2020 Research Summary: 12 Validated New Ways to Capture Alpha

RavenPack | January 10, 2021

Evidence that news analytics and sentiment data provides original sources of alpha not already factored in by existing indicators and models.

In this selection of research studies published by our in-house data science team as well as independent researchers, you will find evidence that our news analytics provide original sources of alpha not already factored in by existing indicators and models.

1. Fraud News as an Opportunity

When conducted on a portfolio of 141 stocks, a strategy based on the observation generated an in-sample annual excess return of 4.78%, and 9.87% out-of-sample.

2. News Analytics on the Impact of COVID-19

RavenPack research found that high co-mentions of the virus in the news with high beta stocks such as those in the airline or pharma sector, for example, could be successfully used as the basis for modeling future returns.

3. Forecasting Black Gold

Researchers at Duke University and the University of Luxembourg found that economic news could be used in a 3-step process, first to estimate higher frequency econometric variables which could then be aggregated to estimate GDP, then finally to use GDP forecasts to estimate future crude oil prices.

4. An Added Dimension to Trading FX

The addition of news sentiment delivered an annualized return of 210bps with an information ratio of 0.70 – a result that was 3x better than the benchmark strategy.

5. A Practical Solution to a Small Caps Trading Dilemma

Using an automated news-based strategies with almost all research showing, in the case of news-based approaches, Small Caps substantially outperform their Large-Cap brethren

6. Trading Asia-Pacific Markets with the News

Our research concluded that news sentiment-based strategies worked, especially in the short-to-medium term with the region producing information ratios close to 4.0, and 20% annualized returns.

7. Trading Insider Transactions with Sentiment

A strategy based on insider trading data achieved annualized returns of 8.6% and 13.9% with a global Mid/Large-Cap and Small-Cap strategy respectively, and information ratios of 1.82 and 2.64.

8. ESG News and How to Trade It

Researchers at Monash University found that overreactions tend to be short-lived, with prices mean-reverting over time, providing contrarians with the perfect ‘buy the dip’ trading strategy.

9. RavenPack Signals Come 4th out of 150

An analysis of the recommendations produced by 150+ brokers, as well as a model that used RavenPack sentiment data, ranked how well we performed during the height of the pandemic. The RavenPack signals ranked 4th and generated a 16.82% hypothetical return.

10. Forecasting Biden's Win Using the News

RavenPack's news analytics-based election monitor successfully forecasted the winner of the U.S. presidential election, and has now accurately forecasted the winner in five out of the last six U.S. presidential elections



By providing your personal information and submitting your details, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agreed to our Privacy Statement and you accept our Terms and Conditions. We will handle your personal information in compliance with our Privacy Statement. You can exercise your rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability, and objection by emailing us at privacy@ravenpack.com in accordance with the GDPRs. You also are agreeing to receive occasional updates and communications from RavenPack about resources, events, products, or services that may be of interest to you.

Ready to unlock Alpha?

Schedule a personalized trial to see how our actionable insights can boost your investment strategies.

Request Trial
Data Insights

Read More