Investors are literally spoilt for choice when it comes to the different investment strategies they can choose from when investing in the market. One of these strategies is the momentum investing strategy. With this strategy in place, investors purchase securities that show better potential for growth and as assumed to continue rising. While doing the purchasing, investors also sell the securities that they already have if they are showing less growth potential or not providing higher returns. To get into the nitty-gritty of the question “What is momentum investing?”, all you got to do is continue reading.
The Intricacies of Momentum Investing
When one really goes into the details of momentum investing, they realize that there is very little that is new with this kind of strategy. Think of it as the classic reducing losses and increasing one’s profit strategy. The basic concept of momentum investing is based on the belief that an asset’s past short-term performance gets repeated which means that successful assets will continue to be successful while the unsuccessful ones will continue the same way.
Causation of Momentum Investing
It is a fact that investors usually end up either overreacting or under-reacting to news about the trading world which ends up causing significant price movements. This, in turn, leads to a disorganized financial system. Another reason that might trigger traders to make use of momentum investing is the timing of the market.
Let us take the example of a particular stock. When they receive fresh information about a particular stock, investors might take time to respond to it. However, once they realize that the information is useful, they move in and cause momentum in the market. Such a momentum will only last between 6 months to a year.
Types of Momentum Investing Strategies
There are two types of momentum investing strategies; time-series or absolute momentum and cross-sectional momentum. Here’s a look at both of them:
Time-Series or Absolute Momentum:
In a time series or absolute momentum, how a particular asset is performing compared to how it performed in the past. In this type of momentum investing strategy, assets might be ranked according to how they have performed in the past 1 year.
Cross-Sectional Momentum:
As a part of the cross-sectional momentum strategy, stocks are ranked based on how they have performed in a particular period in the past. Here the stocks are grouped into best-performing and worst-performing and assigned the winner and loser portfolios accordingly.
Advantages that Make Momentum Investing Strategies Viable
The momentum investing strategy has quite a few advantages. Here’s a list of some of them:
When data is screened properly to identify momentum and trading is done in a disciplined manner, a trader’s investment might outperform itself.
Momentum investing is also very adept at utilizing market volatility to the investor's advantage
By following or steering clear of exceptionally volatile market trends, investors can make the best of the market’s upward or downward movement.
Taking the time-series momentum investing strategy into account, investors can truly benefit from the extra risk-adjustment returns that the diversified portfolio might produce.
The Return Potential of Momentum Investing
One of the many questions that have been asked about momentum investing’s return potential is its sustainability in the long run. The popularity of momentum investing has, no doubt, grown over time. However, it has been observed that despite the apparent overcrowding in the strategy, the effectiveness of its technique has not been compromised.
Studies have shown that the returns that are expected through momentum investing will only continue to grow. As a result, investors will be able to continue to profit from the same and deal with any related expenditures. The momentum investing strategy is also expected to contribute to the outperformance of both short and long trades.
Conclusion
When done right, momentum trading, according to studies, has the potential to generate higher returns in the long run. However, it is also important that traders be aware of certain risks that are associated with this strategy. This includes following what other market players are doing and investing in a particular asset class accordingly.
Disclaimer: Investments in the securities market are subject to market risk, read all related documents carefully before investing.
This content is for educational purposes only. Securities quoted are exemplary and not recommendatory.
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