Machine Learning in Asset Management—Part 1: Portfolio Construction—Trading Strategies

This is the first in a series of arti-cles dealing with machine learning in asset management. Asset management can be broken into the following tasks: (1) portfolio construction, (2) risk management, (3) capital management, (4) infra-structure and deployment, and (5) sales and marketing. This article focuses on portfolio construction using machine learning. Historically, algorithmic trading could be more narrowly defined as the automation of sell-side trade execution, but since the introduction of more advanced algorithms, the definition has grown to include idea generation, alpha factor design, asset allocation, position sizing, and the testing of strategies. Machine learning, from the vantage of a decision-making tool, can help in all these areas.