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MUMBAI: Jim Simons, considered one of the greatest money managers to ever walk on Wall Street, is credited with revolutionising global equity markets by introducing computer model-based trading strategies.
His hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, which uses quantitative strategies to make money for its clients, is the undisputed king of hedge funds, when it comes to performance.
In his book The Man Who Solved The Market, Gregory Zuckerman said that Simons flagship Medallion Fund generated annual returns of 66 per cent CAGR since 1988, beating the likes of Peter Lynch, Ray Dalio and even Warren Buffett.
Yet, the greatest money-maker in the world perhaps did not see the head-spinning rally in the shares of Tata Motors coming.
This is the bread-and-butter for quant funds. AQR has pioneered this space the most.
Multifactor models are models designed to extract cross-sectional risk premia in markets. Put simply you look at all the stocks in a market. Rank them based on some metric(s). Long the top decile. Short the bottom decile. If that market-neutral portfolio outperforms on a consistent basis then well done! You have found a risk premium.
Classical and well known risk premia include:
Momentum – stocks that moon continue to moon.
Size – small caps tend to outperform large caps.
Value – high-value stocks tend to outperform low-value stocks.