Quantopian's community platform is shutting down. Please read this post for more information and download your code.
Back to Community
Trading Algorithm Performance vs Buy and Hold

Just joined the community and this idea of testing stock strategies with possible trades being determined on a one minute magnitude is really interesting. Is there any simple way to test a simple algorithms performance vs a simple buy and hold performance?

4 responses

Hey Eric,

Are you looking to evaluate the performance of an algorithm versus an index like the S&P 500? The API shows you the performance profile (alpha, beta, information ratio, etc.) of the algo versus a benchmark (see attached).

Ryan

Disclaimer

The material on this website is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation to buy, or a recommendation or endorsement for any security or strategy, nor does it constitute an offer to provide investment advisory services by Quantopian. In addition, the material offers no opinion with respect to the suitability of any security or specific investment. No information contained herein should be regarded as a suggestion to engage in or refrain from any investment-related course of action as none of Quantopian nor any of its affiliates is undertaking to provide investment advice, act as an adviser to any plan or entity subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, individual retirement account or individual retirement annuity, or give advice in a fiduciary capacity with respect to the materials presented herein. If you are an individual retirement or other investor, contact your financial advisor or other fiduciary unrelated to Quantopian about whether any given investment idea, strategy, product or service described herein may be appropriate for your circumstances. All investments involve risk, including loss of principal. Quantopian makes no guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of the views expressed in the website. The views are subject to change, and may have become unreliable for various reasons, including changes in market conditions or economic circumstances.

Welcome Eric,

Here's a dirt-simple algorithm for periodic re-balancing of a portfolio:

https://www.quantopian.com/posts/beginner-assistance

Perhaps it will help you get started.

Grant

How is the benchmark calculated, and can it be altered in the code?

By default, the benchmark is SPY, an ETF that tracks the SP500. If you want to use a difference benchmark, you can use set_benchmark in the initialize() method. If you'd like to see an example, here's a post showing the feature!

Disclaimer

The material on this website is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation to buy, or a recommendation or endorsement for any security or strategy, nor does it constitute an offer to provide investment advisory services by Quantopian. In addition, the material offers no opinion with respect to the suitability of any security or specific investment. No information contained herein should be regarded as a suggestion to engage in or refrain from any investment-related course of action as none of Quantopian nor any of its affiliates is undertaking to provide investment advice, act as an adviser to any plan or entity subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, individual retirement account or individual retirement annuity, or give advice in a fiduciary capacity with respect to the materials presented herein. If you are an individual retirement or other investor, contact your financial advisor or other fiduciary unrelated to Quantopian about whether any given investment idea, strategy, product or service described herein may be appropriate for your circumstances. All investments involve risk, including loss of principal. Quantopian makes no guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of the views expressed in the website. The views are subject to change, and may have become unreliable for various reasons, including changes in market conditions or economic circumstances.