Pair Trading Strategy Journal

Discussion in 'Journals' started by jonnysharp, Aug 18, 2008.

  1. tatankas

    tatankas

    According to yahoo finance TCO closed @27.94 and SPG @54.59 .

    Are you not trading in the end of the day, or these were the prices you got with IB MOC orders?

    Thanks
     
    #1181     Jun 5, 2009
  2. Yahoo is consolidated data (all ECNs...) and is therefore not always reflecting the closing price at the main exchange (NYSE, nas,...). You can sometimes have big differences between the NYSE close and the Yahoo close. Things like 20-30 cents on a 30-40$ stock. For the open it's even worst.
     
    #1182     Jun 5, 2009
  3. Does anyone trade stocks versus preferreds, especially in financials and willing to share some of the pairs they trade?

    it would be greatly appreciated.
     
    #1183     Jun 5, 2009
  4. hi guys. i'm rookie. i may have asked this before, but i'd be interested to know if anyone has a view on this

    i think visualizations may be a handy tool in pairs trading, in addition to various statistical. specifically:

    marketrac.nyse.com/mt/index.html

    finviz.com (the market map)

    it is the rule of thumb

    both are lagging, but probably ok for a swing trade

    based on the finviz global etf vizualization alone - i don't have access to statistical tools yet (but i am play with the gummy now) - i have just placed the following paper trade:

    BHP -167@ $60.02 (australian stock)
    EWA +593@ $16.80 (australia etf)

    1:1, total position $20K

    this is an experiment, and if it goes well, i'll let you know.

    any thoughts on this visualization stuff? i think it may have some added value, in addition to various statistical, because you make look at stock and how it is go against the peer

    so you can visually eyeball if a stock is out of proportion vis-a-vis its peer group. for example, in the case of nyse markettrack, trade an out-of-balance component stock against DIA, the dow etf

    thanks for any input!
     
    #1184     Jun 5, 2009
  5. How much attention do you guys give the spread chart? (eg. ABC - XYZ)

    I was under the impression a trending spread chart is a bad sign?

    However if we have stoc ABC @ $100, Stock XYZ @ $10 and they both gain 20% over 3 months.......the spread blows out from $90 to $109 and would most likely show as a trending spread chart

    This surely couldn't be reason to disqualify a trade....theoretically they could be trading at a correlation of 100%?
     
    #1185     Jun 5, 2009
  6. the spread ratio obviously seems much more logical to use here rather than the spread difference. this would avoid the problem you just pointed out.


     
    #1186     Jun 7, 2009
  7. Yeah the ratio chart has to be one of the most important for sure. But that wasn't my question.

    What can you gain out of the actual spread chart? and how much weighting do you give it? The only reason I ask is it's one of the default charts when you initially download so it must have some bearing.

    If both stocks trade at very similar price levels then the spread-chart would be a good visual of the actual divergence....but other than that, I don't know what to get out of it..... that's what i'm trying to find out


     
    #1187     Jun 7, 2009
  8. i'm rookie, but i think you need the ratio chart for the following:

    to see if there is a mean-reverting pattern in the ratio itself. if there is, if it tends to pull back from extreme values - like a stock trading in a channel (where you can then use atr/kettler or bollinger bands)

    you can then take a trade when the ratio has gone far out from its normal zone. then you may have some statistical edge. i think that's the point. but again, as i said, i'm rookie.
     
    #1188     Jun 7, 2009
  9. I am not talking about the ratio chart...I am talking about the spread chart.

    ie..... ABC minus XYZ

    not ABC divided by XYZ

     
    #1189     Jun 7, 2009
  10. good question, actually . .. :confused:

    at the end of the day it's only price that pays, not the ratio
     
    #1190     Jun 7, 2009