A locally-built, LLM-digested index of recent arXiv papers in quant finance, geometry/topology, and statistical ML — keyword search served straight from SQLite on this machine.
PES method reduces bias in gradient estimation for unrolled graphs.
New method for portfolio management learns from past wealth evolution.
Since the debut of Evolution Strategies (ES) as a tool for Reinforcement Learning by Salimans et al. 2017, there has been interest in determining the exact relationship between the Evolution Strategies gradient and the gradient of a similar class of algorithms, Finite Differences (FD).(Zhang et al. 2017, Lehman et al. …
This tutorial introduces the CMA Evolution Strategy (ES), where CMA stands for Covariance Matrix Adaptation. The CMA-ES is a stochastic, or randomized, method for real-parameter (continuous domain) optimization of non-linear, non-convex functions. We try to motivate and derive the algorithm from intuitive concepts and …
Evolution Strategies (ES) emerged as a scalable alternative to popular Reinforcement Learning (RL) techniques, providing an almost perfect speedup when distributed across hundreds of CPU cores thanks to a reduced communication overhead. Despite providing large improvements in wall-clock time, ES is data inefficient whe…
CR-FM-NES improves NES for high-dimensional optimization.
Algorithm improves vanilla option pricing accuracy during and before COVID-19.
Investment strategies in financial markets can lead to instability due to market impacts.
We analyze the sectoral dynamics of startup venture financing. Based on a dataset of 52000 start-ups and 110000 funding rounds in the United States from 2000 to 2017, and by applying both Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Tensor Component Analysis (TCA) in sector space, we visualize and measure the evolution of th…
Algorithm learns which weights to share in deep multi-task learning.
NES optimizes discrete structured VAEs effectively without gradient propagation.
We explore the use of Evolution Strategies (ES), a class of black box optimization algorithms, as an alternative to popular MDP-based RL techniques such as Q-learning and Policy Gradients. Experiments on MuJoCo and Atari show that ES is a viable solution strategy that scales extremely well with the number of CPUs avail…
Gradients help find global optima in complex functions.
We propose a methodology for clustering financial time series of stocks' returns, and a graphical set-up to quantify and visualise the evolution of these clusters through time. The proposed graphical representation allows for the application of well known algorithms for solving classical combinatorial graph problems, w…
This paper explores the problem of unknotting closed braids and classical knots in mathematical knot theory. We apply evolutionary computation methods to learn sequences of moves that simplify knot diagrams, and show that this can be effective both when the evolution is carried out for individual knots and when a gener…
This version withdrawn by arXiv administrators because the submitter did not have the right to agree to our license at the time of submission.
ES-Single uses ES to estimate gradients in unrolled graphs, reducing variance and improving performance.
We develop a more efficient NGD method for structured parameters.
Most decision tree induction algorithms are based on a greedy top-down recursive partitioning strategy for tree growth. In this paper, we propose several methods for induction of decision trees and their ensembles based on evolutionary algorithms. The main difference of our approach is using real-valued vector represen…
Evolution and learning are two of the fundamental mechanisms by which life adapts in order to survive and to transcend limitations. These biological phenomena inspired successful computational methods such as evolutionary algorithms and deep learning. Evolution relies on random mutations and on random genetic recombina…
Evolution Strategies (ES) are a powerful class of blackbox optimization techniques that recently became a competitive alternative to state-of-the-art policy gradient (PG) algorithms for reinforcement learning (RL). We propose a new method for improving accuracy of the ES algorithms, that as opposed to recent approaches…
This paper presents Natural Evolution Strategies (NES), a recent family of algorithms that constitute a more principled approach to black-box optimization than established evolutionary algorithms. NES maintains a parameterized distribution on the set of solution candidates, and the natural gradient is used to update th…
Reproductive success and survival are influenced by wealth in human populations. Wealth is transmitted to offsprings and strategies of transmission vary over time and among populations, the main variation being how equally wealth is transmitted to children. Here we propose a model where we simulate both the dynamics of…
We propose a new class of structured methods for Monte Carlo (MC) sampling, called DPPMC, designed for high-dimensional nonisotropic distributions where samples are correlated to reduce the variance of the estimator via determinantal point processes. We successfully apply DPPMCs to problems involving nonisotropic distr…
Word evolution refers to the changing meanings and associations of words throughout time, as a byproduct of human language evolution. By studying word evolution, we can infer social trends and language constructs over different periods of human history. However, traditional techniques such as word representation learni…
A model is presented of the market dynamics to emphasis the effects of increasing returns to scale, including the description of the born and death of the adaptive producers. The evolution of market structure and its behavior with the technological shocks are discussed. Its dynamics is in good agreement with some empir…
ESAC combines genetic methods with RL to improve scalability and efficiency.
Study curves evolving on hypersurfaces with free boundaries, preserving length.
Study on wealth and trading in PoS blockchain.
In this paper, we propose a novel meta-learning method in a reinforcement learning setting, based on evolution strategies (ES), exploration in parameter space and deterministic policy gradients. ES methods are easy to parallelize, which is desirable for modern training architectures; however, such methods typically req…
Paper develops models for better HFT and algorithmic trading.
We propose a population-based Evolutionary Stochastic Gradient Descent (ESGD) framework for optimizing deep neural networks. ESGD combines SGD and gradient-free evolutionary algorithms as complementary algorithms in one framework in which the optimization alternates between the SGD step and evolution step to improve th…
We present a framework for recovering/approximating unknown time-dependent partial differential equation (PDE) using its solution data. Instead of identifying the terms in the underlying PDE, we seek to approximate the evolution operator of the underlying PDE numerically. The evolution operator of the PDE, defined in i…
In setting up a stochastic description of the time evolution of a financial index, the challenge consists in devising a model compatible with all stylized facts emerging from the analysis of financial time series and providing a reliable basis for simulating such series. Based on constraints imposed by market efficienc…
Significant differences in the evolution of firm size distribution for various industries in the United States have been revealed and documented. For theoretical considerations, this finding puts major constraints on the modelling of firm growth. For practical purposes, the observed differences create a solid basis for…
We present a broad agenda for meaningful banking regulation reform aiming the creation of evolutive competitive environment to maximize the effectiveness of international financial system through the introduction of fair competition process among the banks in free market capitalism. We assume that the international fin…
Stochastic neural net weights are used in a variety of contexts, including regularization, Bayesian neural nets, exploration in reinforcement learning, and evolution strategies. Unfortunately, due to the large number of weights, all the examples in a mini-batch typically share the same weight perturbation, thereby limi…
We show how to train a quantum network of pairwise interacting qubits such that its evolution implements a target quantum algorithm into a given network subset. Our strategy is inspired by supervised learning and is designed to help the physical construction of a quantum computer which operates with minimal external cl…
We derive a consistent differential representation for the dynamics of a self-financing portfolio for different hedging strategies. In the basis of the derivation there is the so called "retarded action principle", which represents the causality in the evolution of dependent stochastic variables. We demonstrate this pr…
This project improves model robustness to affine transformations.
We present a generalization of the Simultaneous Long-Short (SLS) trading strategy described in recent control literature wherein we allow for different parameters across the short and long sides of the controller; we refer to this new strategy as Generalized SLS (GSLS). Furthermore, we investigate the conditions under …
We propose to study market efficiency from a computational viewpoint. Borrowing from theoretical computer science, we define a market to be \emph{efficient with respect to resources } (e.g., time, memory) if no strategy using resources can make a profit. As a first step, we consider memory- strategies whose a…
Evolution strategy (ES) has been shown great promise in many challenging reinforcement learning (RL) tasks, rivaling other state-of-the-art deep RL methods. Yet, there are two limitations in the current ES practice that may hinder its otherwise further capabilities. First, most current methods rely on Monte Carlo type …
We propose an extended public goods interaction model to study the evolution of cooperation in heterogeneous population. The investors are arranged on the well known scale-free type network, the Barabási-Albert model. Each investor is supposed to preferentially distribute capital to pools in its portfolio based on the …
A simple trading model based on pair pattern strategy space with holding periods is proposed. Power-law behaviors are observed for the return variance , the price impact and the predictability for both models with linear and square root impact functions. The sum of the traders' wealth displays a positive v…
We study the problem of dynamically trading a futures contract and its underlying asset under a stochastic basis model. The basis evolution is modeled by a stopped scaled Brownian bridge to account for non-convergence of the basis at maturity. The optimal trading strategies are determined from a utility maximization pr…
AI simplifies trading strategies, potentially making markets more efficient.
Technical analysis (TA) has been used for a long time before the availability of more sophisticated instruments for financial forecasting in order to suggest decisions on the basis of the occurrence of data patterns. Many mathematical and statistical tools for quantitative analysis of financial markets have experienced…