Statistical Arbitrage

Common Issues

Common issues with statistical arbitrage include look-ahead bias in backtesting, overfitting to historical regimes, inadequate handling of exchange downtime, and insufficient logging for debugging.

Performance Metrics

Key metrics include Sharpe ratio, maximum drawdown, win rate, profit factor, and average trade duration. Compare against baseline strategies and adjust parameters based on out-of-sample results.

Code Structure

The code structure separates concerns: data ingestion, signal generation, risk checks, and order submission. This modularity enables testing and reuse across strategies.

# Example configuration for Statistical Arbitrage
strategy:
  name: statistical-arbitrage
  timeframe: 5m
  indicators:
    - rsi
    - ema_fast
    - ema_slow
  entry_conditions:
    - rsi_oversold
    - ema_crossover_bullish
  exit_conditions:
    - rsi_overbought
    - stop_loss_hit
  risk:
    max_position_size: 0.02
    stop_loss_pct: 0.015

Core Concepts

Understanding statistical arbitrage requires familiarity with market microstructure, order flow dynamics, and execution latency. The following sections detail each component.

Configuration Example

Configuration for statistical arbitrage uses YAML or JSON format. Key parameters include timeframes, signal thresholds, position sizing rules, and risk limits.

# Example configuration for Statistical Arbitrage
strategy:
  name: statistical-arbitrage
  timeframe: 5m
  indicators:
    - rsi
    - ema_fast
    - ema_slow
  entry_conditions:
    - rsi_oversold
    - ema_crossover_bullish
  exit_conditions:
    - rsi_overbought
    - stop_loss_hit
  risk:
    max_position_size: 0.02
    stop_loss_pct: 0.015