ARPs - stock and bond betas can be very different

 

Investors can buy alternative risk premium products across many styles and asset classes, but there are trade-offs between equity and bond risk. You carry strategies will often have positive equity betas but will also have negative bond betas. Alternatively, trend strategies will have positive bond betas but negative equity betas. Both have betas that are relatively low. This is one of the reasons why many investors or managers find the combination of trend with carry appealing. You give up some directional exposure; however, you gain protection between both up and own moves with equities and bonds.

The following analysis is available in a thorough research paper which has been recently published but can still be found in working paper form, "A Framework for Risk Premia Investing: Anywhere to Hide" by Kari Vatanen and Antti Suhonen. We have looked at their work in previous posts on beta stability, "ARP strategies and market beta - Check the stability when constructing portfolios" and with cluster analysis in "Alternative risk premia and the advantage of cluster analysis".