Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-tn8tq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-17T06:42:17.351Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Artificial Market Timing in Mutual Funds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2022

Jeffrey A. Busse
Affiliation:
Emory University Goizueta Business School jbusse@emory.edu
Jing Ding*
Affiliation:
Harbin Institute of Technology School of Management
Lei Jiang
Affiliation:
Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management jianglei@sem.tsinghua.edu.cn
Yuehua Tang
Affiliation:
University of Florida Warrington College of Business yuehua.tang@warrington.ufl.edu
*
dingjingut@gmail.com (corresponding author)
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

We document statistically significant relations between mutual fund betas and past market returns driven by fund feedback trading. Against this backdrop, evidence of “artificial” market timing emerges when standard market timing regressions are estimated across periods that span time variation in fund systematic risk levels, as is typical. Artificial timing significantly explains the inverse relation between timing model estimates of market timing and stock selectivity. A fund’s feedback trading relates to its past performance and remains significant after accounting for trading on momentum. Fund flows suggest that investors value feedback trading, which helps hedge downside risk during bear markets.

Type
Research Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Michael G. Foster School of Business, University of Washington

Footnotes

We thank an anonymous referee and Hendrik Bessembinder (the editor) for their helpful comments. The research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Grant (72121001), Tsinghua University through the Initiative Scientific Research Program, Institute for Industrial Innovation and Finance, and Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology.

References

Agarwal, V.; Tang, Y.; and Yang, B.. “Do Mutual Funds Have Market Timing Ability? Evidence from Mutual Fund Trades.” Working Paper, Georgia State University (2012).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anand, A.; Irvine, P.; Puckett, A.; and Venkataraman, K.. “Performance of Institutional Trading Desks: An Analysis of Persistence in Trading Costs.” Review of Financial Studies, 25 (2012), 557598.Google Scholar
Anand, A.; Irvine, P.; Puckett, A.; and Venkataraman, K.. “Institutional Trading and Stock Resiliency: Evidence from the 2007–2009 Financial Crisis.” Journal of Financial Economics, 108 (2013), 773797.Google Scholar
Bali, T., and Engle, R.. “The Intertemporal Capital Asset Pricing Model with Dynamic Conditional Correlations.” Journal of Monetary Economics, 57 (2010), 377390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barber, B.; Huang, X.; and Odean, T.. “Which Factors Matter to Investors? Evidence from Mutual Fund Flows.” Review of Financial Studies, 29 (2016), 26002642.Google Scholar
Barber, B.; Odean, T.; and Zhu, N.. “Do Retail Trades Move Markets?Review of Financial Studies, 22 (2009), 151186.Google Scholar
Basak, S., and Makarov, D.. “Difference in Interim Performance and Risk Taking with Short-Sale Constraints.” Journal of Financial Economics, 103 (2012), 377392.Google Scholar
Basak, S.; Pavlova, A.; and Shapiro, A.. “Optimal Asset Allocation and Risk Shifting in Money Management.” Review of Financial Studies, 20 (2007), 15831621.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berk, J., and van Binsbergen, J.. “Assessing Asset Pricing Models Using Revealed Preference.” Journal of Financial Economics, 119 (2016), 123.Google Scholar
Bollen, N., and Busse, J.. “On the Timing Ability of Mutual Fund Managers.” Journal of Finance, 56 (2001), 10751094.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, K.; Harlow, W. V.; and Starks, L.. “Of Tournaments and Temptations: An Analysis of Managerial Incentives in the Mutual Fund Industry.” Journal of Finance, 51 (1996), 85110.Google Scholar
Busse, J.Volatility Timing in Mutual Funds: Evidence from Daily Returns.” Review of Financial Studies, 12 (1999), 10091041.Google Scholar
Busse, J.Another Look at Mutual Fund Tournaments.” Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 36 (2001), 5373.Google Scholar
Busse, J.; Chordia, T.; Jiang, L.; and Tang, Y.. “Transaction Costs, Portfolio Characteristics, and Mutual Fund Performance.” Management Science, 67 (2021), 12271248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Busse, J.; Jiang, L.; and Tang, Y.. “Double-Adjusted Mutual Fund Performance.” Review of Asset Pricing Studies, 11 (2021), 169208.Google Scholar
Busse, J.; Tong, L.; Tong, Q.; and Zhang, Z.. “Trading Regularity and Fund Performance.” Review of Financial Studies, 32 (2019), 374422.Google Scholar
Carhart, M.On Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance.” Journal of Finance, 52 (1997), 5782.Google Scholar
Chang, E., and Lewellen, W.. “Market Timing and Mutual Fund Performance.” Journal of Business, 57 (1984), 5772.Google Scholar
Chen, H., and Pennacchi, G.. “Does Prior Performance Affect a Mutual Fund’s Choice of Risk? Theory and Further Empirical Evidence.” Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 44 (2009), 745775.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chevalier, J., and Ellison, G.. “Risk Taking by Mutual Funds as a Response to Incentives.” Journal of Political Economy, 105 (1997), 11671200.Google Scholar
Choi, J.; Park, J. M.; Pearson, N.; and Sandy, S.. “A First Glimpse into the Short Side of Hedge Funds.” Working Paper, University of Illinois (2017).Google Scholar
Cremers, M.; Petajisto, A.; and Zitzewitz, E.. “Should Benchmark Indices Have Alpha? Revisiting Performance Evaluation.” Critical Finance Review, 2 (2012), 148.Google Scholar
Edelen, R.Investor Flows and the Assessed Performance of Open-End Mutual Funds.” Journal of Financial Economics, 53 (1999), 439466.Google Scholar
Edelen, R., and Warner, J.. “Aggregate Price Effects of Institutional Trading: A Study of Mutual Fund Flow and Market Returns.” Journal of Financial Economics, 59 (2001), 195220.Google Scholar
Elton, E.; Gruber, M.; Blake, C.; Krasny, Y.; and Ozelge, S.. “The Effect of Holdings Data Frequency on Conclusions about Mutual Fund Behavior.” Journal of Banking and Finance, 34 (2010), 912922.Google Scholar
Engle, R.Dynamic Conditional Correlation: A Simple Class of Multivariate Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity Models.” Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, 20 (2002), 339350.Google Scholar
Evans, R.Mutual Fund Incubation.” Journal of Finance, 65 (2010), 15811611.Google Scholar
Ferson, W., and Mo, H.. “Performance Measurement with Selectivity, Market and Volatility Timing.” Journal of Financial Economics, 121 (2016), 93110.Google Scholar
Ferson, W., and Schadt, R.. “Measuring Fund Strategy and Performance in Changing Economic Conditions.” Journal of Finance, 51 (1996), 425461.Google Scholar
Ferson, W., and Warther, V.. “Evaluating Fund Performance in a Dynamic Market.” Financial Analysts Journal, 52 (1996), 2028.Google Scholar
Frazzini, A.; Israel, R.; and Moskowitz, T.. “Trading Costs of Asset Pricing Anomalies.” Working Paper, AQR Capital Management (2015).Google Scholar
Goetzmann, W.; Ingersoll, J. Jr.; and Ivkovich, Z.. “Monthly Measurement of Daily Timers.” Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 35 (2000), 257290.Google Scholar
Grinblatt, M., and Han, B.. “Prospect Theory, Mental Accounting, and Momentum.” Journal of Financial Economics, 78 (2005), 311339.Google Scholar
Grinblatt, M., and Titman, S.. “The Evaluation of Mutual Fund Performance: An Analysis of Monthly Returns.” Working Paper, University of California at Los Angeles (1988).Google Scholar
Grinblatt, M.; Titman, S.; and Wermers, R.. “Momentum Investment Strategies, Portfolio Performance, and Herding: A Study of Mutual Fund Behavior.” American Economic Review, 85 (1995), 10881105.Google Scholar
Henriksson, R.Market Timing and Mutual Fund Performance: An Empirical Investigation.” Journal of Business, 57 (1984), 7396.Google Scholar
Henriksson, R., and Merton, R.. “On Market Timing and Investment Performance II. Statistical Procedures for Evaluating Forecasting Skills.” Journal of Business, 54 (1981), 513533.Google Scholar
Hu, G.; Jo, K.; Wang, Y.; and Xie, J.. “Institutional Trading and Abel Noser Data.” Journal of Corporate Finance, 52 (2018), 143167.Google Scholar
Huang, D.; Li, J.; Wang, L.; and Zhou, G.. “Time Series Momentum: Is It There?Journal of Financial Economics, 135 (2020), 774794.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, J.; Sialm, C.; and Zhang, H.. “Risk Shifting and Mutual Fund Performance.” Review of Financial Studies, 24 (2011), 25752616.Google Scholar
Ippolito, R.Consumer Reaction to Measures of Poor Quality: Evidence from the Mutual Fund Industry.” Journal of Law and Economics, 35 (1992), 4570.Google Scholar
Jagannathan, R., and Korajczyk, R.. “Assessing the Market Timing Performance of Managed Portfolios.” Journal of Business, 59 (1986), 217235.Google Scholar
Jiang, G.; Yao, T.; and Yu, T.. “Do Mutual Funds Time the Market? Evidence from Holdings Data.” Journal of Financial Economics, 88 (2007), 119145.Google Scholar
Kacperczyk, M.; Nieuwerburgh, S.; and Veldkamp, L.. “Time-Varying Fund Manager Skill.” Journal of Finance, 69 (2014), 14551484.Google Scholar
Kacperczyk, M.; Sialm, C.; and Zheng, L.. “Unobserved Actions of Mutual Funds.” Review of Financial Studies, 21 (2008), 23792416.Google Scholar
Keim, D., and Madhavan, A.. “Transaction Costs and Investment Style: An Inter-Exchange Analysis of Institutional Equity Trades.” Journal of Financial Economics, 46 (1997), 265292.Google Scholar
Kempf, A., and Ruenzi, S.. “Tournaments in Mutual Fund Families.” Review of Financial Studies, 21 (2008), 10131036.Google Scholar
Kempf, A.; Ruenzi, S.; and Thiele, T.. “Employment Risk, Compensation Incentives, and Managerial Risk Taking: Evidence from the Mutual Fund Industry.” Journal of Financial Economics, 92 (2009), 92108.Google Scholar
Kon, S.The Market-Timing Performance of Mutual Fund Managers.” Journal of Business, 56 (1983), 323347.Google Scholar
Koski, J., and Pontiff, J.. “How are Derivatives Used? Evidence from the Mutual Fund Industry.” Journal of Finance, 54 (1999), 791816.Google Scholar
Lee, J.; Trzcinka, C.; and Venkatesan, S.. “Do Portfolio Manager Contracts Contract Portfolio Management?Journal of Finance, 74 (2019), 25432577.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lettau, M., and Van Nieuwerburgh, S.. “Reconciling the Return Predictability Evidence.” Review of Financial Studies, 21 (2008), 16071652.Google Scholar
Ma, L., and Tang, Y.. “Portfolio Manager Ownership and Mutual Fund Risk Taking.” Management Science, 65 (2019), 55185534.Google Scholar
Moskowitz, T.; Ooi, Y.; and Pedersen, L.. “Time Series Momentum.” Journal of Financial Economics, 104 (2012), 228250.Google Scholar
Newey, W., and West, K.. “A Simple, Positive Semi-Definite, Heteroskedasticity and Autocorrelation Consistent Covariance Matrix.” Econometrica, 55 (1986), 703708.Google Scholar
Pástor, L., and Stambaugh, R.. “Liquidity Risk and Expected Stock Returns.” Journal of Political Economy, 111 (2003), 642685.Google Scholar
Pfleiderer, P., and Bhattacharya, S.. “A Note on Performance Evaluation.” Working Paper, Stanford University (1983).Google Scholar
Puckett, A., and Yan, X.. “The Interim Trading Skills of Institutional Investors.” Journal of Finance, 66 (2011), 601633.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwarz, C.Mutual Fund Tournaments: The Sorting Bias and New Evidence.” Review of Financial Studies, 25 (2012), 913936.Google Scholar
Shefrin, H., and Statman, M.. “The Disposition to Sell Winners Too Early and Ride Losers Too Long: Theory and Evidence.” Journal of Finance, 40 (1985), 777791.Google Scholar
Sirri, E., and Tufano, P.. “Costly Search and Mutual Fund Flows.” Journal of Finance, 53 (1998), 15891622.Google Scholar
Treynor, J., and Mazuy, K.. “Can Mutual Funds Outguess the Market?Harvard Business Review, 44 (1966), 131136.Google Scholar
Welch, I., and Goyal, A.. “A Comprehensive Look at the Empirical Performance of Equity Premium Prediction.” Review of Financial Studies, 21 (2008), 14551508.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Busse et al. supplementary material

Busse et al. supplementary material 1
Download Busse et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 838.3 KB
Supplementary material: File

Busse et al. supplementary material

Busse et al. supplementary material 2

Download Busse et al. supplementary material(File)
File 296.2 KB