Bayesian vs. Evolutionary Optimization for Cryptocurrency Perpetual Trading: The Role of Parameter Space Topology

Abstract

Hyperparameter optimization for cryptocurrency trading strategies encounters distinct challenges owing to continuous operation, volatility rates 3–4 times higher than equity indices, and price dynamics influenced by market sentiment. Bayesian optimization (Tree-Structured Parzen Estimator, TPE) and evolutionary algorithms (Differential Evolution, DE) are great for machine learning, but there are not many systematic comparisons for trading cryptocurrencies. This research evaluates Random Sampling, TPE, and DE through 36 factorial experiments, comprising 3 trading strategies (3, 4, and 5 hyperparameters) × 3 optimizers × 4 cryptocurrency pairs (BTC/USDT, ETH/USDT, INJ/USDT, SOL/USDT), resulting in 14,400 backtesting trials with walk-forward validation. TPE won 75% of strategy–asset pairs (9 of 12), reaching 90% of optimal performance within 13–17% of trial budgets. We find strategy-specific optimizer compatibility: mean-reversion strategies show DE underperformance independent of topology (−1% to −8%), whereas trend-following strategies show consistent DE competitiveness across assets (+13% to +37%). Most notably, for the same strategy, parameter space topology differs significantly between assets (trend following: 4.6% viable on BTC to 82% on ETH = 17.8×; mean reversion: 10.8% on ETH to 92% on SOL = 8.5×), indicating that topology results from strategy–asset interaction rather than intrinsic properties. Complete testing failures and widespread severe overfitting point to regime non-stationarity as a fundamental problem. Among the contributions are: (1) evidence shows that topological effects are dominated by optimizer–strategy compatibility (DE fails on mean-reversion strategies even in 92% viable spaces, but succeeds on trend-following strategies regardless of topology, spanning 13.6–82% viable spaces); (2) this is the first systematic Bayesian versus evolutionary comparison across 4 cryptocurrency assets; (3) parameter space topology emerges from strategy–asset interaction, varying up to 17.8-fold; and (4) single-period backtests inadequately identify parameter instability.