The conditional volatility premium on currency portfolios

Byrne, Joseph P. and Sakemoto, Ryuta (2021) The conditional volatility premium on currency portfolios. Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, 74. 101415. ISSN 1042-4431 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intfin.2021.101415)

[thumbnail of Byrne-Sakemoto-JIFMIM-2021-The-conditional-volatility-premium-on]
Preview
Text. Filename: Byrne_Sakemoto_JIFMIM_2021_The_conditional_volatility_premium_on.pdf
Accepted Author Manuscript
License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 logo

Download (1MB)| Preview

Abstract

Our paper examines conditional risk-return relations in a number of currency investment strategies, while modeling economic states using a large number of underlying risk factors. We identify a time-varying relationship between currency returns and volatility risk for most currency portfolios. In particular, value and momentum portfolios present risk-return relationships which switch sign, depending upon economic states. The positive relationship for the value portfolio is associated with "flight to quality" periods and the mean reversion for nominal exchange rates during financial crises. The positive relationship for the momentum portfolio is linked to the US and global business cycles and investors require positive compensation for risk in recessions.