Heavy Tails

Insights into Tail-Based and Order Statistics ArXiv ID: 2511.04784 “View on arXiv” Authors: Hamidreza Maleki Almani Abstract Heavy-tailed phenomena appear across diverse domains –from wealth and firm sizes in economics to network traffic, biological systems, and physical processes– characterized by the disproportionate influence of extreme values. These distributions challenge classical statistical models, as their tails decay too slowly for conventional approximations to hold. Among their key descriptive measures are quantile contributions, which quantify the proportion of a total quantity (such as income, energy, or risk) attributed to observations above a given quantile threshold. This paper presents a theoretical study of the quantile contribution statistic and its relationship with order statistics. We derive a closed-form expression for the joint cumulative distribution function (CDF) of order statistics and, based on it, obtain an explicit CDF for quantile contributions applicable to small samples. We then investigate the asymptotic behavior of these contributions as the sample size increases, establishing the asymptotic normality of the numerator and characterizing the limiting distribution of the quantile contribution. Finally, simulation studies illustrate the convergence properties and empirical accuracy of the theoretical results, providing a foundation for applying quantile contributions in the analysis of heavy-tailed data. ...

Dynamic Skewness in Stochastic Volatility Models: A Penalized Prior Approach ArXiv ID: 2508.10778 “View on arXiv” Authors: Bruno E. Holtz, Ricardo S. Ehlers, Adriano K. Suzuki, Francisco Louzada Abstract Financial time series often exhibit skewness and heavy tails, making it essential to use models that incorporate these characteristics to ensure greater reliability in the results. Furthermore, allowing temporal variation in the skewness parameter can bring significant gains in the analysis of this type of series. However, for more robustness, it is crucial to develop models that balance flexibility and parsimony. In this paper, we propose dynamic skewness stochastic volatility models in the SMSN family (DynSSV-SMSN), using priors that penalize model complexity. Parameter estimation was carried out using the Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC) method via the \texttt{“RStan”} package. Simulation results demonstrated that penalizing priors present superior performance in several scenarios compared to the classical choices. In the empirical application to returns of cryptocurrencies, models with heavy tails and dynamic skewness provided a better fit to the data according to the DIC, WAIC, and LOO-CV information criteria. ...

Comparing Bitcoin and Ethereum tail behavior via Q-Q analysis of cryptocurrency returns ArXiv ID: 2507.01983 “View on arXiv” Authors: A. H. Nzokem Abstract The cryptocurrency market presents both significant investment opportunities and higher risks relative to traditional financial assets. This study examines the tail behavior of daily returns for two leading cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum, using seven-parameter estimates from prior research, which applied the Generalized Tempered Stable (GTS) distribution. Quantile-quantile (Q-Q) plots against the Normal distribution reveal that both assets exhibit heavy-tailed return distributions. However, Ethereum consistently shows a greater frequency of extreme values than would be expected under its Bitcoin-modeled counterpart, indicating more pronounced tail risk. ...

Phase Transitions in Financial Markets Using the Ising Model: A Statistical Mechanics Perspective ArXiv ID: 2504.19050 “View on arXiv” Authors: Bruno Giorgio Abstract This dissertation investigates the ability of the Ising model to replicate statistical characteristics, or stylized facts, commonly observed in financial assets. The study specifically examines in the S&P500 index the following features: volatility clustering, negative skewness, heavy tails, the absence of autocorrelation in returns, and the presence of autocorrelation in absolute returns. A significant portion of the dissertation is dedicated to Ising model-based simulations. Due to the lack of an analytical or deterministic solution, the Monte Carlo method was employed to explore the model’s statistical properties. The results demonstrate that the Ising model is capable of replicating the majority of the statistical features analyzed. ...

Multivariate Distributions in Non-Stationary Complex Systems II: Empirical Results for Correlated Stock Markets ArXiv ID: 2412.11602 “View on arXiv” Authors: Unknown Abstract Multivariate Distributions are needed to capture the correlation structure of complex systems. In previous works, we developed a Random Matrix Model for such correlated multivariate joint probability density functions that accounts for the non-stationarity typically found in complex systems. Here, we apply these results to the returns measured in correlated stock markets. Only the knowledge of the multivariate return distributions allows for a full-fledged risk assessment. We analyze intraday data of 479 US stocks included in the S&P500 index during the trading year of 2014. We focus particularly on the tails which are algebraic and heavy. The non-stationary fluctuations of the correlations make the tails heavier. With the few-parameter formulae of our Random Matrix Model we can describe and quantify how the empirical distributions change for varying time resolution and in the presence of non-stationarity. ...

Stylized facts in Web3 ArXiv ID: 2408.07653 “View on arXiv” Authors: Unknown Abstract This paper presents a comprehensive statistical analysis of the Web3 ecosystem, comparing various Web3 tokens with traditional financial assets across multiple time scales. We examine probability distributions, tail behaviors, and other key stylized facts of the returns for a diverse range of tokens, including decentralized exchanges, liquidity pools, and centralized exchanges. Despite functional differences, most tokens exhibit well-established empirical facts, including unconditional probability density of returns with heavy tails gradually becoming Gaussian and volatility clustering. Furthermore, we compare assets traded on centralized (CEX) and decentralized (DEX) exchanges, finding that DEXs exhibit similar stylized facts despite different trading mechanisms and often divergent long-term performance. We propose that this similarity is attributable to arbitrageurs striving to maintain similar centralized and decentralized prices. Our study contributes to a better understanding of the dynamics of Web3 tokens and the relationship between CEX and DEX markets, with important implications for risk management, pricing models, and portfolio construction in the rapidly evolving DeFi landscape. These results add to the growing body of literature on cryptocurrency markets and provide insights that can guide the development of more accurate models for DeFi markets. ...

Generalization of the Alpha-Stable Distribution with the Degree of Freedom ArXiv ID: 2405.04693 “View on arXiv” Authors: Unknown Abstract A Wright function based framework is proposed to combine and extend several distribution families. The $α$-stable distribution is generalized by adding the degree of freedom parameter. The PDF of this two-sided super distribution family subsumes those of the original $α$-stable, Student’s t distributions, as well as the exponential power distribution and the modified Bessel function of the second kind. Its CDF leads to a fractional extension of the Gauss hypergeometric function. The degree of freedom makes possible for valid variance, skewness, and kurtosis, just like Student’s t. The original $α$-stable distribution is viewed as having one degree of freedom, that explains why it lacks most of the moments. A skew-Gaussian kernel is derived from the characteristic function of the $α$-stable law, which maximally preserves the law in the new framework. To facilitate such framework, the stable count distribution is generalized as the fractional extension of the generalized gamma distribution. It provides rich subordination capabilities, one of which is the fractional $χ$ distribution that supplies the needed ‘degree of freedom’ parameter. Hence, the “new” $α$-stable distribution is a “ratio distribution” of the skew-Gaussian kernel and the fractional $χ$ distribution. Mathematically, it is a new form of higher transcendental function under the Wright function family. Last, the new univariate symmetric distribution is extended to the multivariate elliptical distribution successfully. ...