Posts

Power of Predictive Alpha in a Bear Market

/by

This year has been tough for most investment strategies.  Firms using traditional sources of data are generating the same underwhelming returns.  Two years ago, Social Market Analytics, Inc.  (SMA)  (Twitter)   launched the SMLCW index in partnership with the CBOE.  This index is re-balanced weekly and comprised of the twenty-five securities selected from the CBOE large cap universe with the highest average S-Score over the prior week.  It’s A long only index of super-cap stocks with unusually positive Twitter conversations.

SMA publishes a family of metrics providing a full representation of the Twitter conversation across equities (US and LSE), commodities, currencies, ETF’s & Cryptos.

S-Score is a normalized representation of the current Twitter conversation of professional investors as identified by Social Market Analytics patented algorithms.  SMA has access to the full Twitter feed through our licensed partnership with Twitter and listens in real-time for any mention of topics and securities of interest.  These Tweets are scanned in real-time for sentiment and influence of the poster and compared to prior conversations over the look back period.  Securities with higher S-Scores subsequently outperform and securities with negative S-Scores under-perform.

SMA S-Scores are predictive over multiple prediction periods.  With seven years of out-of-sample data we can extend our comparison baselines and predict over longer periods.

Year-To-Date the SMLCW index is up over 7.5% while the SP500 is flat.  Subtracting a couple percent for commissions/slippage and the index is still significantly positive. This is not a back-test, this index has been live and on your quote screens for nearly two years.  YTD actual performance chart from the CBOE site is below.

SMLCW - YTD

As mentioned, this is a long only index.  During the recent market drawdown this long index has been performing.  SMA negative S-Score stocks have been moving lower at a significant rate – generating positive alpha.  Below is a chart of the SMLCW index compared to the SP500.  for any questions or to learn more please contact us at:  ContactUs@SocialMarketAnalytics.com.

Thanks,

Joe

 

/0 Comments/by
, ,

Joe Gits talks Twitter at CBOE’s Risk Management Conference

/by

Joe Gits, CEO of Social Market Analytics, recently spoke at the 34th annual CBOE Risk Management Conference.

Gits spoke at RMC about SMA’s patented technology, the Social Sentiment Engine, and Twitter’s relevance in financial markets.

Hosted by the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the RMC is an educational forum dedicated to exploring the latest products, trading strategies and tactics used to manage risk exposure and enhance yields. The RMC is the foremost financial industry conference designed for institutional users of equity derivatives and volatility products.

 

/0 Comments/by
, , , ,

Decile Spreads for Twitter & StockTwits

/by

Today I will explore decile groupings based on S-Scores, and  plot cumulative subsequent returns. We typically focus on an S-Score > 2 for subsequent positive movements in stock prices, and an S-Score < -2 for negative movements in stock price.

Our metrics identify when a conversation becomes significantly more positive or negative than normal.  Most stocks have normal conversations on any given day.  On these days there are other factors driving the security. “Normal” conversation securities will typically follow the market, as you see in the SMA data set.  High sentiment out-performs and low sentiment under-performs,  Open to Close, and Close to Close, across Twitter and StockTwits.

The only filter we add is that the prior day’s closing price must be above $5, to avoid penny stocks.  Total return time series are used for returns, and time series are equal weighted.

The first chart illustrates subsequent Open to Close returns based on S-Score deciles at 9:10 a.m. Eastern time. As you can see, the deciles are in order with top decile securities out-performing and bottom decile securities under-performing.  SPY is represented by the black line and the universe is blue.

Twitter-Pre-Open

Pre-Market Close deciles are below.  S-Scores are taken at 3:40 p.m. Eastern and Close to Close returns are calculated.  Again, high S-Score securities out-perform and low S-Score securities under-perform, with the universe in the middle.

Twitter-Pre-Close-Close

StockTwits is the largest chat community for active traders.  Its users are professional traders discussing long and short positions. The below chart looks at S-Score decile returns based on StockTwits conversations.

Data is consistent across deciles.  A unique characteristic of the StockTwits feed is that there are significant short conversations.  The lowest two deciles have negative returns.  This is a function of the StockTwits community being able to short securities by direct short selling or taking net short options positions.

StockTwits PreOpen

Pre-market close deciles are below.

StockTwits CLose-close

To learn more about Social Market Analytics and the products we offer please visit our website, or contact us here.

Thanks,

Joe

/0 Comments/by

Six Months of SMLC

/by

Six months ago, the CBOE in partnership with Social Market Analytics launched the first in a family of indexes derived from Social Market Analytics S-Factors.  Below is SMLC performance relative to the SPX.  For the first six months SMLC has generated 12.62% and the SPX has returned 4.64%.  In January, we launched SMLCW and it has outperformed as well.  We will be launching additional indexes this year with monthly and quarterly re-balances as well as indexes utilizing CBOE options contracts.  Please contact info@socialmarketanalytics.com for more information.

smlc-index

/0 Comments/by

CBOE & SMA Weekly Sentiment Index

/by

As regular SMA blog readers know we recently launched our first index with the CBOE.  The initial index (SMLC) is a daily rebalance portfolio based on the highest sentiment securities in the CBOE large cap universe.  Each morning we build a portfolio of the 25 highest sentiment securities and hold that portfolio to Close.   Back test and live performance have demonstrated the predictive power of sentiment data of a five-year period.

SMA and CBOE researchers have been working on multiple indexes, the next index (SMLCW) is a weekly rebalance portfolio based on the average sentiment of stocks during the week as measure on Friday mornings prior to the Open.  By averaging S-Scores, you generate a longer signal.  The subsequent portfolio is held for a week. The white line is portfolio performance post transaction cost.  As you can see from the chart the impact of transaction cost is minimal.

weeklychart

To learn about SMLCW or how rigoursly defined sentiment factors can help in your investment process please contact us.

Regards,

Joe

/0 Comments/by