Maximizing Omega Ratio

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The Omega Ratio was introduced by Keating and Shadwick in 2002. It measures the ratio of average portfolio wins over average portfolio losses for a given target return L.

Let x.i, i= 1,…,n be weights of instruments in the portfolio. We suppose that j= 1,…,T scenarios of returns with equal probabilities are available. I will use historical assets returns as scenarios. Let us denote by r.ij the return of i-th asset in the scenario j. The portfolio’s Omega Ratio can be written as

\Omega(L) = \frac{E\left [ max(\sum_{i=1}^{n}r_{ij}x_{i} - L, 0) \right ]}{E\left [ max(L - \sum_{i=1}^{n}r_{ij}x_{i}, 0) \right ]}

I will use methods presented in Optimizing Omega by H. Mausser, D. Saunders, L. Seco (2006) paper to construct optimal portfolios that maximize Omega Ratio.

The maximization problem (pages 5-6) can be written as

\Omega^{*}(L) = max_{x,u,d}\frac{\frac{1}{T} \sum_{i=1}^{n}u_{i}}{\frac{1}{T} \sum_{i=1}^{n}d_{i}}  \newline\newline  \sum_{i=1}^{n}r_{ij}x_{i} - u_{j}+d_{j} = L, j=1,...,T  \newline\newline  u_{j},d_{j}\geq 0, j=1,...,T  \newline\newline  u_{j}*d_{j} = 0, j=1,...,T

It can be formulated as a linear programming problem with following transformation

t=\frac{1}{\frac{1}{T} \sum_{i=1}^{n}u_{i}}  \newline\newline  \Omega^{*}(L) = max_{\tilde{x},\tilde{u},\tilde{d},t}\frac{1}{T} \sum_{i=1}^{n}\tilde{u}_{i}  \newline\newline  \sum_{i=1}^{n}r_{ij}\tilde{x}_{i} - \tilde{u}_{j}+\tilde{d}_{j} = L, j=1,...,T  \newline\newline  \frac{1}{T}\sum_{i=1}^{n}\tilde{d}_{i} = 1  \newline\newline  \tilde{u}_{j},\tilde{d}_{j}\geq 0, j=1,...,T

This method will only work for , I will use a Nonlinear programming solver, Rdonlp2, which is based on donlp2 routine developed and copyright by Prof. Dr. Peter Spellucci. Following code might not properly execute on your computer because Rdonlp2 is only available for R version 2.9 or below.

max.omega.portfolio <- function
(
	ia,		# input assumptions
	constraints	# constraints
)
{
	n = ia$n
	nt = nrow(ia$hist.returns)

	constraints0 = constraints

	omega = ia$parameters.omega	

	#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
	# Linear Programming, Omega > 1, Case
	#--------------------------------------------------------------------------

	# objective : Omega
	# [ SUM <over j> 1/T * u.j ]
	f.obj = c(rep(0, n), (1/nt) * rep(1, nt), rep(0, nt), 0)

	# adjust constraints, add u.j, d.j, t
	constraints = add.variables(2*nt + 1, constraints, lb = c(rep(0,2*nt),-Inf))

	# Transformation for inequalities
	# Aw < b => Aw1 - bt < 0
	constraints$A[n + 2*nt + 1, ] = -constraints$b
	constraints$b[] = 0	

	# Transformation for Lower/Upper bounds, use same transformation
	index = which( constraints$ub[1:n] < +Inf )
	if( len(index) > 0 ) {
		a = rbind( diag(n), matrix(0, 2*nt, n), -constraints$ub[1:n])
		constraints = add.constraints(a[, index], rep(0, len(index)), '<=', constraints)
	}

	index = which( constraints$lb[1:n] > -Inf )
	if( len(index) > 0 ) {
		a = rbind( diag(n), matrix(0, 2*nt, n), -constraints$lb[1:n])
		constraints = add.constraints(a[, index], rep(0, len(index)), '>=', constraints)
	}

	constraints$lb[1:n] = -Inf
	constraints$ub[1:n] = Inf

	# [ SUM <over i> r.ij * x.i ] - u.j + d.j - L * t = 0, for each j = 1,...,T
	a = rbind( matrix(0, n, nt), -diag(nt), diag(nt), -omega)
		a[1 : n, ] = t(ia$hist.returns)
	constraints = add.constraints(a, rep(0, nt), '=', constraints)			

	# [ SUM <over j> 1/T * d.j ] = 1
	constraints = add.constraints(c( rep(0,n), rep(0,nt), (1/nt) * rep(1,nt), 0), 1, '=', constraints)				

	# setup linear programming
	f.con = constraints$A
	f.dir = c(rep('=', constraints$meq), rep('>=', len(constraints$b) - constraints$meq))
	f.rhs = constraints$b

	# find optimal solution
	x = NA
	sol = try(solve.LP.bounds('max', f.obj, t(f.con), f.dir, f.rhs,
					lb = constraints$lb, ub = constraints$ub), TRUE)

	if(!inherits(sol, 'try-error')) {
		x0 = sol$solution[1:n]
		u = sol$solution[(1+n):(n+nt)]
		d = sol$solution[(n+nt+1):(n+2*nt)]
		t = sol$solution[(n+2*nt+1):(n+2*nt+1)] 

		# Reverse Transformation
		x = x0/t
	}

	#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
	# NonLinear Programming, Omega > 1, Case
	#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
	# Check if any u.j * d.j != 0 or LP solver encounter an error
	if( any( u*d != 0 ) || sol$status !=0 ) {
		require(Rdonlp2)

		constraints = constraints0

		# compute omega ratio
		fn <- function(x){
			portfolio.returns = x %*% t(ia$hist.returns)
			mean(pmax(portfolio.returns - omega,0)) / mean(pmax(omega - portfolio.returns,0))
		}

		# control structure, fnscale - set -1 for maximization
		cntl <- donlp2.control(silent = T, fnscale = -1, iterma =10000, nstep = 100, epsx = 1e-10)	

		# lower/upper bounds
		par.l = constraints$lb
		par.u = constraints$ub

		# intial guess
		if(!is.null(constraints$x0)) p = constraints$x0

		# linear constraints
		A = t(constraints$A)
		lin.l = constraints$b
		lin.u = constraints$b
		lin.u[ -c(1:constraints$meq) ] = +Inf

		# find solution
		sol = donlp2(p, fn, par.lower=par.l, par.upper=par.u,
			A=A, lin.u=lin.u, lin.l=lin.l, control=cntl)
		x = sol$par
	}

	return( x )
}

First let’s examine how the traditional mean-variance efficient frontier looks like in the Omega Ratio framework.

# load Systematic Investor Toolbox
setInternet2(TRUE)
source(gzcon(url('https://github.com/systematicinvestor/SIT/raw/master/sit.gz', 'rb')))

#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Create Efficient Frontier
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
	ia = aa.test.create.ia()
	n = ia$n		

	# 0 <= x.i <= 0.8
	constraints = new.constraints(n, lb = 0, ub = 0.8)

	# SUM x.i = 1
	constraints = add.constraints(rep(1, n), 1, type = '=', constraints)		

	# Omega - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_ratio
	ia$parameters.omega = 13/100
		ia$parameters.omega = 12/100
		# convert annual to monthly
		ia$parameters.omega = ia$parameters.omega / 12

	# create efficient frontier(s)
	ef.risk = portopt(ia, constraints, 50, 'Risk')

	# Plot Omega Efficient Frontiers and Transition Maps
	layout( matrix(1:4, nrow = 2, byrow=T) )

	# weights
	rownames(ef.risk$weight) = paste('Risk','weight',1:50,sep='_')
	plot.omega(ef.risk$weight[c(1,10,40,50), ], ia)

	# assets
	temp = diag(n)
	rownames(temp) = ia$symbols
	plot.omega(temp, ia)

	# mean-variance efficient frontier in the Omega Ratio framework
	plot.ef(ia, list(ef.risk), portfolio.omega, T, T)

Portfolio returns and Portfolio Omega Ratio are monotonically increasing as we move along the traditional mean-variance efficient frontier in the Omega Ratio framework. The least risky portfolios (Risk_weight_1, Risk_weight_10) have lower Omega Ratio for 13% threshold (target return) and the most risky portfolios (Risk_weight_40, Risk_weight_50) have higher Omega Ratio.

To create efficient frontier in the Omega Ratio framework, I propose first to compute range of returns in the mean-variance framework. Next split this range into # Portfolios equally spaced points. For each point, I propose to find portfolio that has expected return less than given point’s expected return and maximum Omega Ratio.

#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Create Efficient Frontier in Omega Ratio framework
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
	# Create maximum Omega Efficient Frontier
	ef.omega = portopt.omega(ia, constraints, 50, 'Omega')

	# Plot Omega Efficient Frontiers and Transition Maps
	layout( matrix(1:4, nrow = 2, byrow=T) )

	# weights
	plot.omega(ef.risk$weight[c(1,10,40,50), ], ia)

	# weights
	rownames(ef.omega$weight) = paste('Omega','weight',1:50,sep='_')
	plot.omega(ef.omega$weight[c(1,10,40,50), ], ia)

	# portfolio
	plot.ef(ia, list(ef.omega, ef.risk), portfolio.omega, T, T)

The Omega Ratio efficient frontier looks similar to the traditional mean-variance efficient frontier for expected returns greater than 13% threshold (target return). However, there is a big shift in allocation and increase in Omega Ratio for portfolios with expected returns less than 13% threshold.

The Omega Ratio efficient frontier looks very inefficient in the Risk framework for portfolios with expected returns less than 13% threshold. But remember that goal of this optimization was to find portfolios that maximize Omega Ratio for given user constraints. Overall I find results a bit radical for portfolios with expected returns less than 13% threshold, and this results defiantly call for more investigation.

To view the complete source code for this example, please have a look at the aa.omega.test() function in aa.test.r at github.


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