Pairs Trading: Quantitative Methods and Analysis

Preface

Most book readers are likely to concur with the idea that the least read portion of any book is the preface. With that in mind, and the fact that the reader has indeed taken the trouble to read up to this sentence, we promise to leave no stone unturned to make this preface as lively and entertaining as possible. For your reading pleasure, here is a nice story with a picture thrown in for good measure. Enjoy!

Once upon a time, there were six blind men. The blind men wished to know what an elephant looked like. They took a trip to the forest and with the help of their guide found a tame elephant. The first blind man walked into the broadside of the elephant and bumped his head. He declared that the elephant was like a wall. The second one grabbed the elephant’s tusk and said it felt like a spear. The next blind man felt the trunk of the elephant and was sure that elephants were similar to snakes. The fourth blind man hugged the elephant’s leg and declared the elephant was like a tree. The next one caught the ear and said this is definitely like a fan. The last blind man felt the tail and said this sure feels like a rope. Thus the six blind men all perceived one aspect of the elephant and were each right in their own way, but none of them knew what the whole elephant really looked like.

Oftentimes, the market poses itself as the elephant. There are people who say that predicting ...