Join us on October 2nd for a discussion about Dynamic Replication and Hedging: A Reinforcement Learning Approach presented by Petter Kolm.
About the talk
In this talk we address the problem of how to optimally hedge an options book in a practical setting, where trading decisions are discrete and trading costs can be nonlinear and difficult to model.
Based on reinforcement learning (RL), a well-established machine learning technique we propose a model that is flexible, accurate and very promising for real-world applications. A key strength of the RL approach is that it does not make any assumptions about the form of trading cost. RL learns the minimum variance hedge subject to whatever transaction cost function one provides. All that it needs is a good simulator, in which transaction costs and options prices are simulated accurately.
About the speaker
Petter Kolm is the Director of the Mathematics in Finance Master’s Program and Clinical Professor at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University and the Principal of the Heimdall Group, LLC. Previously, Petter worked in the Quantitative Strategies Group at Goldman Sachs Asset Management where his responsibilities included researching and developing new quantitative investment strategies for the group's hedge fund. Petter has coauthored four books: Financial Modeling of the Equity Market: From CAPM to Cointegration (Wiley, 2006), Trends in Quantitative Finance (CFA Research Institute, 2006), Robust Portfolio Management and Optimization (Wiley, 2007), and Quantitative Equity Investing: Techniques and Strategies (Wiley, 2010). He holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Yale, an M.Phil. in Applied Mathematics from the Royal Institute of Technology, and an M.S. in Mathematics from ETH Zurich.
Petter is a member of the editorial boards of the International Journal of Portfolio Analysis and Management (IJPAM), Journal of Financial Data Science (JFDS), Journal of Investment Strategies (JoIS), Journal of Machine Learning in Finance (JMLF) and Journal of Portfolio Management (JPM). He is an Advisory Board Member of Betterment (one of the largest robo-advisors) and Alternative Data Group (ADG). Petter is also on the Board of Directors of the International Association for Quantitative Finance (IAQF) and Scientific Advisory Board Member of Artificial Intelligence Finance Institute (AIFI).
As a consultant and expert witness, Petter has provided his services in areas including alternative data, data science, econometrics, forecasting models, high frequency trading, machine learning, portfolio optimization w/ transaction costs and taxes, quantitative and systematic trading, risk management, robo-advisory and investing, smart beta strategies, transaction costs, and tax-aware investing.