Outperformance in exchange-traded fund pricing deviations: Generalized control of data snooping bias

Fearghal Kearney, Mark Cummins, Finbarr Murphy

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    An investigation into exchange-traded fund (ETF) outperformance during the period 2008-2012 is undertaken utilizing a data set of 288 U.S. traded securities. ETFs are tested for net asset value (NAV) premium, underlying index and market benchmark outperformance, with Sharpe, Treynor, and Sortino ratios employed as risk-adjusted performance measures. A key contribution is the application of an innovative generalized stepdown procedure in controlling for data snooping bias. We find that a large proportion of optimized replication and debt asset class ETFs display risk-adjusted premiums with energy and precious metals focused funds outperforming the S&P 500 market benchmark.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)86-109
    Number of pages24
    JournalJournal of Financial Markets
    Volume19
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jun 2014

    Keywords

    • Data snooping bias
    • ETF performance
    • Exchange-traded fund
    • Multiple hypothesis testing

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Outperformance in exchange-traded fund pricing deviations: Generalized control of data snooping bias'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this