  We give a complete solution to the problem of minimizing the expected
liquidity costs in presence of a general drift when the underlying market
impact model has linear transient price impact with exponential resilience. It
turns out that this problem is well-posed only if the drift is absolutely
continuous. Optimal strategies often do not exist, and when they do, they
depend strongly on the derivative of the drift. Our approach uses elements from
singular stochastic control, even though the problem is essentially
non-Markovian due to the transience of price impact and the lack in Markovian
structure of the underlying price process. As a corollary, we give a complete
solution to the minimization of a certain cost-risk criterion in our setting.

Trading and Market Microstructure;Optimization and Control;Probability