A Quantstrat to Build on Part 4

When we build a system, we are almost always trying to beat buy and hold by some metric or metrics.  I have not found a demo to compare a quantstrat system with a generic buy and hold system.  Here is the way I accomplish a basic comparison with the chart.Reconcile function of the blotter package and a BuyHold function to generate a buy signal at a specified date.

From TimelyPortfolio

From TimelyPortfolio

R code:

#thanks so much to the developers of quantstrat
#99% of this code comes from the demos in the quantstrat package   

#in this I add a buy hold portfolio for comparison   

require(quantstrat)   

#now let's define our silly countupdown function
CUD <- function(price,n) {
	#CUD takes the n-period sum of 1 (up days) and -1 (down days)
	temp <- runSum(ifelse(ROC(price,1,type="discrete") > 0,1,-1),n)
	colnames(temp) <- "CUD"
	temp
}   BuyHold <- function(price,periodtobuy) {
	#just enter true (1) the period specified as buy and hold
	#for the remainder
	temp <- as.xts(rep(0,NROW(price)),order.by=index(price))
	colnames(temp) <- "BuyHold"
	temp[periodtobuy,1]<-1
	temp
}   try(rm("order_book.CUD",pos=.strategy),silent=TRUE)
try(rm("order_book.BuyHold",pos=.strategy),silent=TRUE)
try(rm("account.CUD","portfolio.CUD",pos=.blotter),silent=TRUE)
try(rm("account.BuyHold","portfolio.BuyHold",pos=.blotter),silent=TRUE)
try(rm("port.st","symbols","symbol","stratCUD","initDate","initEq",
	'start_t','end_t','num_periods'),silent=TRUE)   

#specify this for the rolling periods to use for our signal
num_periods=50   

# Initialize a strategy object
stratCUD <- strategy("CUD")   

# Add an indicator
stratCUD <- add.indicator(strategy = stratCUD, name = "CUD", 
	arguments = list(price = quote(Cl(mktdata)),n=num_periods),
	label="CUD")   # enter when CUD > 0
stratCUD <- add.signal(strategy = stratCUD, name="sigThreshold",
	arguments = list(threshold=0, column="CUD",relationship="gte", cross=TRUE),
	label="CUD.gte.0")
# exit when CUD < 0
stratCUD <- add.signal(strategy = stratCUD, name="sigThreshold",
	arguments = list(threshold=0, column="CUD",relationship="lt",cross=TRUE),
	label="CUD.lt.0")   stratCUD <- add.rule(strategy = stratCUD, name='ruleSignal', 
	arguments = list(sigcol="CUD.gte.0", sigval=TRUE, orderqty=1000, ordertype='market',
	 orderside='long', pricemethod='market', replace=FALSE), type='enter', path.dep=TRUE)
stratCUD <- add.rule(strategy = stratCUD, name='ruleSignal', 
	arguments = list(sigcol="CUD.lt.0", sigval=TRUE, orderqty='all',
	 ordertype='market', orderside='long', pricemethod='market', replace=FALSE),
	 type='exit', path.dep=TRUE)   

#Initialize a buy/hold strategy object
stratBuyHold <- strategy("BuyHold")
stratBuyHold <- add.indicator(strategy = stratBuyHold, name = "BuyHold",
	arguments = list(price = quote(Cl(mktdata)),periodtobuy=num_periods),
	label = "BuyHold")
stratBuyHold <- add.rule(strategy=stratBuyHold, name='ruleSignal',
	arguments = list(sigcol="BuyHold",sigval=TRUE,orderqty=1000,ordertype='market',
	 orderside='long', pricemethod='market', replace=FALSE), type='enter', path.dep=TRUE)     currency("USD")
symbols = c("GSPC","GDAXI")
for (symbol in symbols) {
	stock(symbol, currency="USD",multiplier=1)
	#use paste with ^ to get index data
	getSymbols(paste("^",symbol,sep=""),adjust=T,from="1900-12-31")
	assign(symbol,to.weekly(get(symbol)))
}   initDate='1949-12-31'
initEq=1000000
port.st<-'CUD' #use a string here for easier changing of parameters and re-trying
port.buyhold <- 'BuyHold'   

initPortf(port.st, symbols=symbols, initDate=initDate, initEq=initEq)
initAcct(port.st, portfolios=port.st, initDate=initDate, initEq=initEq)
initOrders(portfolio=port.st, initDate=initDate)   

initPortf(port.buyhold, symbols=symbols, initDate=initDate)
initAcct(port.buyhold, portfolios=port.buyhold, initDate=initDate,, initEq=initEq)
initOrders(portfolio=port.buyhold, initDate=initDate)   

print("setup completed")   

# Process the indicators and generate trades
start_t<-Sys.time()
out<-try(applyStrategy(strategy=stratCUD , portfolios=port.st ) )
end_t<-Sys.time()
print("Strategy Loop:")
print(end_t-start_t)   

# Process buy and hold strategy
start_t<-Sys.time()
out<-try(applyStrategy(strategy=stratBuyHold , portfolios=port.buyhold ) )
end_t<-Sys.time()
print("Strategy Loop:")
print(end_t-start_t)   start_t<-Sys.time()
updatePortf(Portfolio=port.st,Dates=paste('::',as.Date(Sys.time()),sep=''))
updatePortf(Portfolio=port.buyhold,Dates=paste('::',as.Date(Sys.time()),sep=''))
end_t<-Sys.time()
print("trade blotter portfolio update:")
print(end_t-start_t)   

# hack for new quantmod graphics, remove later
themelist<-chart_theme()
themelist$col$up.col<-'lightgreen'
themelist$col$dn.col<-'pink'   for(symbol in symbols){
	dev.new()
	chart.Posn(Portfolio=port.st,Symbol=symbol,theme=themelist)
	#add the CUD indicator to the bottom of the chart
	plot(add_TA(CUD(get(symbol)[,4],n=num_periods)))
	dev.new()
	chart.Reconcile(port.buyhold,port.st,symbol)
}   

tradeStats(port.st)

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