering three main topics:

• Analysis and application of univariate financial time series
• The return series of multiple assets
• Bayesian inference in finance methods

Key features of the new edition include additional coverage of modern day topics such as arbitrage, pair trading, realized volatility, and credit risk modeling; a smooth transition from S-Plus to R; and expanded empirical financial data sets.

The overall objective of the book is to provide some knowledge of financial time series, introduce some statistical tools useful for analyzing these series and gain experience in financial applications of various econometric methods.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #80411 in Books
• Published on: 2010-08-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 677 pages

From the Back Cover

Praise for the Second Edition

". . . too wonderful a book to be missed by anyone who works in time series analysis."—Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation

"All in all this is an excellent account on financial time series...with plenty of intuitive insight of how exactly these models work..." —MAA Reviews

Since publication of the first edition, Analysis of Financial Time Series has served as one of the most influential and prominent works on the subject. This Third Edition now utilizes the freely available R software package to explore empirical financial data and illustrate related computation and analyses using real-world examples. Retaining the fundamental and hands-on style of its predecessor, this new edition continues to serve as the cornerstone for understanding the important statistical methods and techniques for working with financial data.

Accessible explanations and numerous interesting examples assist readers with understanding analysis and application of univariate financial time series; return series of multiple assets; and Bayesian inference in finance methods. The latest developments in financial econometrics are explored in-depth, such as realized volatility, volatility with skew innovations, conditional value at risk, statistical arbitrage, and applications of duration and dynamic-correlation models. Additional features of the Third Edition include:

• Applications of nonlinear duration models throughout all discussion of high-frequency data analysis and market microstructure

• Newly added applications of nonlinear models and methods

• An updated chapter on multivariate time series analysis that explores the relevance of cointegration to pairs trading

• A new, unified approach to value at risk (VaR) via loss function

• An introduction to extremal index for dependence data in the discussion of extreme values, quantiles, and value at risk

The use of both R and S-PLUS® software with the book's numerous examples and exercises ensures that readers can reproduce the results shown in the book and apply the detailed steps and procedures to their own work. New and updated exercises throughout provide opportunities to test comprehension of the presented material, and a related Web site houses additional data sets and related software programs.

Analysis of Financial Time Series, Third Edition is an ideal book for introductory courses on time series at the graduate level and a valuable supplement for statistics courses in time series at the upper-undergraduate level. It also serves as an indispensible reference for researchers and practitioners working in business and finance.

About the Author

RUEY S. TSAY, PhD, is H. G. B. Alexander Professor of Econometrics and Statistics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Dr. Tsay has written over 100 published articles in the areas of business and economic forecasting, data analysis, risk management, and process control, and he is the coauthor of A Course in Time Series Analysis (Wiley). Dr. Tsay is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the Royal Statistical Society, and Academia Sinica.

---

Customer Reviews

Very good practical book
It's very good to see the demonstration of the examples are all in R or S-plus in this edition. The book is particular using the Rmetrics series packages as the sources of time series analysis, and the website of the book tells you which particular package you need for the topic of the time series and this definitely reduces the time of looking for packages in R for the analysis. As I just got the book, if any further comments, I will post here.

Product Description

Praise for Hedge Funds

"This book couldn’t be more timely! With continued turmoil in the world economy and a prolonged equity bear market, investors want to understand the role hedge funds should play in their investment strategy. Hedge Funds helps demystify many of the ‘secrets’ of hedge funds and gives investment consultants and investors alike valuable perspective on how hedge funds work, how they are regulated, their risk/return profiles, and the role they should play in an investment portfolio."
–J. Richard Joyner
Partner, Ernst & Young LLP

"An excellent resource for the advisor who is interested in hedge funds for his/her clients."
–Phillip N. Maisano
Chairman and CEO, Evaluation Associates

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1544838 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

From the Inside Flap
In recent years, hedge funds have gained enormous popularity among institutional and high-net-worth investors–primarily because many of these investment strategies are now seen as a reliable alternative to an otherwise volatile and directionless group of capital markets. While hedge fund investing can be beneficial, particularly in the context of traditionally allocated portfolios, there are many potential pitfalls. Consultants and investors alike must be prepared for the increasing complexity of strategies and instruments associated with hedge funds, not to mention the increase in the number of managers.

Written by a leading team of investment advisors and hedge fund experts, and fully backed by the Investment Management Consultants Association (IMCA), Hedge Funds: Definitive Strategies and Techniques demystifies the subject of hedge fund investing and focuses on the most frequently used investment strategies associated with this alternative investment class.

Composed of ten information-packed chapters--each individually written by industry experts--Hedge Funds explores important issues that will allow you to clarify your future investment strategies and portfolio allocations. Editors Kenneth Phillips and Ronald Surz pull together the best minds in the hedge fund business to discuss:

• The current regulatory framework of the U.S. hedge fund market
• Various hedge fund strategies’ alpha generating properties
• Funds of hedge funds
• Evaluating the performance of hedge funds
• Convertible Arbitrage, Merger Arbitrage, and Fixed-Income Arbitrage
• Global Macro and Managed Futures funds
• Risk management of hedge funds
• And much more

The hedge fund industry is constantly evolving. What was a highly secretive asset class is moving into the mainstream with each passing day. However, as more managers and investors jump into the fray, there is bound to be more confusion and losses due to uninformed participants. If you want to gain a practical and complete understanding of today’s complex hedge fund industry, look to the experts within these pages. This comprehensive guide will help any serious professional employ some of the most effective hedge fund strategies currently available.

From the Back Cover
Praise for Hedge Funds

"This book couldn’t be more timely! With continued turmoil in the world economy and a prolonged equity bear market, investors want to understand the role hedge funds should play in their investment strategy. Hedge Funds helps demystify many of the ‘secrets’ of hedge funds and gives investment consultants and investors alike valuable perspective on how hedge funds work, how they are regulated, their risk/return profiles, and the role they should play in an investment portfolio."
--J. Richard Joyner
Partner, Ernst & Young LLP

"An excellent resource for the advisor who is interested in hedge funds for his/her clients."
--Phillip N. Maisano
Chairman and CEO, Evaluation Associates

About the Author
The nonprofit INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS ASSOCIATION (IMCA) is the global professional association for investment consultants. Founded in 1985, IMCA is an organization whose mission is to promote education, ethics, and standards for the growing investment consulting profession, which provides consulting and advisory services to retirement funds, foundations, endowments, family offices, and wealthy individuals. IMCA bestows the Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) certification on qualified investment consultants who complete a rigorous education program and agree to abide by IMCA standards. With over 5,000 members worldwide, IMCA hosts two national investment consultant conferences each year, along with seven regional conferences, and publishes the IMCA Journal of Investment Consulting and the IMCA Monitor.
KENNETH S. PHILLIPS is the Managing Principal of New York—based RCG Capital Partners, LLC. Mr. Phillips has more than twenty years’ experience as an institutional investment consultant and now serves as the senior portfolio manager to several funds of hedge funds. He has been involved in the evaluation, development, and implementation of complex investment strategies for institutional and high-net-worth investors since 1984. Mr. Phillips is an active member of IMCA and has been a member of IMCA’s Advisory Council, Chairman of its Communication Committee, and a member of its Editorial Board.
RONALD J. SURZ is owner and President of PPCA Inc., a firm specializing in innovative performance evaluation technologies for financial consultants. Prior to forming PPCA, he was managing director of institutional business development at Roxbury Capital Management, a principal at the institutional investment consulting firm Becker, Burke, and an executive Vice President at AG Becker where he was responsible for investment policy and asset allocation. He is a member of a number of investment committees and boards including IMCA’s Standards of Practice Board Chairman and their Editorial Board. He received his MBA in finance at the University of Chicago and his MS in applied mathematics at the University of Illinois.

---

Customer Reviews

Ups and Downs of Investment Styles
Written by hedge fund people and university researchers, this collection includes in-depth discussions of money-making techniques practiced by fund managers. It may not be for beginners, but offers practical insights for those with some knowledge of hedge funds.

The article on hedged equity strategies, for instance, classifies these by several characteristics such as the nature of a manager's research. The author then points out the pros and cons of each category, thereby clarifying key issues.

Another paper looks at global macro--the strategy made famous by George Soros. There is a common notion that the day of the giant macro fund is over and there will be nobody like Soros again. This author rejects the idea, arguing that potentially great macro managers are out there, waiting to be discovered.

Now that there is broader interest in hedge funds, books like this one can help demystify what these offer to investors who seek alternatives to mutual funds.

very general
The writing is rather academic and a bit like a lecture. It's sort of like a primer on the topic. It is good in a sense, because it covers issues in a concise format but is not really for a trader