Trading a mean-reverting asset: Buy low and sell high

This paper is concerned with an optimal trading (buy and sell) rule. The underlying asset price is governed by a mean-reverting model. The objective is to buy and sell the asset so as to maximize the overall return. Slippage cost is imposed on each transaction. The associated HJB equations (quasi-variational inequalities) are used to characterize the value functions. It is shown that the solution to the original optimal stopping problem can be obtained by solving two quasi-algebraic equations. Sufficient conditions are given in the form of a verification theorem. A numerical example is reported to demonstrate the results. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.