A Reinforcement Learning Algorithm for Trading Commodities

Federico Giorgi (), Stefano Herzel () and Paolo Pigato
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Federico Giorgi: Università di Roma ‘Tor Vergata’
Stefano Herzel: Università di Roma ‘Tor Vergata’, http://www.ceistorvergata.it

No 552, CEIS Research Paper from Tor Vergata University, CEIS

Abstract: We propose a Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithm for generating a trading strategy in a realistic setting, that includes transaction costs and factors driving the asset dynamics. We benchmark our algorithm against the analytical optimal solution, available when factors are linear and transaction costs are quadratic, showing that RL is able to mimic the optimal strategy. Then we consider a more realistic setting, including non-linear dynamics, that better describes the WTI spot prices time series. For these more general dynamics, an optimal strategy is not known and RL becomes a viable alternative. We show that on synthetic data generated from WTI spot prices, the RL agent outperforms a trader that linearizes the model to apply the theoretical optimal strategy.

Keywords: Portfolio Optimization; Reinforcement Learning; SARSA; Commodities; Threshold Models. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 22 pages
Date: 2023-02-18, Revised 2023-02-18
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-big
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