Measuring multifractality of stock price fluctuation using multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis

Analyzing the Shanghai stock price index daily returns using MF-DFA method, it is found that there are two different types of sources for multifractality in time series, namely, fat-tailed probability distributions and non-linear temporal correlations. Based on that, a sliding window of 240 frequency data in 5 trading days was used to study stock price index fluctuation. It is found that when the stock price index fluctuates sharply, a strong variability is clearly characterized by the generalized Hurst exponents h(q). Therefore, two measures, and σ, based on generalized Hurst exponents were proposed to compare financial risks before and after Price Limits and Reform of Non-tradable Shares. The empirical results verify the validity of the measures, and this has led to a better understanding of complex stock markets.     

Relationships of exponents in multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis and conventional multifractal analysis

Multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA) is a relatively new method of multifractal analysis. It is extended from detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA), which was developed for detecting the long-range correlation and the fractal properties in stationary and non-stationary time series. Although MF-DFA has become a widely used method, some relationships among the exponents established in the original paper seem to be incorrect under the general situation. In this paper, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrate the invalidity of the expression τ(q)=qh(q)-1 stipulating the relationship between the multifractal exponent τ(q) and the generalized Hurst exponent h(q). As a replacement, a general relationship is established on the basis of the universal multifractal formalism for the stationary series as τ(q)=qh(q)-qH'-1, where H' is the nonconservation parameter in the universal multifractal formalism. The singular spectra, α and f(α), are also derived according to this new relationship.     

多重分形降趋波动分析法和移动平均法的分形谱算法对比分析

多重分形降趋波动分析法(MFDFA)和多重分形降趋移动平均法(MFDMA)是用来估算一维随机分形信号多重分形谱的两种算法, 已被拓展应用于二维和高维分形信号的分析. 本文简要介绍了MFDFA和MFDMA算法及其在一维时间序列中的应用. 首次系统地从算法模型、计算统计精度、样本量的敏感性、无标度区选取的敏感性、矩选择的敏感性和计算量这六个方面对两种算法进行了对比分析, 以典型多重分形信号BMC信号为例, 分析两种算法的适用性和优劣性. 为实际应用中, 针对具体信号如何选用MFDFA或MFDMA算法, 以及两种算法的参数设置提供了有价值的参考.     

Multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis of the Chinese stock index futures market

Based on the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA) and multifractal spectrum analysis, this paper empirically studies the multifractal properties of the Chinese stock index futures market. Using a total of 2942 ten-minute closing prices, we find that the Chinese stock index futures returns exhibit long-range correlations and multifractality, making the single-scale index insufficient to describe the futures price fluctuations. Further, by comparing the original time series with the transformed time series through shuffling procedure and phase randomization procedure, we show the existence of two different sources of the multifractality for the Chinese stock index futures market. Our results suggest that the multifractality is mainly due to long-range correlations, although the fat-tailed probability distributions also contribute to such multifractal behaviour.     

A multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MDFA) of the Chinese growth enterprise market (GEM)

A multifractal, detrended fluctuation approach is used to analyze the growth enterprise market (GEM) in China involving a range of correlations in fluctuations of share prices (fat tail), persistent and anti-persistent states. Our analysis exhibits company-specific multifractal characteristics, which vary among the companies listed in the same industry, e.g., the power-law cross-correlations between computer and electronics sectors. These results may help reduce the risk in complex financial markets.     

The effects of observational correlated noises on multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis

We have numerically investigated the effects that observational correlated noises have on the generalized Hurst exponents, h(q)$h\left(q\right)$, estimated by using the multifractal generalization of detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA). More precisely, artificially generated stochastic binomial multifractals with increased amount of colored noises were analyzed via MF-DFA. It has been recently shown that for moderate additions of white noise, the generalized Hurst exponents are significantly underestimated for q<2$q<2$ and they are nearly unchanged for q≥2$q\ge 2$ [J. Ludescher, M.I. Bogachev, J.W. Kantelhardt, A.Y. Schumann, A. Bunde, On spurious and corrupted multifractality: the effects of additive noise, short- term memory and periodic trends, Physica A 390 (2011) 2480–2490]. In this paper, we have found that h(q)$h\left(q\right)$ with q≥2$q\ge 2$ are also affected when correlated noises are considered. This is due to the fact that the spurious correlations influence the scaling behaviors associated to large fluctuations. The results obtained are significant for practical situations, where noises with different correlations are inherently present.     

Multifractal analysis on international crude oil markets based on the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis

The multifractal nature of WTI and Brent crude oil markets is studied employing the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis. We find that two crude oil markets become more and more efficient for long-term and two Gulf Wars cannot change time scale behavior of crude oil return series. Considering long-term influence caused by Gulf Wars, we find such “turning windows” in generalized Hurst exponents obtained from three periods divided by two Gulf Wars so that WTI and Brent crude oil returns possess different properties above and below the windows respectively. Comparing with the results obtained from three periods we conclude that, before the First Gulf War, international crude oil markets possessed the highest multifractality degree, small-scope fluctuations presented the strongest persistence and large-scope fluctuations presented the strongest anti-persistence. We find that, for two Gulf Wars, the first one made a greater impact on international oil markets; for two markets, Brent was more influenced by Gulf Wars. In addition, we also verified that the multifractal structures of two markets’ indices are not only mainly attributed to the broad fat-tail distributions and persistence, but also affected by some other factors.     

基于双树复小波变换的非平稳时间序列去趋势波动分析方法

多重分形去趋势波动分析是研究非平稳时间序列非均匀性和奇异性的有效工具, 针对该方法中趋势项难以确定的问题, 提出一种基于双树复小波变换的方法, 实现了非平稳信号的多重分形自适应去趋势波动分析. 利用双树复小波变换提取信号的多尺度趋势和波动信息, 通过小波系数的希尔伯特变换确定每个时间尺度不重叠子区间的长度, 使多重分形分析具有信号自适应性及较高的计算效率. 以具有解析形式分形特征的倍增级联信号和分数布朗运动时间序列为例验证本文方法的有效性, 所得结果与解析解相吻合. 与传统的多项式去趋势多重分形方法相比, 本文方法根据信号自身特点自适应地确定信号的趋势和不重叠等长度子区间长度, 所得结果更加精确. 对倍增级联信号时间序列取不同的长度, 验证了算法的稳定性. 分别与基于极大重叠离散小波变换和离散小波变换多重分形方法进行比较, 表明本文方法具有更精确的结果和更快的运算速度.     

A multifractal approach for stock market inefficiency

In this paper, the multifractality degree in a collection of developed and emerging stock market indices is evaluated. Empirical results suggest that the multifractality degree can be used as a quantifier to characterize the stage of market development of world stock indices. We develop a model to test the relationship between the stage of market development and the multifractality degree and find robust evidence that the relationship is negative, i.e., higher multifractality is associated with a less developed market. Thus, an inefficiency ranking can be derived from multifractal analysis. Finally, a link with previous volatility time series results is established.     

The price impact asymmetry of institutional trading in the Chinese stock market

The asymmetric price impact between the institutional purchases and sales of 32 liquid stocks in the Chinese stock market in 2003 is carefully studied. We analyze the price impact in both drawup and drawdown trends with consecutive positive and negative daily price changes, and test the dependence of the price impact asymmetry on the market condition. For most of the stocks, institutional sales have a larger price impact than institutional purchases, and a larger impact of institutional purchases exists only in a few stocks with primarily increasing tendencies. We further study the mean return of trades surrounding institutional transactions, and find that the asymmetric behavior also exists before and after institutional transactions. A new variable is proposed to investigate the order book structure, and it can partially explain the price impact of institutional transactions. A linear regression for the price impact of institutional transactions further confirms our finding that institutional sales primarily have a larger price impact than institutional purchases in the bearish year 2003.     

Multifractal detrended cross-correlation analysis between the Chinese stock market and surrounding stock markets

In this paper, we investigate the cross-correlations between the stock market in China and markets in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong. We use not only the qualitative analysis of the cross-correlation test, but also the quantitative analysis of the MF-X-DFA. Our findings confirm the existence of cross-correlations between the stock market in China and markets in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong, which have strongly multifractal features. We find that the cross-correlations display the characteristic of multifractality in the short term. Moreover, the cross-correlations of small fluctuations are persistent and those of large fluctuations are anti-persistent in the short term, while the cross-correlations of all kinds of fluctuations are persistent in the long term. Furthermore, based on the multifractal spectrum, we also find that the multifractality of cross-correlation between stock markets in China and Japan are stronger than those between China and South Korea, as well as between China and Hong Kong.     

Analysis of the efficiency and multifractality of gold markets based on multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis

In this paper, we investigate the efficiency and multifractality of a gold market based on multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis. Our evidence shows that the gold return series are multifractal both for time scales smaller than a month and for time scales larger than a month. For time scales smaller than a month, the main contribution of multifractality is fat-tail distribution. For time scales larger than a month, both long-range correlations and fat-tail distribution play important roles in the contribution of multifractality. Using the method of rolling windows, we find that the gold market became more and more efficient over time, especially after 2001. The abnormal points of scaling exponents can also be related to some occasional events. By defining a new inefficiency measure related to the multifractality, we find that the gold market is more efficient during the upward periods than during the downward periods.     

Forecasting volatility of SSEC in Chinese stock market using multifractal analysis

In this paper, taking about 7 years’ high-frequency data of the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index (SSEC) as an example, we propose a daily volatility measure based on the multifractal spectrum of the high-frequency price variability within a trading day. An ARFIMA model is used to depict the dynamics of this multifractal volatility (MFV) measures. The one-day ahead volatility forecasting performances of the MFV model and some other existing volatility models, such as the realized volatility model, stochastic volatility model and GARCH, are evaluated by the superior prediction ability (SPA) test. The empirical results show that under several loss functions, the MFV model obtains the best forecasting accuracy.     

Multifractal detrended cross-correlations between the Chinese exchange market and stock market

Based on the daily price data of the Chinese Yuan (RMB)/US dollar exchange rate and the Shanghai Stock Composite Index, we conducted an empirical analysis of the cross-correlations between the Chinese exchange market and stock market using the multifractal cross-correlation analysis method. The results demonstrate the overall significance of the cross-correlation based on the analysis of a statistic. Multifractality exists in cross-correlations, and the cross-correlated behavior of small fluctuations is more persistent than that of large fluctuations. Moreover, using the rolling windows method, we find that the cross-correlations between the Chinese exchange market and stock market vary with time and are especially sensitive to the reform of the RMB exchange rate regime. The previous reduction in the flexibility of the RMB exchange rate in July 2008 strengthened the persistence of cross-correlations and decreased the degree of multifractality, whereas the enhancement of the flexibility of the RMB exchange rate in June 2010 weakened the persistence of cross-correlations and increased the multifractality. Finally, several relevant discussions are provided to verify the robustness of our empirical analysis.     

Asymmetric multifractal scaling behavior in the Chinese stock market: Based on asymmetric MF-DFA

We utilized asymmetric multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis in this study to examine the asymmetric multifractal scaling behavior of Chinese stock markets with uptrends or downtrends. Results show that the multifractality degree of Chinese stock markets with uptrends is stronger than that of Chinese stock markets with downtrends. Correlation asymmetries are more evident in large fluctuations than in small fluctuations. By discussing the source of asymmetric multifractality, we find that multifractality is related to long-range correlations when the market is going up, whereas it is related to fat-tailed distribution when the market is going down. The main source of asymmetric scaling behavior in the Shanghai stock market are long-range correlations, whereas that in the Shenzhen stock market is fat-tailed distribution. An analysis of the time-varying feature of scaling asymmetries shows that the evolution trends of these scaling asymmetries are similar in the two Chinese stock markets. Major financial and economical events may enhance scaling asymmetries.     

Effect of coarse-graining on detrended fluctuation analysis

Several studies have investigated the scaling behavior in naturally occurring biological and physical processes using techniques such as detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). Data acquisition is an inherent part of these studies and maps the continuous process into digital data. The resulting digital data is discretized in amplitude and time, and shall be referred to as coarse-grained realization in the present study. Since coarse-graining precedes scaling exponent analysis, it is important to understand its effects on scaling exponent estimators such as DFA. In this brief communication, k-means clustering is used to generate coarse-grained realizations of data sets with different correlation properties, namely: anti-correlated noise, long-range correlated noise and uncorrelated noise. It is shown that the coarse-graining can significantly affect the scaling exponent estimates. It is also shown that scaling exponent can be reliably estimated even at low levels of coarse-graining and the number of the clusters required varies across the data sets with different correlation properties.     

Effects of quantization on detrended fluctuation analysis

Detrended fluctuation analysis(DFA) is a method foro estimating the long-range power-law correlation exponent in noisy signals.It has been used successfully in many different fields,especially in the research of physiological signals.As an inherent part of these studies,quantization of continuous signals is inevitable.In addition,coarse-graining,to transfer original signals into symbol series in symbolic dynamic analysis,can also be considered as a quantization-like operation.Therefore,it is worth considering whether the quantization of signal has any effect on the result of DFA and if so,how large the effect will be.In this paper we study how the quantized degrees for three types of noise series(anti-correlated,uncorrelated and long-range power-law correlated signals) affect the results of DFA and find that their effects are completely different.The conclusion has an essential value in choosing the resolution of data acquisition instrument and in the processing of coarse-graining of signals.     

An investigation of Forex market efficiency based on detrended fluctuation analysis: A case study for Iran

The efficient market hypothesis (EMH) states that asset prices fully reflect all available information. As a result, speculators cannot predict the future behavior of asset prices and earn excess profits at least after adjusting for risk. Although initial tests of the EMH were performed on stock market data, the EMH was soon applied to other markets including foreign exchange (FX). This study uses the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) technique to test 01:12:2005–18:04:2010 Iranian Rial/US Dollar exchange rate time series data to see if it can be explained by the weak form of the EMH. Moreover, to determine changes in the degree of inefficiency over time, the whole period has been divided into four subperiods. The study shows that the Iranian Forex market (the Rial/Dollar case) is weak-form inefficient over the whole period and in each of the subperiods. However, the degree of inefficiency is not constant over time. The findings suggest that profitable risk-adjusted trades could be made using past data.     

Fluctuations of trading volume in a stock market

We consider the probability distribution function of the trading volume and the volume changes in the Korean stock market. The probability distribution function of the trading volume shows double peaks and follows a power law, P(V/〈V〉)∼(V/〈V〉)^−α at the tail part of the distribution with α=4.15(4) for the KOSPI (Korea composite Stock Price Index) and α=4.22(2) for the KOSDAQ (Korea Securities Dealers Automated Quotations), where V is the trading volume and 〈V〉 is the monthly average value of the trading volume. The second peaks originate from the increasing trends of the average volume. The probability distribution function of the volume changes also follows a power law, , where V_r=V(t)−V(t−T) and T is a time lag. The exponents β depend on the time lag T. We observe that the exponents β for the KOSDAQ are larger than those for the KOSPI.     

Multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis of derivative and spot markets

We investigate the multifractal properties of price increments in the cases of derivative and spot markets. Through the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis, we estimate the generalized Hurst and the Renyi exponents for price fluctuations. By deriving the singularity spectrum from the above exponents, we quantify the multifractality of a financial time series and compare the multifractal properties of two different markets. The different behavior of each agent-group in transactions is also discussed. In order to identify the nature of the underlying multifractality, we apply the method of surrogate data to both sets of financial data. It is shown that multifractality due to a fat-tailed distribution is significant.