Implied Filtering Densities on the Hidden State of Stochastic Volatility

Abstract

We formulate and analyse an inverse problem using derivative prices to obtain an implied filtering density on volatility’s hidden state. Stochastic volatility is the unobserved state in a hidden Markov model (HMM) and can be tracked using Bayesian filtering. However, derivative data can be considered as conditional expectations that are already observed in the market, and which can be used as input to an inverse problem whose solution is an implied conditional density on volatility. Our analysis relies on a specification of the martingale change of measure, which we refer to as separability. This specification has a multiplicative component that behaves like a risk premium on volatility uncertainty in the market. When applied to SPX options data, the estimated model and implied densities produce variance-swap rates that are consistent with the VIX volatility index. The implied densities are relatively stable over time and pick up some of the monthly effects that occur due to the options’ expiration, indicating that the volatility-uncertainty premium could experience cyclic effects due to the maturity date of the options.     

Computational Bayesian Analysis of Hidden Markov Models

Abstract

Versions of the Gibbs Sampler are derived for the analysis of data from hidden Markov chains and hidden Markov random fields. The principal new development is to use the pseudolikelihood function associated with the underlying Markov process in place of the likelihood, which is intractable in the case of a Markov random field, in the simulation step for the parameters in the Markov process. Theoretical aspects are discussed and a numerical study is reported.     

Filtering of a Multi-Dimension Stochastic Volatility Model

In this article, we study a stochastic volatility model for a class of risky assets. We assume that the volatilities of the assets are driven by a common state of economy, which is unobservable and represented by a hidden Markov chain. Under this hidden Markov model (HMM), we develop recursively computable filtering equations for certain functionals of the chain. Expectation maximization (EM) parameter estimation is then used. Applications to an optimal asset allocation problem with mean-variance utility are given.     

Wavelet improvement in turning point detection using a hidden Markov model: from the aspects of cyclical identification and outlier correction

The hidden Markov model (HMM) has been widely used in regime classification and turning point detection for econometric series after the decisive paper by Hamilton (Econometrica 57(2):357–384, 1989). The present paper will show that when using HMM to detect the turning point in cyclical series, the accuracy of the detection will be influenced when the data are exposed to high volatilities or combine multiple types of cycles that have different frequency bands. Moreover, outliers will be frequently misidentified as turning points. The present paper shows that these issues can be resolved by wavelet multi-resolution analysis based methods. By providing both frequency and time resolutions, the wavelet power spectrum can identify the process dynamics at various resolution levels. We apply a Monte Carlo experiment to show that the detection accuracy of HMMs is highly improved when combined with the wavelet approach. Further simulations demonstrate the excellent accuracy of this improved HMM method relative to another two change point detection algorithms. Two empirical examples illustrate how the wavelet method can be applied to improve turning point detection in practice.     

Interactive hidden Markov models and their applications

^** Email: wching{at}hkusua.hku.hk In this paper, we propose an Interactive hidden Markov model(IHMM). In a traditional HMM, the observable states are affecteddirectly by the hidden states, but not vice versa. In the proposedIHMM, the transitions of hidden states depend on the observablestates. We also develop an efficient estimation method for themodel parameters. Numerical examples on the sales demand dataand economic data are given to demonstrate the applicabilityof the model.     

Asymptotic risks of Viterbi segmentation

We consider the maximum likelihood (Viterbi) alignment of a hidden Markov model (HMM). In an HMM, the underlying Markov chain is usually hidden and the Viterbi alignment is often used as the estimate of it. This approach will be referred to as the Viterbi segmentation. The goodness of the Viterbi segmentation can be measured by several risks. In this paper, we prove the existence of asymptotic risks. Being independent of data, the asymptotic risks can be considered as the characteristics of the model that illustrate the long-run behavior of the Viterbi segmentation.     

Filter‐based portfolio strategies in an HMM setting with varying correlation parametrizations

We consider portfolio optimization in a regime‐switching market. The assets of the portfolio are modeled through a hidden Markov model (HMM) in discrete time, where drift and volatility of the single assets are allowed to switch between different states. We consider different parametrizations of the involved asset covariances: statewise uncorrelated assets (though linked through the common Markov chain), assets correlated in a state‐independent way, and assets where the correlation varies from state to state. As a benchmark, we also consider a model without regime switches. We utilize a filter‐based expectation‐maximization (EM) algorithm to obtain optimal parameter estimates within this multivariate HMM and present parameter estimators in all three HMM settings. We discuss the impact of these different models on the performance of several portfolio strategies. Our findings show that for simulated returns, our strategies in many settings outperform naïve investment strategies, like the equal weights strategy. Information criteria can be used to detect the best model for estimation as well as for portfolio optimization. A second study using real data confirms these findings.     

Hidden Markov Filter Estimation of the Occurrence Time of an Event in a Financial Market

Abstract

In this paper, we use filtering techniques to estimate the occurrence time of an event in a financial market. The occurrence time is being viewed as a Markov stopping time with respect to the σ-field generated by a hidden Markov process. We also generalize our result to the Nth occurrence time of that event.     

Computational issues in parameter estimation for stationary hidden Markov models

The parameters of a hidden Markov model (HMM) can be estimated by numerical maximization of the log-likelihood function or, more popularly, using the expectation–maximization (EM) algorithm. In its standard implementation the latter is unsuitable for fitting stationary hidden Markov models (HMMs). We show how it can be modified to achieve this. We propose a hybrid algorithm that is designed to combine the advantageous features of the two algorithms and compare the performance of the three algorithms using simulated data from a designed experiment, and a real data set. The properties investigated are speed of convergence, stability, dependence on initial values, different parameterizations. We also describe the results of an experiment to assess the true coverage probability of bootstrap-based confidence intervals for the parameters.     

A model for real-time failure prognosis based on hidden Markov model and belief rule base

As one of most important aspects of condition-based maintenance (CBM), failure prognosis has attracted an increasing attention with the growing demand for higher operational efficiency and safety in industrial systems. Currently there are no effective methods which can predict a hidden failure of a system real-time when there exist influences from the changes of environmental factors and there is no such an accurate mathematical model for the system prognosis due to its intrinsic complexity and operating in potentially uncertain environment. Therefore, this paper focuses on developing a new hidden Markov model (HMM) based method which can deal with the problem. Although an accurate model between environmental factors and a failure process is difficult to obtain, some expert knowledge can be collected and represented by a belief rule base (BRB) which is an expert system in fact. As such, combining the HMM with the BRB, a new prognosis model is proposed to predict the hidden failure real-time even when there are influences from the changes of environmental factors. In the proposed model, the HMM is used to capture the relationships between the hidden failure and monitored observations of a system. The BRB is used to model the relationships between the environmental factors and the transition probabilities among the hidden states of the system including the hidden failure, which is the main contribution of this paper. Moreover, a recursive algorithm for online updating the prognosis model is developed. An experimental case study is examined to demonstrate the implementation and potential applications of the proposed real-time failure prognosis method.     

Chaı̂nes de Markov TripletTriplet Markov Chains

The Hidden Markov Chains (HMC) are widely applied in various problems. This succes is mainly due to the fact that the hidden process can be recovered even in the case of very large set of data. These models have been recetly generalized to ‘Pairwise Markov Chains’ (PMC) model, which admit the same processing power and a better modeling one. The aim of this note is to propose further generalization called Triplet Markov Chains (TMC), in which the distribution of the couple (hidden process, observed process) is the marginal distribution of a Markov chain. Similarly to HMC, we show that posterior marginals are still calculable in Triplets Markov Chains. We provide a necessary and sufficient condition that a TMC is a PMC, which shows that the new model is strictly more general. Furthermore, a link with the Dempster–Shafer fusion is specified. To cite this article: W. Pieczynski, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 335 (2002) 275–278.     

HMM based scenario generation for an investment optimisation problem

The Geometric Brownian motion (GBM) is a standard method for modelling financial time series. An important criticism of this method is that the parameters of the GBM are assumed to be constants; due to this fact, important features of the time series, like extreme behaviour or volatility clustering cannot be captured. We propose an approach by which the parameters of the GBM are able to switch between regimes, more precisely they are governed by a hidden Markov chain. Thus, we model the financial time series via a hidden Markov model (HMM) with a GBM in each state. Using this approach, we generate scenarios for a financial portfolio optimisation problem in which the portfolio CVaR is minimised. Numerical results are presented.     

基于二维真实隐马氏模型的手写体文字识别算法

近几年来，人们采用各种方法试图将1D隐马氏模型(HMM)^[2]推广到2D隐马氏模型。令人失望的是由于在建立合适的2D模型及其计算上的复杂度问题上存在困难，前面的尝试都没有得到一个真实的2DHMM．本文对于应用真实2D隐马氏模型(隐马氏网格随机场HMMRF)^[1,4]进行手写字符识别问题提出新的框架，针对文献[1]中的单点最优算法给出局部最优的译码算法。HMMRF模型是1D隐马氏模型到2D的扩展，能更好的描述字符的2D特性。HMMRF在字符识别中的应用具有两个相——学习相和译码相。在学习相和译码相中我们的最优标准是基于极大边缘后验概率的。不过，在涉及到2D模型中的计算问题时，对模型做出某些简单化的假设是必要的。本文用到的方法对于在合理的模型假设下解决手写字符识别问题呈现了很大的潜力。     

Bayesian Analysis of a Two-State Markov Modulated Poisson Process

Abstract

We postulate observations from a Poisson process whose rate parameter modulates between two values determined by an unobserved Markov chain. The theory switches from continuous to discrete time by considering the intervals between observations as a sequence of dependent random variables. A result from hidden Markov models allows us to sample from the posterior distribution of the model parameters given the observed event times using a Gibbs sampler with only two steps per iteration.     

Clustering Multivariate Longitudinal Observations: The Contaminated Gaussian Hidden Markov Model

The Gaussian hidden Markov model (HMM) is widely considered for the analysis of heterogenous continuous multivariate longitudinal data. To robustify this approach with respect to possible elliptical heavy-tailed departures from normality, due to the presence of outliers, spurious points, or noise (collectively referred to as bad points herein), the contaminated Gaussian HMM is here introduced. The contaminated Gaussian distribution represents an elliptical generalization of the Gaussian distribution and allows for automatic detection of bad points in the same natural way as observations are typically assigned to the latent states in the HMM context. Once the model is fitted, each observation has a posterior probability of belonging to a particular state and, inside each state, of being a bad point or not. In addition to the parameters of the classical Gaussian HMM, for each state we have two more parameters, both with a specific and useful interpretation: one controls the proportion of bad points and one specifies their degree of atypicality. A sufficient condition for the identifiability of the model is given, an expectation-conditional maximization algorithm is outlined for parameter estimation and various operational issues are discussed. Using a large-scale simulation study, but also an illustrative artificial dataset, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model in comparison with HMMs of different elliptical distributions, and we also evaluate the performance of some well-known information criteria in selecting the true number of latent states. The model is finally used to fit data on criminal activities in Italian provinces. Supplementary materials for this article are available online     

Arbres de Markov Triplet et fusion de Dempster–Shafer

The hidden Markov chains (HMC) (X,Y) have been recently generalized to triplet Markov chains (TMC), which enjoy the same capabilities of restoring a hidden process X from the observed process Y. The posterior distribution of X can be viewed, in an HMC, as a particular case of the so called “Dempster–Shafer fusion” (DS fusion) of the prior Markov with a probability q defined from the observation Y=y. As such, when we place ourselves in the Dempster–Shafer theory of evidence by replacing the probability distribution of X by a mass function M having an analogous Markov form (which gives again the classical Markov probability distribution in a particular case), the result of DS fusion of M with q generalizes the conventional posterior distribution of X. Although this result is not necessarily a Markov distribution, it has been recently shown that it is a TMC, which renders traditional restoration methods applicable. The aim of this Note is to present some generalizations of the latter result: (i) more general HMCs can be considered; (ii) q, which can possibly be a mass function Q, is itself a result of the DS fusion; and (iii) all these results are finally specified in the hidden Markov trees (HMT) context, which generalizes the HMC one. To cite this article: W. Pieczynski, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 336 (2003).     

Hidden semi-Markov model-based methodology for multi-sensor equipment health diagnosis and prognosis

This paper presents an integrated platform for multi-sensor equipment diagnosis and prognosis. This integrated framework is based on hidden semi-Markov model (HSMM). Unlike a state in a standard hidden Markov model (HMM), a state in an HSMM generates a segment of observations, as opposed to a single observation in the HMM. Therefore, HSMM structure has a temporal component compared to HMM. In this framework, states of HSMMs are used to represent the health status of a component. The duration of a health state is modeled by an explicit Gaussian probability function. The model parameters (i.e., initial state distribution, state transition probability matrix, observation probability matrix, and health-state duration probability distribution) are estimated through a modified forward–backward training algorithm. The re-estimation formulae for model parameters are derived. The trained HSMMs can be used to diagnose the health status of a component. Through parameter estimation of the health-state duration probability distribution and the proposed backward recursive equations, one can predict the useful remaining life of the component. To determine the “value” of each sensor information, discriminant function analysis is employed to adjust the weight or importance assigned to a sensor. Therefore, sensor fusion becomes possible in this HSMM based framework.     

On approximation of smoothing probabilities for hidden Markov models

We consider the smoothing probabilities of hidden Markov model (HMM). We show that under fairly general conditions for HMM, the exponential forgetting still holds, and the smoothing probabilities can be well approximated with the ones of double-sided HMM. This makes it possible to use ergodic theorems. As an application we consider the pointwise maximum a posteriori segmentation, and show that the corresponding risks converge.     

Maximum likelihood estimation for stochastic volatility in mean models with heavy‐tailed distributions

In this article, we introduce a likelihood‐based estimation method for the stochastic volatility in mean (SVM) model with scale mixtures of normal (SMN) distributions. Our estimation method is based on the fact that the powerful hidden Markov model (HMM) machinery can be applied in order to evaluate an arbitrarily accurate approximation of the likelihood of an SVM model with SMN distributions. Likelihood‐based estimation of the parameters of stochastic volatility models, in general, and SVM models with SMN distributions, in particular, is usually regarded as challenging as the likelihood is a high‐dimensional multiple integral. However, the HMM approximation, which is very easy to implement, makes numerical maximum of the likelihood feasible and leads to simple formulae for forecast distributions, for computing appropriately defined residuals, and for decoding, that is, estimating the volatility of the process. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.