BRAIN Alpha Submission Tests: Requirements and Improvement Tips
This skill provides key requirements and expert tips for passing alpha submission tests. For comprehensive details, thresholds, and community-sourced strategies, please read reference.md.
Overview
Alphas must pass a series of pre-submission checks to ensure they meet quality thresholds.
1. Fitness
Requirements
- •At least "Average": Greater than 1.3 for Delay-0 or Greater than 1 for Delay-1.
- •Fitness = Sharpe * sqrt(abs(Returns) / max(Turnover, 0.125)).
Tips to Improve
- •Increase Sharpe/Returns and reduce Turnover.
- •Use group operators (e.g., with pv13) to boost fitness.
- •Check with
check_submissiontool.
2. Sharpe Ratio
Requirements
- •Greater than 2 for Delay-0 or Greater than 1.25 for Delay-1.
- •Sharpe = sqrt(252) * IR, where IR = mean(PnL) / stdev(PnL).
Tips to Improve
- •Focus on consistent PnL with low volatility.
- •Decay signals separately for liquid/non-liquid stocks.
- •If Sharpe is negative (e.g., -1 to -2), try flipping the sign:
-original_expression.
3. Turnover
Requirements
- •1% < Turnover < 70%.
Tips to Improve
- •Use decay functions (
ts_decay_linear) to smooth signals.
4. Weight Test
Requirements
- •Max weight in any stock <10%.
Tips to Improve
- •Use neutralization (e.g.,
neutralize(x, "MARKET")) to distribute weights.
5. Sub-universe Test
Requirements
- •Sub-universe Sharpe >= 0.75 * sqrt(subuniverse_size / alpha_universe_size) * alpha_sharpe.
Tips to Improve
- •Avoid size-related multipliers.
- •Decay liquid/non-liquid parts separately.
6. Self-Correlation
Requirements
- •<0.7 PnL correlation with own submitted alphas.
Tips to Improve
- •Submit diverse ideas.
- •Use
check_correlationtool. - •Transform negatively correlated alphas.
General Guidance
- •Start Simple: Use basic operators like
ts_rankfirst. - •Optimize Settings: Choose universes like TOP3000 (USA, D1).
- •ATOM Principle: Avoid mixing datasets to benefit from relaxed "ATOM" submission criteria (Last 2Y Sharpe).