Who is King in Factor Zoo? Case of the Chinese Stock Market

This paper aimed to evaluate and compare individual performances and contributions of seven well-known factors, selected from four widely cited asset pricing models: (1) the capital asset pricing model of Sharpe (1964), (2) the three-factor model of Fama and French (1993) the augmented four-factor model of Carhart (1997), (3) the five-factor model of Fama and French (2015), and (4) the illiquidity model of Amihud, et al. (2015) in capturing the time-series variation of stock returns and absorbing the 12 prominent anomalies. The anomalies were constructed by forming long-short portfolios, and regressions were run to examine their monthly returns from 2000 to 2019. We found that there is no definite and absolute “king” in the factor zoo in the Chinese stock market, and size is the relative “king” that can absorb the maximum number of anomalies. Evidence also indicates that the three-factor model of Fama and French may still play an important role in pricing assets in the Chinese stock market. The results can provide investors with a reliable risk factor and help investors form an effective investment strategy. This paper contributes to asset pricing literature in the Chinese market.G1