a note on portfolio optimization with quadratic

A Note on Portfolio Optimizationwith Quadratic Transaction Costs

Working Paper 93-2019 I December 2019

Document for the exclusive attention of professional clients, investment services providers and any other professional of the financial industry

A Note on Portfolio Optimization with Quadratic Transaction Costs

Abstract

Pierre Chen Quantitative Research [email protected]

Edmond Lezmi Quantitative Research [email protected]

Thierry Roncalli Quantitative Research [email protected]

Jiali Xu Quantitative Research [email protected]

In this short note, we consider mean-variance optimized portfolios with transaction costs. We show that introducing quadratic transaction costs makes the optimization problem more difficult than using linear transaction costs. The reason lies in the specification of the budget constraint, which is no longer linear. We provide numerical algorithms for solving this issue and illustrate how transaction costs may considerably impact the expected returns of optimized portfolios.

Keywords: Portfolio allocation, mean-variance optimization, transaction cost, quadratic programming, alternating direction method of multipliers.

JEL classification: C61, G11.

AcknowledgementThe authors are grateful to Jules Roche for his helpful comments.

mailto:[email protected]




About the authors

Pierre Chen

Pierre Chen joined Amundi in October 2019 in the Quantitative Research department as an intern. He works on quadratic transaction costs and logarithmic barrier penalization methods for robust portfolio allocation. He is currently a graduate student at ENSAE where he studies statistics and applied mathematics and will be joining the Master of Financial Engineering at the University of Berkeley in March 2020.

Edmond Lezmi

Edmond Lezmi joined Amundi in 2002. He is currently Head of Multi-Asset Quantitative Research. Prior to that, he was Head of Quantitative Research at Amundi Alternative Investments (2008-2012), a derivatives and fund structurer at Amundi IS (2005-2008), and Head of Market Risk (2002-2005). Before joining Amundi, he was Head of Market Risk at Natixis, and an exotic FX derivatives quantitative developer at Société Générale. He started his working career with Thales in 1987 as a research engineer in signal processing. He holds an MSc in Stochastic processes from the University of Orsay.

Thierry Roncalli

Thierry Roncalli joined Amundi as Head of Quantitative Research in November 2016. Prior to that, he was Head of Research and Development at Lyxor Asset Management (2009- 2016), Head of Investment Products and Strategies at SGAM AI, Société Générale (2005-2009), and Head of Risk Analytics at the Operational Research Group of Crédit Agricole SA (2004-2005). From 2001 to 2003, he was also Member of the Industry Technical Working Group on Operational Risk (ITWGOR). Thierry began his professional career at Crédit Lyonnais in 1999 as a financial engineer. Before that, Thierry was a researcher at the University of Bordeaux and then a Research Fellow at the Financial Econometrics Research Centre of Cass Business School. During his five years of academic career, he also served as a consultant on option pricing models for different banks.

Since February 2017, he is Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of AMF, the French Securities & Financial Markets Regulator, while he was Member of the Group of Economic Advisers (GEA), ESMA’s Committee for Economic and Market Analysis (CEMA), European Securities and Market Analysis from 2014 to 2018. Thierry is also Adjunct Professor of Economics at the University of Evry, Department of Economics. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Bordeaux, France. He is the author of numerous academic articles in scientific reviews and has published several books on risk and asset management. His last book “Introduction to Risk Parity and Budgeting” has been published in 2013 by Chapman & Hall and translated in Chinese in 2016 by China Financial Publishing House.

Jiali Xu

Jiali XU joined Amundi in 2018 as a quantitative research analyst within the Multi-Asset Quantitative Research team. Prior to that, he was a quantitative analyst in the Risk Analytics and Solutions team at Société Générale between 2014 and 2018. He is graduated from Ecole des Ponts ParisTech and he also holds a master degree in Financial Mathematics from the University of Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée.


1 Introduction

The general approach for introducing liquidity management in the mean-variance optimiza-tion model of Markowitz (1952) is to assume fixed bid-ask spreads. We then obtain the lineartransaction cost model, which can be solved using an augmented quadratic programmingproblem (Scherer, 2007). However, as shown by Lecesne and Roncoroni (2019a, 2019b), unittransaction costs may be a linear function of the trading size, implying that a model withquadratic transaction costs may be more appropriate. In this article, we investigate thisapproach and show how linear and quadratic transaction costs modify the mean-varianceoptimized framework. In particular, we do not obtain a standard QP problem when trans-action costs are quadratic, because the budget constraint is no longer linear. In this case, weobtain a quadratically constrained quadratic program (QCQP), which is an NP-hard prob-lem. However, using the ADMM framework, we are able to derive an efficient algorithmthat solves this issue. Finally, we use this algorithm to illustrate the impact of transactioncosts on optimized portfolios and Markowitz efficient frontiers.

2 Introducing transaction costs into portfolio optimiza-tion

2.1 Mean-variance optimization with transaction costs

We consider a universe of n assets. Let w = (w1, . . . , wn) be a portfolio. The return ofPortfolio w is given by:

R (w) =

n∑i=1

wiRi = w>R

where R = (R1, . . . , Rn) is the random vector of asset returns. If we note µ and Σ the vectorof expected returns and the covariance matrix of asset returns, we deduce that the expectedreturn of Portfolio w is equal to:

µ (w) = E [R (w)] = w>µ

whereas its variance is given by:

σ2 (w) = E[(R (w)− µ (w))

2]

= w>Σw

The mean-variance optimization framework of Markowitz (1952) consists in maximizing theexpected return µ (w) for a fixed value σ? of the volatility σ (w). This can be achieved bymaximizing the quadratic utility function:

U (w) = γµ (w)− 1

2σ2 (w)

The mean-variance optimization framework can then be rewritten as a standard quadraticprogramming (QP) problem:

w? = arg min1

2w>Σw − γw>µ (1)

s.t.

1>nw = 10n ≤ w ≤ 1n

7


The budget constraint 1>nw = 1 (or∑n

i=1 wi = 1) implies that the wealth is entirely invested,whereas the second constraint indicates that Portfolio w is long-only1.

Let us now introduce transaction costs. We note w the current portfolio and C (w | w)the cost of rebalancing the current portfolio w towards the portfolio w. We deduce that thenet return is equal to the gross return minus the transaction costs:

R (w | w) = R (w)− C (w | w)

It follows that:

µ (w | w) = E [R (w | w)]

= µ (w)− µC (w | w)

and:

σ2 (w | w) = E[(R (w | w)− µ (w | w))

2]

= E[(R (w)− µ (w) + µC (w | w)− C (w | w))

2]

= σ2 (w) + σ2C (w | w)− 2ρC (w | w)σ (w)σC (w | w)

where µC (w | w) = E [C (w | w)] is the expected cost of rebalancing and σC (w | w) is thestandard deviation of C (w | w). The function ρC (w | w) is the correlation between the grossreturn R (w) and the transaction cost C (w | w). Generally, we assume that ρC (w | w) ≈ 0.We notice that transaction costs impact both the expected return and the volatility of theportfolio. However, this is not the only effect. Indeed, we also have to finance the rebalancingprocess since the wealth before and after is not the same. Therefore, the budget constraintbecomes:

1>nw + C (w | w) = 1

Here, we face an issue because the budget constraint is stochastic. This is why portfoliomanagers assume that transaction costs are known and not random. In this case, theoptimization problem becomes:

w? = arg min1

2w>Σw − γ

(w>µ− C (w | w)

)(2)

s.t.

1>nw + C (w | w) = 10n ≤ w ≤ 1n

2.2 Specification of transaction costs

A first idea is to consider constant transaction costs. In this case, we have:

C (w | w) =

n∑i=1

ci · |wi − wi|

where ci is the unit cost associated with Asset i. A better formulation is to distinguish bidand ask prices. Following Scherer (2007), we have:

C (w | w) = C− (w | w) + C+ (w | w)

=

n∑i=1

c−i ·max (wi − wi, 0) +

n∑i=1

c+i ·max (wi − wi, 0)

1This constraint can be removed.

8


where c−i and c+i are the bid and ask unit transaction costs. We deduce that the transactioncost for Asset i satisfies:

Ci (w | w) =

c−i · (wi − wi) if wi < wi

0 if wi = wi

c+i · (wi − wi) if wi > wi

(3)

In this approach, the unit transaction cost is fixed and does not depend on the rebalancingweight:

ci (w | w) =Ci (w | w)

|wi − wi|=

c−i if wi < wi

0 if wi = wi

c+i if wi > wi

We can also assume that the unit transaction cost is a linear function of the rebalancingweight:

ci (w | w) =

c−i + δ−i · (wi − wi) if wi < wi

0 if wi = wi

c+i + δ+i · (wi − wi) if wi > wi

It follows that:

Ci (w | w) =

c−i · (wi − wi) + δ−i · (wi − wi)2

if wi < wi

0 if wi = wi

c+i · (wi − wi) + δ+i · (wi − wi)

2if wi > wi

(4)

In the academic literature, Specification (3) is known under the term ‘linear transactioncosts’, whereas Specification (4) corresponds to ‘quadratic transaction costs’. An example isprovided in Figure 1, where bid and ask transaction costs are different2. On the left side, wehave reported the linear case, whereas the quadratic case corresponds to the right side3. Wenotice that introducing quadratic costs has a more adverse effect on the portfolio’s return.By construction, the choice of one specification will impact portfolio optimization, especiallyif the rebalancing is significant.

3 The case of linear transaction costs

3.1 The augmented QP solution

Since C (w | w) is a nonlinear function of w, Problem (2) is not a standard QP problem.This is why Scherer (2007) suggested rewriting the transaction costs as follows:

C (w | w) = c−i ·∆w−i + c+i ·∆w

+i

where ∆w−i = max (wi − wi, 0) and ∆w+i = max (wi − wi, 0) represent the sale and purchase

of Asset i. By definition, we have ∆w−i ·∆w+i = 0 and:

wi = wi + ∆w+i −∆w−i

2For instance, in the case of corporate bonds, there are some periods where it is easier to sell bonds thanbuy bonds or the contrary.

3The parameters are the following: c−i = 1%, c+i = 2%, δ−i = 2% and δ+i = 3%. Moreover, we assumethat the current allocation w is equal to 0.

9


Figure 1: An example of linear and transaction costs (in %)

-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1

0

1

2

3

4

5Linear cost

-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1

0

1

2

3

4

5Quadratic cost

-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1

0

1

2

3

4

5

-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1

0

1

2

3

4

5

We deduce that Problem (2) becomes:

w? = arg min1

2w>Σw − γ

(n∑

i=1

wi · µi −n∑

i=1

∆w−i · c−i −

n∑i=1

∆w+i · c

+i

)(5)

s.t.

∑n

i=1 wi +∑n

i=1 ∆w−i · c−i +

∑ni=1 ∆w+

i · c+i = 1

wi + ∆w−i −∆w+i = wi

0n ≤ w ≤ 1n

We notice that we obtain a QP problem with respect to the variables x = (w,∆w−,∆w+).Indeed, we have:

x? = arg min1

2x>Qx− x>R (6)

s.t.

Ax = Bx− ≤ x ≤ x+

where:

Q =

Σ 0n,n 0n,n

0n,n 0n,n 0n,n

0n,n 0n,n 0n,n

and:

R = γ

µ−c−−c+

For the equality constraint, we obtain:

A =

(1>n (c−)

>(c+)

>

In In −In

)

10


and:

B =

(1w

)For the bounds, we notice that:

0 ≤ wi ≤ 1 ⇔ 0 ≤ wi + ∆w+i −∆w−i ≤ 1

⇔ −wi ≤ ∆w+i −∆w−i ≤ 1− wi

⇔−wi ≤ ∆w+

i ≤ 1− wi if ∆w−i = 0wi − 1 ≤ ∆w−i ≤ wi if ∆w+

i = 0

However, we know that ∆w−i ≥ 0 and ∆w+i ≥ 0. We deduce that x− = 03n and:

x+ =

1n

w1n − w

Problem (6) is called an augmented QP problem (Roncalli, 2013), because we have aug-mented the number of variables in order to find the optimal solution w? which is given bythe following relationship:

w? =(In 0n,n 0n,n

)x?

3.2 The efficient frontier with linear transaction costs

We consider an investment universe of 7 assets. Their expected return and volatility ex-pressed as a % are equal to:

i 1 2 3 4 5 6 7µi 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 7.50 10.00σi 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 7.50 10.00

We also consider a constant correlation matrix of 25% between asset returns. The initialportfolio is composed of 50% of Asset 1 and 50% of Asset 2.

By assuming fixed transaction costs c− = 20 bps and c+ = 10 bps, we obtain theefficient frontier that is reported in Figure 2. Here, we face an issue because transactioncosts imply that

∑ni=1 w

?i < 1. Therefore, the efficient frontier cannot be represented by the

pair (σ (w?) , µ (w?)) because the net wealth∑n

i=1 w?i depends on the values taken by c−

and c+. With no transaction costs, we retrieve the classical efficient frontier of Markowitz(1952). However, in order to compare efficient frontiers, we have to normalize the optimizedportfolio:

w? =w?

i∑ni=1 w

?i

Indeed, plotting (σ (w?) , µ (w?)) is misleading since we have paid transaction costs in orderto rebalance the portfolio. For instance, if the transaction costs are high, we have

∑ni=1 w

?i

1 and we may obtain a very low volatility and some optimized portfolios may be on the leftof the Markowitz efficient frontier. The reason is that the portfolio is less risky on a nominalbasis because the portfolio notional is reduced. This is why it is better to consider theexpected return adjusted by the transaction costs (also called the ‘net expected return’),which is equal to µnet (w?) = µ (w?) − C (w? | w). The efficient frontier with transactioncosts is then represented by the curve (σ (w?) , µnet (w?)). However, with c− = 20 bps andc+ = 10 bps, Figure 2 gives the impression that transaction costs have little impact on theefficient frontier.

11


Figure 2: Efficient frontier (σ (w?) , µnet (w?)) with c− = 20 bps and c+ = 10 bps

0 2 4 6 8 10

0

2

4

6

8

10

Figure 3: Efficient frontier (σ (w?) , µnet (w?)) with c− = 2% and c+ = 1%

0 2 4 6 8 10

0

2

4

6

8

10

12


Figure 4: Transaction cost

2 4 6 8 10

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

Let us now consider an unrealistic case: c− = 2% and c+ = 1%. We obtain Figure 3and we notice the big impact of transaction costs on the expected return of the portfolio. InFigure 4, we have reported the total amount of transaction costs with respect to portfoliovolatility. Since the case c− = 20 bps and c+ = 10 bps is more realistic, it may not reflectthe real impact on a trading strategy. Indeed, these transaction costs are paid at eachrebalancing date. The efficient frontier considers a yearly expected return, whereas the netexpected return assumes only one portfolio rebalancing in the year, and does not take intoaccount the total turnover of the portfolio. For example, if we assume that we rebalancethe portfolio 5 times in the year, we obtain the green curve that illustrates how cumulativetransaction costs can be damaging for portfolio performance.

4 Introducing quadratic transaction costs

4.1 The issue of the quadratic budget constraint

In the case of quadratic transaction costs, we can use the same approach by consideringaugmented variables. We deduce that:

C (w | w) =

n∑i=1

∆w−i(c−i + δ−i ∆w−i

)+

n∑i=1

∆w+i

(c+i + δ+

i ∆w+i

)= ∆w−>c− + ∆w−>∆−∆w− + ∆w+>c+ + ∆w+>∆+∆w+

13


where ∆− = diag(δ−1 , . . . , δ

−n

)and ∆+ = diag

(δ+1 , . . . , δ

+n

)are two diagonal matrices. It

follows that the objective function of Problem (2) remains quadratic:

f(w,∆w−,∆w+

)=

1

2w>Σw − γ

(w>µ− C (w | w)

)=

1

2

(w>Σw + ∆w−>

(2γ∆−

)∆w− + ∆w+> (2γ∆+

)∆w+

)−

γ(w>µ−∆w−>c− −∆w+>c+

)but the budget constraint is no longer linear:

1>nw + ∆w−>c− + ∆w+>c+︸︷︷︸Linear term

+ ∆w−>∆−∆w− + ∆w+>∆+∆w+︸︷︷︸Quadratic term

= 1

Indeed, the budget constraint is composed of a linear term and a quadratic term.

Let x = (w,∆w−,∆w+) be the vector of original variables and augmented variables. Weobtain:

x? = arg min1

2x>Qx− x>R (7)

s.t.

A1x+ x>C1x = B1

A2x = B2

x− ≤ x ≤ x+

where:

Q =

Σ 0n,n 0n,n

0n,n 2γ∆− 0n,n

0n,n 0n,n 2γ∆+

and:

R = γ

µ−c−−c+

For the equality constraints, we obtain:(

A1

A2

)=

(1>n (c−)

>(c+)

>

In In −In

)and: (

B1

B2

)=

(1w

)The matrix C1 is defined as follows:

C1 =

0n,n 0n,n 0n,n

0n,n ∆− 0n,n

0n,n 0n,n ∆+

The bounds remain the same. We have x− = 03n and:

x+ =

1n

w1n − w

Again, the optimal solution w? is given by the following relationship:

w? =(In 0n,n 0n,n

)x?

14


4.2 The ADMM solution

Following Perrin and Roncalli (2019), we can use the alternating direction method of mul-tipliers (ADMM) algorithm formulated by Gabay and Mercier (1976) to solve Problem (7)and overcome the non linear constraint. To do this, we leave the objective function as well asall the linear constraints in the x-update and put the non linear constraint in the y-update.In this case, the x-update is easily solved using QP, but the y-update is an NP-hard problemin the general case.

4.2.1 The ADMM formulation

Problem (7) is equivalent to:

x?, y? = arg min(x,y)

fx (x) + fy (y) (8)

s.t. x− y = 0n

where:

fx (x) =1

2x>Qx− x>R+ 1Ωx

(x)

and:fy (y) = 1Ωy

(y)

The sets Ωx and Ωy are defined as follows:

Ωx (x) =x ∈ [0, 1]

n: A2x = B2, x

− ≤ x ≤ x+

and:Ωy (y) =

y ∈ [0, 1]

n: A1y + y>C1y = B1

The corresponding ADMM algorithm consists of the following three steps (Boyd et al., 2011;Perrin and Roncalli, 2019):

1. The x-update is:

x(k+1) = arg minx

fx (x) +

ϕ

2

∥∥∥x− y(k) + u(k)∥∥∥2

2

(9)

2. The y-update is:

y(k+1) = arg miny

fy (y) +

ϕ

2

∥∥∥x(k+1) − y + u(k)∥∥∥2

2

(10)

3. The u-update is:u(k+1) = u(k) + x(k+1) − y(k+1) (11)

As noted by Perrin and Roncalli (2019), the x-update is a QP problem:

x(k+1) = arg min1

2x> (Q+ ϕI3n)x− x>

(R+ ϕ

(y(k) − u(k)

))(12)

s.t.

A2x = B2

x− ≤ x ≤ x+

There is no difficulty in finding the numerical solution x(k+1). In fact, the issue concernsthe calculation of y(k+1).

15


4.2.2 The case δ−i = δ− and δ+i = δ+

Generally, the y-update is easily solved by combining proximal operators and the Dykstraalgorithm. However, in our case, we cannot use such a decomposition because the constraintis unusual. In fact, we have the following optimization problem:

y(k+1) = arg miny

1

2

∥∥∥y − v(k+1)y

∥∥∥2

2

s.t. y ∈ Ωy

where v(k+1)y = x(k+1) + u(k). We deduce that the Lagrange function is equal to:

L (y, λ) =1

2

∥∥∥y − v(k+1)y

∥∥∥2

2+

λ

(n∑

i=1

(wi + ∆w−i

(c−i + δ−i ∆w−i

)+ ∆w+

i

(c+i + δ+

i ∆w+i

))− 1

)

Using the similar partition v(k+1)y = (v,∆v−,∆v+) as y = (w,∆w−,∆w+), the KKT con-

ditions are: wi − vi + λ = 0∆w−i −∆v−i + λ

(c−i + 2δ−i ∆w−i

)= 0

∆w+i −∆v+

i + λ(c+i + 2δ+

i y+i

)= 0∑n

i=1

(wi + ∆w−i

(c−i + δ−i ∆w−i

)+ ∆w+

i

(c+i + δ+

i ∆w+i

))= 1

We then get a nonlinear system of 3n+ 1 equations. We first consider the case δ−i = δ− andδ+i = δ+. In Appendix A.1 on page 21, we show that λ is the solution of a quintic equation:

α5λ5 + α4λ

4 + α3λ3 + α2λ

2 + α1λ+ α0 = 0

From this, we can conclude that there are as many solutions to the nonlinear system asthere are real roots to the last polynomial equation. Since we know that KKT conditions arenecessary, it is sufficient to compare the different solutions obtained for this system in orderto find the solution of our original program4. More general methods are available in order tonumerically solve the nonlinear system such as the Newton-Raphson algorithm. However,for these methods, it is usually necessary to compute the inverse of a Hessian matrix at eachstep of iteration which is very costly (around O

((3n+ 1)3

)). By taking advantage of the

derivation of the y-update, we only need one step of cost O(53)

to compute the roots of thepolynomial in order to solve the system.

4.2.3 The case δ−i 6= δ−j and δ+i 6= δ+

j

The case δ−i 6= δ−j and δ+i 6= δ+

j complicates the problem. Indeed, we obtain a polynomialequation of degree 2n+ 1. Another solution is to rewrite the y-update problem in a matrixform5:

y(k+1) = arg min1

2

(y − v(k+1)

y

)> (y − v(k+1)

y

)s.t. A1y + y>C1y −B1 = 0

4It is also possible that there are cases where we can get several solutions as we are projecting onto aquadratic equation. For example, we would get an infinite number of solutions if we project a point onto acircle, where this point is its center. However, in the general case, we avoid these critical points and findonly one single real root to the polynomial equation.

5ϕ is set to one because its value has no impact on the solution.

16


We obtain a quadratically constrained quadratic program (QCQP). Since a quadratic equal-ity is not convex, the optimization problem is not convex. More generally, a QCQP is anNP-hard problem. A numerical solution is therefore to consider an interior-point algorithmby specifying the gradient of the objective function, the gradient of the equality constraintand the Hessian of the Lagrangian6. However, since we have only one constraint and theobjective function is simple, we can derive the numerical solution (Park and Boyd, 2017),which is described in Appendix A.2 on page 23.

Remark 1. The ADMM formulation has allowed us to split the QCQP Problem (7) with twoinequality and two equality constraints into a QP problem (x-update) and a QCQP problemwith only one constraint (y-update). As explained by Park and Boyd (2017), solving QCQPwith one constraint is feasible and relatively easy. This is not always the case when thereare two or more constraints.

4.3 The efficient frontier with quadratic transaction costs

We consider our previous example. We assume that the current portfolio is the optimalportfolio w corresponding to volatility of 2%. In a second period, the portfolio managerwould increase portfolio risk and target volatility equal to 4%. Portfolio w?

MVO is the optimalsolution if we do not take into account transaction costs. However, this portfolio is notrealistic if we consider transaction costs. We set c− = 2%, c+ = 1%, δ− = 5% and δ+ = 5%.The results are given in Table 1. In the case of linear transaction costs, we obtain Portfoliow?

LC. We observe that the two solutions w?MVO and w?

LC are very different. For instance, theLC solution keeps a significant proportion of Asset 2 in order to pay less transaction costs.Indeed, Portfolios w?

MVO and w?LC pay respectively 1.58% and 0.98% of transaction costs. In

the case of quadratic transaction costs, the solution is Portfolio w?QC. We notice that it has

a lower turnover than the two previous portfolios. Moreover, it selects assets with a highreturn in order to compensate for the transaction costs. This is why we obtain a weight of29.13% for Asset 7.

Table 1: Comparison of optimized portfolios with linear and quadratic costs

Asset w w?MVO w?

LC w?QC w?

LC w?QC

1 26.16 0.01 0.00 6.70 0.00 6.802 21.41 0.08 14.52 10.84 14.67 11.013 16.13 10.92 16.13 14.32 16.28 14.534 12.79 22.42 12.79 12.78 12.91 12.985 10.56 24.77 10.56 10.56 10.67 10.726 7.34 22.59 18.27 14.17 18.45 14.387 5.62 19.22 26.74 29.13 27.01 29.57

µ (w) 3.33 6.08 5.86 5.73 5.92 5.82σ (w) 2.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.04 4.06

CLC (w | w) 1.58 0.98 0.94CQC (w | w) 2.52 1.63 1.49µLC (w | w) 3.33 4.50 4.88 4.79µQC (w | w) 3.33 3.56 4.23 4.24

In Figure 5, we have reported the efficient frontier with the previous transaction costs.We verify that it is below the unconstrained MVO efficient frontier. We also notice that

6They are respectively equal to y − v(k+1)y , A1 + 2C1y and In + 2λC1.

17


Figure 5: Efficient frontier (σ (w?) , µnet (w?)) with quadratic transaction costs

0 2 4 6 8 10

0

2

4

6

8

10

quadratic transaction costs have a significant adverse effect on the net expected return ofoptimized portfolios. In our example, we rebalance a portfolio, which has low volatility. Thisimplies that it is inefficient to target an optimized portfolio with high volatility, becausewe have to pay substantial transaction costs. For instance, it is impossible to target anexpected return greater than 4%, implying that having portfolio volatility higher than 5%is not optimal.

Remark 2. We do not say that it is impossible to target volatility higher than 5%, but wesay that it is not optimal. Indeed, the ADMM algorithm stops before the optimized portfolioreaches 5%. In order to match volatility σ? > 5%, we have to solve the strict σ-problem:

w? = arg max

n∑i=1

wi · µi −n∑

i=1

∆w−i(c−i + δ−i ∆w−i

)−

n∑i=1

∆w+i

(c+i + δ+

i ∆w+i

)(13)

s.t.

∑n

i=1 wi +∑n

i=1 ∆w−i(c−i + δ−i ∆w−i

)+∑n

i=1 ∆w+i

(c+i + δ+

i ∆w+i

)= 1

wi + ∆w−i −∆w+i = wi√

w>Σw = σ?

0n ≤ w ≤ 1n

This can be done by rewriting Problem (13) as a QCQP program7. In Figure 5, we verifythat QCQP optimized portfolios such that σ (w?) > 5% are in fact not optimal, because theyare dominated by portfolios with a higher expected return and lower volatility.

7See Appendix A.3 on page 24.

18


5 Conclusion

In this short note, we study mean-variance optimized portfolios with linear and quadratictransaction costs. We show how the problem can be solved using the techniques of quadraticprogramming and alternating direction method of multipliers. We also illustrate how linearand quadratic transaction costs can lead to different solutions and penalize the portfolio’sreturn. Moreover, the introduction of quadratic transaction costs opens a new field ofresearch when we consider transition management, asset ramp-up or portfolio scaling.

19


References

[1] Boyd, S., Parikh, N., Chu, E., Peleato, B., and Eckstein, J. (2010), DistributedOptimization and Statistical Learning via the Alternating Direction Method of Multi-pliers, Foundations and Trends R© in Machine learning, 3(1), pp. 1-122.

[2] Gabay, D., and Mercier, B. (1976), A Dual Algorithm for the Solution of NonlinearVariational Problems via Finite Element Approximation, Computers & Mathematicswith Applications, 2(1), pp. 17-40.

[3] Lecesne, L., and Roncoroni, A. (2019a), Optimal Allocation in the S&P 600 UnderSize-driven Illiquidity, ESSEC Working Paper.

[4] Lecesne, L., and Roncoroni, A. (2019b), How Should Funds Decisions and Perfor-mances React to Size-Driven Liquidity Friction, ESSEC Working Paper.

[5] Markowitz, H. (1952), Portfolio Selection, Journal of Finance, 7(1), pp. 77-91.

[6] Park, J., and Boyd, S. (2017), General Heuristics for Nonconvex Quadratically Con-strained Quadratic Programming, arXiv, 1703.07870.

[7] Perrin, S., and Roncalli, T. (2019), Machine Learning Algorithms and PortfolioOptimization, in Jurczenko, E. (Ed.), Machine Learning in Asset Management, ISTEPress – Elsevier, forthcoming.

[8] Roncalli, T. (2013), Introduction to Risk Parity and Budgeting, Chapman andHall/CRC Financial Mathematics Series.

[9] Scherer, B. (2007), Portfolio Construction & Risk Budgeting, Third edition, RiskBooks.

20


Appendix

A Mathematical results

A.1 Solution of the y-update in the case δ−i = δ− and δ+i = δ+

We would like to solve the following nonlinear system of 3n+ 1 equations:

wi − vi + λ = 0∆w−i −∆v−i + λ

(c−i + 2δ−∆w−i

)= 0

∆w+i −∆v+

i + λ(c+i + 2δ+∆w+

i

)= 0∑n

i=1

(wi + ∆w−i

(c−i + δ−∆w−i

)+ ∆w+

i

(c+i + δ+∆w+

i

))= 1

The first 3n equations are equivalent to:

wi = vi − λ

∆w−i =∆v−i − λc

−i

λ−

∆w+i =

∆v+i − λc

+i

λ+

where λ− = 1 + 2λδ− and λ+ = 1 + 2λδ+. The last equation then becomes:

(∗) ⇔n∑

i=1

(vi − λ) +

n∑i=1

(∆v−i − λc

−i

λ−

)(c−i + δ−i

∆v−i − λc−i

λ−

)+

n∑i=1

(∆v+

i − λc+i

λ+

)(c+i + δ+

i

∆v+i − λc

+i

λ+

)= 1

⇔ λ−2

λ+2

(n∑

i=1

vi − 1

)− λλ−

2

λ+2

n+

λ−λ+2n∑

i=1

c−i(∆v−i − λc

−i

)+ λ+2

δ−n∑

i=1

(∆v−i − λc

−i

)2+

λ−2

λ+n∑

i=1

c+i(∆v+

i − λc+i

)+ λ−

2

δ+n∑

i=1

(∆v+

i − λc+i

)2= 0

We have λ−2

=(

4δ−2)λ2 + (4δ−)λ+ 1, λ+2

=(

4δ+2)λ2 + (4δ+)λ+ 1 and:

λ−λ+2

=(

8δ−δ+2)λ3 + 4δ+

(2δ− + δ+

)λ2 + 2

(δ− + 2δ+

)λ+ 1

λ−2

λ+ =(

8δ−2

δ+)λ3 + 4δ−

(δ− + 2δ+

)λ2 + 2

(2δ− + δ+

)λ+ 1

λ−2

λ+2

=(

16δ−2

δ+2)λ4 + 16δ−δ+

(δ− + δ+

)λ3 +

4(δ−

2

+ 4δ−δ+ + δ+2)λ2 + 4

(δ− + δ+

)λ+ 1

21


We deduce that:

(∗) ⇔

(n∑

i=1

vi − 1

)((16δ−

2

δ+2)λ4 + 16δ−δ+

(δ− + δ+

)λ3 + 4

(δ−

2

+ 4δ−δ+ + δ+2)λ2)

+(n∑

i=1

vi − 1

)(4(δ− + δ+

)λ+ 1

)− n

((16δ−

2

δ+2)λ5 + 16δ−δ+

(δ− + δ+

)λ4)−

n(

4(δ−

2

+ 4δ−δ+ + δ+2)λ3 + 4

(δ− + δ+

)λ2 + λ

)+(

n∑i=1

c−i ∆v−i

)((8δ−δ+2

)λ3 + 4δ+

(2δ− + δ+

)λ2 + 2

(δ− + 2δ+

)λ+ 1

)−(

n∑i=1

c−2

i

)((8δ−δ+2

)λ4 + 4δ+

(2δ− + δ+

)λ3 + 2

(δ− + 2δ+

)λ2 + λ

)+(

δ−n∑

i=1

∆v−2

i

)((4δ+2

)λ2 +

(4δ+

)λ+ 1

)−(

2δ−n∑

i=1

∆v−i c−i

)((4δ+2

)λ3 +

(4δ+

)λ2 + λ

)+(

δ−n∑

i=1

c−2

i

)((4δ+2

)λ4 +

(4δ+

)λ3 + λ2

)+(

n∑i=1

c+i ∆v+i

)((8δ−

2

δ+)λ3 + 4δ−

(δ− + 2δ+

)λ2 + 2

(2δ− + δ+

)λ+ 1

)−(

n∑i=1

c+2

i

)((8δ−

2

δ+)λ4 + 4δ−

(δ− + 2δ+

)λ3 + 2

(2δ− + δ+

)λ2 + λ

)+(

δ+n∑

i=1

∆v+2

i

)((4δ−

2)λ2 +

(4δ−

)λ+ 1

)−(

2δ+n∑

i=1

∆v+i c

+i

)((4δ−

2)λ3 +

(4δ−

)λ2 + λ

)+(

δ+n∑

i=1

c+2

i

)((4δ−

2)λ4 +

(4δ−

)λ3 + λ2

)= 0

We obtain a quintic equation:

α5λ5 + α4λ

4 + α3λ3 + α2λ

2 + α1λ+ α0 = 0

where:α5 = 16nδ−

2

δ+2

α4 =(

16δ−2

δ+2)( n∑

i=1

vi − 1

)− 16nδ−δ+

(δ− + δ+

)−

4δ−δ+

(δ+

n∑i=1

c−2

i + δ−n∑

i=1

c+2

i

)

22


α3 = 16δ−δ+(δ− + δ+

)( n∑i=1

vi − 1

)− 4n

(δ−

2

+ 4δ−δ+ + δ+2)−

4(δ− + δ+

)(δ+

n∑i=1

c−2

i + δ−n∑

i=1

c+2

i

)

α2 = 4(δ−

2

+ 4δ−δ+ + δ+2)( n∑

i=1

vi − 1

)− 4n

(δ− + δ+

)+

4

(δ+2

n∑i=1

c−i ∆v−i + δ−2

n∑i=1

c+i ∆v+i

)−(δ− + 4δ+

) n∑i=1

c−2

i −

(4δ− + δ+

) n∑i=1

c+2

i + 4δ−δ+

(δ+

n∑i=1

∆v−2

i + δ−n∑

i=1

∆v+2

i

)

α1 = 4(δ− + δ+

)( n∑i=1

vi − 1

)− n+ 4

(δ+

n∑i=1

c−i ∆v−i + δ−n∑

i=1

c+i ∆v+i

)−(

n∑i=1

c−2

i +

n∑i=1

c+2

i

)+ 4δ−δ+

(n∑

i=1

∆v−2

i +

n∑i=1

∆v+2

i

)

and:

α0 =

(n∑

i=1

vi − 1

)+

(n∑

i=1

c−i ∆v−i +

n∑i=1

c+i ∆v+i

)+

(δ−

n∑i=1

∆v−2

i + δ+n∑

i=1

∆v+2

i

)

A.2 Solution of the y-update in the case δ−i 6= δ−j and δ+i 6= δ+

j

We consider the following optimization problem:

y(k+1) = arg min1

2

(y − v(k+1)

y

)> (y − v(k+1)

y

)s.t. A1y + y>C1y −B1 = 0

Following Park and Boyd (2017), the Lagrangian is given by:

L (y, λ) =1

2

(y − v(k+1)

y

)> (y − v(k+1)

y

)+ λ

(A1y + y>C1y −B1

)=

1

2y> (I3n + 2λC1) y +

(λA1 − v(k+1)>

y

)y +(

1

2v(k+1)>y v(k+1)

y − λB1

)The first order conditions are:

(I3n + 2λC1) y + λA>1 − v(k+1)y = 03n

A1y + y>C1y −B1 = 0

Therefore, we have:

y = (I3n + 2λC1)−1(v(k+1)y − λA>1

)23


It follows that the equality constraint becomes:

A1 (I3n + 2λC1)−1(v(k+1)y − λA>1

)+(

v(k+1)y − λA>1

)>(I3n + 2λC1)

−1C1 (I3n + 2λC1)

−1(v(k+1)y − λA>1

)−B1 = 0

Since C1 is a diagonal matrix, (I3n + 2λC1)−1

is also a diagonal matrix. It follows that theprevious equation is equivalent to:

3n∑i=1

A1,i

(v

(k+1)y,i − λA1,i

)1 + 2λ (C1)i,i

+

3n∑i=1

(C1)i,i

(v

(k+1)y,i − λA1,i

)2

(1 + 2λ (C1)i,i

)2 −B1 = 0

By replacing A1,i, B1, (C1)i,i and v(k+1)y,i by their values, we obtain the following nonlinear

equation:

n∑i=1

(vi − λ) +

n∑i=1

c−i(∆v−i − λc

−i

)1 + 2λδ−i

+

n∑i=1

c+i(∆v+

i − λc+i

)1 + 2λδ+

i

+

n∑i=1

δ−i(∆v−i − λc

−i

)2(1 + 2λδ−i

)2 +

n∑i=1

δ+i

(∆v+

i − λc+i

)2(1 + 2λδ+

i

)2 − 1 = 0

Park and Boyd (2017) noticed that the derivative of the lefthand side is negative, meaningthat the function is decreasing and has a unique root. They then suggested to solve thisequation using the bisection method. Once the optimal value λ? is found, the solution y(k+1)

is given by: wi = vi − λ?

∆w−i =∆v−i − λ?c

−i

1 + 2λ?δ−i

∆w+i =

∆v+i − λ?c

+i

1 + 2λ?δ+i

A.3 QCQP formulation of the strict σ-problem

In the case of the strict σ-problem, the optimization problem becomes:

x? = arg min−x>R+ x>Qx

s.t.

A1x+ x>C1x = B1

A2x = B2

x>C3x = B3

x− ≤ x ≤ x+

where x = (w,∆w−,∆w+),

Q =

0n,n 0n,n 0n,n

0n,n ∆− 0n,n

0n,n 0n,n ∆+

and:

R =

µ−c−−c+

24


For the equality constraints, we obtain:(A1

A2

)=

(1>n (c−)

>(c+)

>

In In −In

)and: B1

B2

B3

=

1wσ?2

where σ? is the targeted volatility of the portfolio. The matrices C1 and C3 are defined asfollows:

C1 =

0n,n 0n,n 0n,n

0n,n ∆− 0n,n

0n,n 0n,n ∆+

and:

C3 =

Σ 0n,n 0n,n

0n,n 0n,n 0n,n

0n,n 0n,n 0n,n

The bounds remain the same: x− = 03n and:

x+ =

1n

w1n − w

Again, the optimal solution w? is given by the following relationship:

w? =(In 0n,n 0n,n

)x?

25

Chief Editors

Pascal BLANQUÉChief Investment Officer

Philippe ITHURBIDESenior Economic Advisor

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Working PaperDecember 2019

a note on portfolio optimization with quadratic

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