Mean-Variance Portfolio Selection in Long-Term Investments with Unknown Distribution: Online Estimation, Risk Aversion under Ambiguity, and Universality of Algorithms

TL;DR

This paper introduces an online learning approach for mean-variance portfolio selection in long-term investments, achieving asymptotic optimality without relying on statistical assumptions and adapting to unknown future data distributions.

Contribution

It recasts portfolio optimization into an online learning framework, providing algorithms that asymptotically match true portfolio performance and adaptively calibrate risk aversion.

Findings

Algorithms achieve asymptotic optimality in utility, Sharpe ratio, and growth rate.

Performance guarantees hold under stationary stochastic markets.

Bayesian strategies do not outperform proposed methods in certain market models.

Abstract

The standard approach for constructing a Mean-Variance portfolio involves estimating parameters for the model using collected samples. However, since the distribution of future data may not resemble that of the training set, the out-of-sample performance of the estimated portfolio is worse than one derived with true parameters, which has prompted several innovations for better estimation. Instead of treating the data without a timing aspect as in the common training-backtest approach, this paper adopts a perspective where data gradually and continuously reveal over time. The original model is recast into an online learning framework, which is free from any statistical assumptions, to propose a dynamic strategy of sequential portfolios such that its empirical utility, Sharpe ratio, and growth rate asymptotically achieve those of the true portfolio, derived with perfect knowledge of the future data. When the distribution of future data follows a normal shape, the growth rate of wealth is shown to increase by lifting the portfolio along the efficient frontier through the calibration of risk aversion. Since risk aversion cannot be appropriately predetermined, another proposed algorithm updates this coefficient over time, forming a dynamic strategy that approaches the optimal empirical Sharpe ratio or growth rate associated with the true coefficient. The performance of these proposed strategies can be universally guaranteed under stationary stochastic markets. Furthermore, in certain time-reversible stochastic markets, the so-called Bayesian strategy utilizing true conditional distributions, based on past market information during investment, does not perform better than the proposed strategies in terms of empirical utility, Sharpe ratio, or growth rate, which, in contrast, do not rely on conditional distributions.