Quants' tail of woe

Liquidations of large quantitative equity portfolios prompted widespread misfiring of hitherto robust quant models. Historically unusual returns volatility and multi-billion-dollar mark-to-market losses ensued. Leading hedge fund managers talk to Jayne Jung about the tumult and lessons learnt

risk-1007-14-gif

One by one, most of the biggest names in quantitative equity trading have been disclosing huge mark-to-market losses. Analysts believe a large-scale liquidation of one or more quant equity portfolios prompted erratic moves in stock prices and correlations, and that this caused the problems during August.

Among hedge funds, star managers racked up hefty mark-to-market losses within the first 10 days of August (Risk September 2007, page 11). Renaissance Technologies' institutional equities fund had

Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.

To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@risk.net or view our subscription options here: http://subscriptions.risk.net/subscribe

You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@risk.net to find out more.

Sorry, our subscription options are not loading right now

Please try again later. Get in touch with our customer services team if this issue persists.

New to Risk.net? View our subscription options

The new rules of market risk management

Amid 2020’s Covid-19-related market turmoil – with volatility and value-at-risk (VAR) measures soaring – some of the world’s largest investment banks took advantage of the extraordinary conditions to notch up record trading revenues. In a recent Risk.net…

ETF strategies to manage market volatility

Money managers and institutional investors are re-evaluating investment strategies in the face of rapidly shifting market conditions. Consequently, selective genres of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are seeing robust growth in assets. Hong Kong Exchanges…

Most read articles loading...

You need to sign in to use this feature. If you don’t have a Risk.net account, please register for a trial.

Sign in
You are currently on corporate access.

To use this feature you will need an individual account. If you have one already please sign in.

Sign in.

Alternatively you can request an individual account here