Evidence of a worldwide stock market log-periodic anti-bubble since mid-2000

Following our investigation of the USA Standard and Poor index anti-bubble that started in August 2000 (Quant. Finance 2 (2002) 468), we analyze 38 world stock market indices and identify 21 “bearish anti-bubbles” and six “bullish anti-bubbles”. An “anti-bubble” is defined as a self-reinforcing price trajectory with self-similar expanding log-periodic oscillations. Mathematically, a bearish anti-bubble is characterize by a power law decrease of the price (or of the logarithm of the price) as a function of time and by expanding log-periodic oscillations. We propose that bearish anti-bubbles are created by positive price-to-price feedbacks feeding overall pessimism and negative market sentiment further strengthened by inter-personal interactions. Bullish anti-bubbles are here identified for the first time. The most striking discovery is that the majority of European and Western stock market indices as well as other stock indices exhibit practically the same log-periodic power law anti-bubble structure as found for the USA S&P500 index. These anti-bubbles are found to start approximately at the same time, August 2000, in all these markets. This shows a remarkable degree of worldwide synchronization. The descent of the worldwide stock markets since 2000 is thus an international event, suggesting the strengthening of globalization.     

Tail distribution of index fluctuations in World markets

We have investigated the tail distribution of the daily fluctuations in 202 different indices in the stock markets of 59 countries for the time span of the last 20 years. Power law, log-normal, Weibull, exponential and power law with exponential cutoff distributions are considered as possible candidates for the tail distribution of the normalized returns. It is found that the power exponent depends strongly on the choice of the tail threshold and a sizeable number of indices can be better fitted by a distribution function other than the power law at the region that has power law exponent of 3. Also, we have found that the power exponent is not an indicator of the maturity of the market.     

Stock markets and criticality in the current economic crisis

We show that the current economic crisis has led the market to exhibit a non-critical behavior. We do so by analyzing the quantitative parameters of time series from the main assets of the Brazilian Stock Market BOVESPA. By monitoring global persistence we show a deviation of power law behavior during the crisis in a strong analogy with spin systems (from where this concept was originally conceived). Such behavior is corroborated by an emergent heavy tail of absolute return distribution and also by the magnitude autocorrelation exponent. Comparisons with universal exponents obtained in the international stock markets are also performed. This suggests how a thorough analysis of suitable exponents can bring a possible way of forecasting market crises characterized by non-criticality.     

Characterizing bid–ask prices in the Brazilian equity market

This paper presents evidence of long-range dependence in bid–ask prices for individual equity prices in the Brazilian stock market. Moreover, using the Hurst exponent calculated by the Local Whittle method as a measure of long-range dependence, we find evidence supporting that bid–ask prices shows a stronger long-range dependence than the one usually found in closing and opening prices. Finally, we show that bid–ask prices may be characterized by a distribution that decays as a power law reinforcing the results of Plerou et al. [Quantifying fluctuations in market liquidity: analysis of the bid–ask spread, Phys. Rev. E 71 (2005) 046131].     

Visibility graph network analysis of gold price time series

Mapping time series into a visibility graph network, the characteristics of the gold price time series and return temporal series, and the mechanism underlying the gold price fluctuation have been explored from the perspective of complex network theory. The network degree distribution characters, which change from power law to exponent law when the series was shuffled from original sequence, and the average path length characters, which change from L∼lnN$L\sim lnN$ into lnL∼lnN$lnL\sim lnN$ as the sequence was shuffled, demonstrate that price series and return series are both long-rang dependent fractal series. The relations of Hurst exponent to the power-law exponent of degree distribution demonstrate that the logarithmic price series is a fractal Brownian series and the logarithmic return series is a fractal Gaussian series. Power-law exponents of degree distribution in a time window changing with window moving demonstrates that a logarithmic gold price series is a multifractal series. The Power-law average clustering coefficient demonstrates that the gold price visibility graph is a hierarchy network. The hierarchy character, in light of the correspondence of graph to price fluctuation, means that gold price fluctuation is a hierarchy structure, which appears to be in agreement with Elliot’s experiential Wave Theory on stock price fluctuation, and the local-rule growth theory of a hierarchy network means that the hierarchy structure of gold price fluctuation originates from persistent, short term factors, such as short term speculation.     

Limit order placement as an utility maximization problem and the origin of power law distribution of limit order prices

I consider the problem of the optimal limit order price of a financial asset in the framework of the maximization of the utility function of the investor. The analytical solution of the problem gives insight on the origin of the recently empirically observed power law distribution of limit order prices. In the framework of the model, the most likely proximate cause of this power law is a power law heterogeneity of traders' investment time horizons.     

Quantifying bid-ask spreads in the Chinese stock market using limit-order book data

The statistical properties of the bid-ask spread of a frequently traded Chinese stock listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange are investigated using the limit-order book data. Three different definitions of spread are considered based on the time right before transactions, the time whenever the highest buying price or the lowest selling price changes, and a fixed time interval. The results are qualitatively similar no matter linear prices or logarithmic prices are used. The average spread exhibits evident intraday patterns consisting of a big L-shape in morning transactions and a small L-shape in the afternoon. The distributions of the spread with different definitions decay as power laws. The tail exponents of spreads at transaction level are well within the interval (2,3) and that of average spreads are well in line with the inverse cubic law for different time intervals. Based on the detrended fluctuation analysis, we found the evidence of long memory in the bid-ask spread time series for all three definitions, even after the removal of the intraday pattern. Using the classical box-counting approach for multifractal analysis, we show that the time series of bid-ask spread do not possess multifractal nature.     

Kinetic models for socio-economic dynamics of speculative markets

In this paper we introduce a simple model for a financial market characterized by a single stock or good and an interplay between two different trader populations, chartists and fundamentalists, which determine the price dynamics of the stock. The model has been inspired by the microscopic Lux-Marchesi model (Lux and Marchesi (2000, 1999) [3] and [25]). The introduction of kinetic equations permits to study the asymptotic behavior of the investments and the price distributions and to characterize the regimes of lognormal behavior and the formation of power law tails.     

Stochastic volatility of financial markets as the fluctuating rate of trading: An empirical study

We present an empirical study of the subordination hypothesis for a stochastic time series of a stock price. The fluctuating rate of trading is identified with the stochastic variance of the stock price, as in the continuous-time random walk (CTRW) framework. The probability distribution of the stock price changes (log-returns) for a given number of trades N is found to be approximately Gaussian. The probability distribution of N for a given time interval Δt is non-Poissonian and has an exponential tail for large N and a sharp cutoff for small N. Combining these two distributions produces a non-trivial distribution of log-returns for a given time interval Δt, which has exponential tails and a Gaussian central part, in agreement with empirical observations.     

Self-organized criticality and stock market dynamics: an empirical study

The stock market is a complex self-interacting system, characterized by intermittent behaviour. Periods of high activity alternate with periods of relative calm. In the present work we investigate empirically the possibility that the market is in a self-organized critical state (SOC). A wavelet transform method is used in order to separate high activity periods, related to the avalanches found in sandpile models, from quiescent. A statistical analysis of the filtered data shows a power law behaviour in the avalanche size, duration and laminar times. The memory process, implied by the power law distribution of the laminar times, is not consistent with classical conservative models for self-organized criticality. We argue that a “near-SOC” state or a time dependence in the driver, which may be chaotic, can explain this behaviour.     

Stock market dynamics: Before and after stock market crashes

This paper presents a brief analysis on the distribution of magnitude of major stock market shocks. Based on the Gutenberg-Richter law in geophysics, we model the dynamics of market index returns prior and after major crashes in search of statistical regularities. For a large number of market crashes, our analysis suggests that the distribution of market volatility before and after the stock market crash is described well by the Gutenberg-Richter law, which reflects the scale-invariance and self-similarity of the underlying dynamics by a robust power-law relation. In addition, the rate of the decay of the aftershock sequence is well described by another power law, which is known as the Omori law. Power law relaxation seems to be a common behavior observed in complex systems such as the financial markets.     

基于上证指数高频数据的中国资本市场微观特性研究

以上证指数高频数据为研究对象,基于上涨、平缓和下跌三个市场状态分析我国金融市场的微观特性.通过分析上证指数在不同时间间隔下的概率分布、自相关性和多分形三个特性,发现上证指数对数增量序列存在厚尾、列维非高斯分布特征,且随着时间间隔的增大,收益序列愈收敛于正态分布,其中,下降趋势收敛于正态分布的速度更快,拟合于列维分布的效果更好.最为突出的是,在自相关函数分析中,上证指数的收益率无长期记忆性,而波动率则具有较强的记忆性.同时,波动率的自相关性存在明显的周期性特征,即T=240 min,且在下降趋势时其相关性最高.在以时间增量刻画的多重分形结构中,对于不同的时间序列、时间间隔,由于受投资期限和流动性的影响,三种股市状态的收益率波动存在着短期和长期性的差异.上证指数的总体宏观行为与国际成熟股市较为一致,但在微观特性上仍存在显著差异,其所特有的周期性是投资者的惯性反冲所致,而自相关性函数较之成熟股市衰减较慢,则表明投资者的投资行为更多地受历史信息的影响.     

The risks and returns of stock investment in a financial market

The risks and returns of stock investment are discussed via numerically simulating the mean escape time and the probability density function of stock price returns in the modified Heston model with time delay. Through analyzing the effects of delay time and initial position on the risks and returns of stock investment, the results indicate that: (i) There is an optimal delay time matching minimal risks of stock investment, maximal average stock price returns and strongest stability of stock price returns for strong elasticity of demand of stocks (EDS), but the opposite results for weak EDS; (ii) The increment of initial position recedes the risks of stock investment, strengthens the average stock price returns and enhances stability of stock price returns. Finally, the probability density function of stock price returns and the probability density function of volatility and the correlation function of stock price returns are compared with other literatures. In addition, good agreements are found between them.     

Testing the Goodwin growth-cycle macroeconomic dynamics in Brazil

This paper discusses the empirical validity of Goodwin’s (1967) macroeconomic model of growth with cycles by assuming that the individual income distribution of the Brazilian society is described by the Gompertz–Pareto distribution (GPD). This is formed by the combination of the Gompertz curve, representing the overwhelming majority of the population (∼99%), with the Pareto power law, representing the tiny richest part (∼1%). In line with Goodwin’s original model, we identify the Gompertzian part with the workers and the Paretian component with the class of capitalists. Since the GPD parameters are obtained for each year and the Goodwin macroeconomics is a time evolving model, we use previously determined, and further extended here, Brazilian GPD parameters, as well as unemployment data, to study the time evolution of these quantities in Brazil from 1981 to 2009 by means of the Goodwin dynamics. This is done in the original Goodwin model and an extension advanced by Desai et al. (2006). As far as Brazilian data is concerned, our results show partial qualitative and quantitative agreement with both models in the studied time period, although the original one provides better data fit. Nevertheless, both models fall short of a good empirical agreement as they predict single center cycles which were not found in the data. We discuss the specific points where the Goodwin dynamics must be improved in order to provide a more realistic representation of the dynamics of economic systems.     

Probability distribution function and multiscaling properties in the Korean stock market

We consider the probability distribution function (pdf) and the multiscaling properties of the index and the traded volume in the Korean stock market. We observed the power law of the pdf at the fat tail region for the return, volatility, the traded volume, and changes of the traded volume. We also investigate the multifractality in the Korean stock market. We consider the multifractality by the detrended fluctuation analysis (MFDFA). We observed the multiscaling behaviors for index, return, traded volume, and the changes of the traded volume. We apply MFDFA method for the randomly shuffled time series to observe the effects of the autocorrelations. The multifractality is strongly originated from the long time correlations of the time series.     

A study of the interplay between the structure variation and fluctuations of the Shanghai stock market

The intricate interplay between the variation of the stock network structure and fluctuations of that stock market is increasingly becoming a hot topic. In this work, employing a moving window to scan through every stock price time series over a period from 2 January 2001 to 7 December 2010, we use mutual information to measure the statistical interdependence between stock prices, and we construct a corresponding network for 501 Shanghai stocks in every given window. Then we address the time-varying relationships between the structure variation and fluctuations for the Shanghai stock market. All the results obtained here indicate that at turning points the growing independence of stocks causes the scalefreeness of the degree distribution to be disrupted, and that the Shanghai stock index has little volatility clustering. In contrast, under normality of the market, the stock networks have characteristics of scalefree degree distribution. Furthermore, the degree of volatility clustering is a little higher.     

A mini-review on econophysics:Comparative study of Chinese and western financial markets

We present a review of our recent research in econophysics, and focus on the comparative study of Chinese and western financial markets. By virtue of concepts and methods in statistical physics, we investigate the time correlations and spatial structure of financial markets based on empirical high-frequency data. We discover that the Chinese stock market shares common basic properties with the western stock markets, such as the fat-tail probability distribution of price returns, the long-range auto-correlation of volatilities, and the persistence probability of volatilities, while it exhibits very different higher-order time correlations of price returns and volatilities, spatial correlations of individual stock prices, and large-fluctuation dynamic behaviors. Furthermore, multi-agent-based models are developed to simulate the microscopic interaction and dynamic evolution of the stock markets.     

A precursor of market crashes: Empirical laws of Japan's internet bubble

In this paper, we quantitatively investigate the properties of a statistical ensemble of stock prices. We focus attention on the relative price defined as X(t) = S(t)/S(0), where S(0), is the stock price for an onset time of the bubble. We selected approximately 3200 stocks traded on the Japanese Stock Exchange, and formed a statistical ensemble of daily relative prices for each trading day in the 3-year period from January 4, 1999 to December 28, 2001, corresponding to the period in which internet Bubble formed and crashed in the Japanese stock market. We found that the upper tail of the complementary cumulative distribution function of the ensemble of the relative prices in the high value of the price is well described by a power-law distribution, P(S>x) ∼x^-α , with an exponent that moves over time. Furthermore we found that as the power-law exponents α approached two, the bubble burst. It is reasonable to suppose that it indicates that internet bubble is about to burst.     

Econophysics: Can physicists contribute to the science of economics?

Econophysics is a new word, used to describe work being done by physicists in which financial and economic systems are treated as complex systems. Everyone is affected by economic fluctuations, and quantifying fluctuations is a topic that many physicists have contributed to in recent years. Moreover, everyone – rich and poor – would be powerfully affected by a breakdown of the world-wide financial system. Further, it is possible that methods and concepts developed in the study of strongly fluctuation systems might yield new results in economics. Finally, economic systems are complex interacting systems for which a tremendous amount of quantitative data exists, much of it never analyzed. Here we discuss selected recent examples where statistical physicists studying fluctuations have uncovered two new empirical “laws”. The first empirical law concerns the histogram giving the relative occurrence probability that a stock experiences a given price change; this histogram decreases as the given price change increases, with an apparent power law tail that describes fluctuations differing by as much as 8 orders of magnitude in this relative occurrence probability. The second empirical law concerns a histogram of size changes of business firms, which has a width that decreases as a power law of the firm size for firms that range over roughly 8 orders of magnitude. In addition to such scaling laws, there appears also the analog of “universality” – e.g., the analogous histogram of country size appears to obey the same scaling law, with the same exponent, as the histogram of firm size.