Trading a platinum-gold seasonal spread

Quantitative traders can sometimes lose sight of the fact that many profitable trading strategies are extremely simple, requiring no math at all. Such is the case with a seasonal spread trade between platinum and gold that was profitable in all but one of the last 7 years. This is far more consistent than the seasonal spread trade that ruined Amaranth (see my earlier article).

The strategy is extremely simple: buy 2 July contracts of PL and short 1 June contract of GC around the end of February, and exit the positions around mid-April. (The gold futures contract specifies 100 ounces, while platinum is only 50, therefore we need to buy 2 contracts of PL vs. 1 contract of GC.) I first read about this strategy in an article by Jerry Toepke in the SFO Magazine in the beginning of 2006 and I decided not only to backtest it, but also paper trade this strategy in 2006 to see if it works its magic again. Both the backtest and the paper trade worked as advertised, despite being widely publicized by the magazine. I plot the P/L in this chart:


This spread earned an average of $6,600 every year since 1995. We earned $15,400 in the best year, while in the worst year we lose only $3,810. With a margin requirement of only $743 for trading this spread at NYMEX, the return per trade is not bad!

What is the fundamental reason this seasonal spread works? Amusingly, it has to do with the end of the Chinese New Year. According to Mr. Toepke, the demand for gold is driven by demand for jewelry. Asian countries such as India and China are the largest consumers of gold. A series of festivals and celebrations in these countries around year-end lasted till the end of the Chinese New Year in February, after which demand for delivery of gold is seasonally exhausted. Platinum, on the other hand, is primarily used in catalytic converters for automobiles, and the seasonality is much weaker. It is therefore handy as a hedge for gold prices.

Further reading: Jerry Toepke, “Give Seasonal Spreads Some Respect”, Stocks, Futures and Options Magazine, January 2006 issue.