Empirical Evaluations on Momentum Effects of Taiwan Index Futures via Stop-Loss and Stop-Profit Mechanisms

Abstract

The Efficient-Market Hypothesis (EMH) is one of the important theories in financial markets. Under this hypothesis, developing a robust profitable strategy is infeasible because the market price fluctuates immediately following any new information and is thus unpredictable. However, many empirical studies have shown that certain trading strategies in the financial markets are profitable, and the Momentum Strategy is one of the major strategies among them. With four momentum strategies, this paper uses the real-world data points (intra-day data of one-minute time frame) for back-testing the Taiwan Stock Exchange Capitalization Weighted Stock Index Futures (TAIEX Futures) during the period from January 04, 2010 to March 25, 2015. Numerical comparisons among the four strategies reveal that there exist market inefficiencies in Taiwan stock market. We verified the momentum effect of Taiwan Index Futures market through different stop-loss and stop-profit mechanisms. In conclusion, the management of stop-loss and stop-profit is crucial in the profit/loss of the trading strategy. The technique can be applied to many trading methodologies in improving the quality of strategies. Money management provides another path for strategy planning other than purely focusing on the technical mechanisms.