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[amibroker] Re: Trading mutual funds...



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The ETF's outside the standard Spyders, Diamonds and Cubes have very 
low volume to the point where for the post part they wouldn't pass 
most peoples volume criteria which in turn causes large spreads and 
slippage and if what one was looking for was an index oriented mutual 
fund then one doesn't really need a mutual fund, do they ?

--- In amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Chuck Rademacher" 
<chuck_rademacher@x> wrote:
> Excellent points, Ken.  There are plenty of ETF's around with all-
day
> liquidity and pricing.
>   -----Original Message-----
>   From: Ken Close [mailto:closeks@x...]
>   Sent: Friday, November 14, 2003 4:52 PM
>   To: amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>   Subject: RE: [amibroker] Re: Trading mutual funds...
> 
> 
>   Jitu:
> 
>   One aspect I might mention is for you to be as clear as possible 
in your
>   mind as to what is interesting you about mutual funds.  You may 
already
>   have that in mind or are waiting until you learn more.
> 
>   In general, mutual funds are thought of as less volatile than 
stocks and
>   comparing a single mutual fund to a single stock, that is of 
course
>   true.  Comparing the volatility of a single mutual fund to a 
carefully
>   selected basket of stocks and than might not be true.
> 
>   The FastTrack community has long had tools and approaches 
to "timing"
>   mutual funds as well as trading among mutual funds using relative
>   strength analysis.  And they still do.  That said, there are 
many, many
>   FastTrackers who are moving towards trading in ETFs, and stocks 
because
>   of the previous slow trend of being banned from funds for frequent
>   trading (the definition of which is not at all clear).  With the 
recent
>   surge of mutual fund "scandals" and the phrase "market timing" 
being
>   used by lawyers and federal prosecutors all over the country, 
mutual
>   funds in mass are fine tuning or adopting measures that will 
restrict
>   "timing" even more.  Even if that timing is 3 or 4 switches a 
year.
> 
>   I mention this because it is a situation in some transition now 
and
>   where it comes out is not clear.  Oh yes, besides having the 
opportunity
>   of being blacklisted, you also face more ERFs (Early Redemption 
Fees),
>   the amounts of which are increasing and the time periods under 
which
>   they apply are getting longer.
> 
>   So...be clear WHY you think you want to get into mutual funds and 
make
>   sure your investing approach takes into account the trends I 
describe.
> 
>   Ken
> 
>   -----Original Message-----
>   From: jtelang [mailto:jtelang@x...]
>   Sent: Friday, November 14, 2003 4:37 PM
>   To: amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>   Subject: [amibroker] Re: Trading mutual funds...
> 
>   Fred/Gary,
> 
>   Thanks for the very informative post. Seems I've got lots of
>   reading to do before I even ask another question. So I might
>   come back to this after doing some RTFM'ing at the sites you
>   pointed to.
> 
>   Just one quick follow-up question before I start reading up
>   on it... So who would you recommend as the data vendor? I'm
>   currently using QP3 for stocks. Is that not good enough (just
>   for backtesting) in your opinion?
> 
>   Thanks again.
> 
>   Jitu
> 
>   --- In amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Fred" <fctonetti@xxxx> wrote:
>   > One other gotcha ...
>   >
>   > MOST data vendors do NOT adjust for dividends and distributions 
so
>   be
>   > carefull where you get data from.
>   >
>   > --- In amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Fred" <fctonetti@xxxx> wrote:
>   > > See below ...
>   > >
>   > > --- In amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "jtelang" <jtelang@xxxx> 
wrote:
>   > > > Hi all,
>   > > >
>   > > > I was planning to run some backtests on MF data, but I've
>   > > > never traded them before, so was hoping people who trade
>   > > > them (Fred?) could offer some insights on some basic
>   > > > questions -
>   > > >
>   > > > 1. What are the good measures to identify liquidity and
>   > > > market cap of a MF?
>   > > >
>   > >
>   > > You can check their total assets at Morningstar or 
elsewhere.  If
>   > you
>   > > mean the market cap that some particular fund invests in you 
can
>   > > usually tell by it's name and if not then at Morningstar.
>   > >
>   > > > 2. Are there any funds that are more advantageous to trade
>   > > > than others? Are the any gotchas in some, which should be
>   > > > avoided?
>   > > >
>   > >
>   > > Not to be silly but that's like asking if there are any stocks
>   that
>   > > are more advantageous than others.  In trading/investing in 
mf's
>   > > remember that you are basically trading the portfolio managers
>   > > ability to select companies to be included and his timeliness 
for
>   > > getting rid of dogs etc.  As far as individual companies that
>   they
>   > > select based on their fundamentals they will as a rule of 
course
>   be
>   > > much farther up on the knowledge curve then individual 
investors
>   > > are.  The main gotcha I would point out is that for the most
>   part,
>   > I
>   > > would not think of mf's as short term vehicles.  The industry 
has
>   > in
>   > > a variety of quarters started putting on early redemption fees
>   for
>   > > short term trading which can wind up being the same as 
slippage
>   for
>   > > those who short term trade.  By the same token however, there 
are
>   > > ways around this via hedging etc.
>   > >
>   > > > 3. Any market signal better than others to identify market
>   > > > trend when it comes to MF's, i.e. is RUT better than SPX or
>   > > > does it not matter much? Any others that work better 
according
>   > > > to market cap or type of the fund?
>   > > >
>   > > As Gary points out in his Camtasia presentation a market 
timing
>   > > signal ought to be in tune with what one is trading so as a
>   result
>   > I
>   > > would say that if you are interested in trading small cap mf's
>   that
>   > a
>   > > timing signal that related to what RUT was doing would be
>   > > appropriate.  There are of course loads of index oriented 
funds
>   out
>   > > there but as a rule these are not where the best opportunities
>   are.
>   > >
>   > > > 4. Using 0.1% as commission in backtests is realistic,
>   > > > since there's no slippage involved, is that right?
>   > > >
>   > > This is a function of what your brokerage charges and the 
size of
>   > > your trades.  But yes there should be no slippage.  EOD NAV is
>   EOD
>   > > NAV.
>   > >
>   > > > 5. Is it reasonable to run tests with zero delay, with the
>   > > > assumption that market trend and other external conditions
>   > > > could calculated a few minutes before the close, and then
>   > > > trade could be entered just in time?
>   > > >
>   > > Yes, I do this evrey day.  Some but not most funds have 
cutoffs
>   > prior
>   > > to 4:00 but in general a trade that is entered at 3:59:45 is 
as
>   > good
>   > > as one entered an hour earlier.  I have never had a trade not 
go
>   > > through for any other reason than the fact that I executed it
>   late.
>   > >
>   > > > 6. Are there any sites, books, etc. that talk about MF 
trading
>   > > > techniques?
>   > > >
>   > > Look here http://www.madriver.com/~wwgansz/ for one of the 
more
>   > > knowledgable folks in this area, Werner Gansz who Gary 
referred
>   to
>   > in
>   > > his presentation.  This is fairly new site that I think Werner
>   > > started just for fun which he updates about once a week.  FT-
Talk
>   > > http://www.ft-talk.com/forums/ is also a good site but it's a 
pay
>   > > site where loads of stuff is openly published.  There are 
other
>   > > FT'ers here who are much more knowledgable about Trade & FT 
then
>   I
>   > am
>   > > who are also AB'ers.  I could name some, but maybe they'll 
step
>   > > forward.  If you are capable of picking up code from other
>   > languages
>   > > fairly quickly you could look here
>   http://home.earthlink.net/~dexf/
>   > > for TRADE related code that has been published by folks from 
FT-
>   > > Talk.  This is as the name implies a FastTrack board.  You'll
>   find
>   > > tutorials there for TRADE and links to where the full doc for
>   TRADE
>   > > and the s/w can be gotten for free.
>   > >
>   > > > Thanks in advance.
>   > > >
>   > > > Jitu
> 
> 
> 
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