Almut E. D. Veraart

This article establishes an asymptotic theory for volatility estimation in an infinite-dimensional setting. We consider mild solutions of semilinear stochastic partial differential equations and derive a stable central limit theorem for the semigroup-adjusted realised covariation (SARCV), which is a consistent estimator of the integrated volatility and a generalisation of the realised quadratic covariation to Hilbert spaces. Moreover, we introduce semigroup-adjusted multipower variations (SAMPV) and establish their weak law of large numbers; using SAMPV, we construct a consistent estimator of the asymptotic covariance of the mixed-Gaussian limiting process appearing in the central limit theorem for the SARCV, resulting in a feasible asymptotic theory. Finally, we outline how our results can be applied even if observations are only available on a discrete space-time grid.

In this paper, we conduct a systematic large-scale analysis of order book-driven predictability in high-frequency returns by leveraging deep learning techniques. First, we introduce a new and robust representation of the order book, the volume representation. Next, we carry out an extensive empirical experiment to address various questions regarding predictability. We investigate if and how far ahead there is predictability, the importance of a robust data representation, the advantages of multi-horizon modeling, and the presence of universal trading patterns. We use model confidence sets, which provide a formalized statistical inference framework particularly well suited to answer these questions. Our findings show that at high frequencies predictability in mid-price returns is not just present, but ubiquitous. The performance of the deep learning models is strongly dependent on the choice of order book representation, and in this respect, the volume representation appears to have multiple practical advantages.

This article introduces the class of periodic trawl processes, which are continuous-time, infinitely divisible, stationary stochastic processes, that allow for periodicity and flexible forms of their serial correlation, including both short- and long-memory settings. We derive some of the key probabilistic properties of periodic trawl processes and present relevant examples. Moreover, we show how such processes can be simulated and establish the asymptotic theory for their sample mean and sample autocovariances. Consequently, we prove the asymptotic normality of a (generalised) method-of-moments estimator for the model parameters. We illustrate the new model and estimation methodology in an application to electricity prices.

This paper develops likelihood-based methods for estimation, inference, model selection, and forecasting of continuous-time integer-valued trawl processes. The full likelihood of integer-valued trawl processes is, in general, highly intractable, motivating the use of composite likelihood methods, where we consider the pairwise likelihood in lieu of the full likelihood. Maximizing the pairwise likelihood of the data yields an estimator of the parameter vector of the model, and we prove consistency and, in the short memory case, asymptotic normality of this estimator. When the underlying trawl process has long memory, the asymptotic behaviour of the estimator is more involved; we present some partial results for this case. The pairwise approach further allows us to develop probabilistic forecasting methods, which can be used to construct the predictive distribution of integer-valued time series. In a simulation study, we document the good finite sample performance of the likelihood-based estimator and the associated model selection procedure. Lastly, the methods are illustrated in an application to modelling and forecasting financial bid-ask spread data, where we find that it is beneficial to carefully model both the marginal distribution and the autocorrelation structure of the data.

In this article we will introduce the realised semicovariance for Brownian semistationary (BSS) processes, which is obtained from the decomposition of the realised covariance matrix into components based on the signs of the returns, and study its in-fill asymptotic properties. More precisely, a weak convergence in the space of c\`adl\`ag functions endowed with the Skorohod topology for the realised semicovariance of a general Gaussian process with stationary increments is proved first. The methods are based on Breuer-Major theorems and on a moment bound for sums of products of Gaussian vector's functions. Furthermore, we establish a corresponding stable convergence. Finally, a weak law of large numbers and a central limit theorem for the realised semicovariance of multivariate BSS processes are established. These results extend the limit theorems for the realised covariation to a result for non-linear functionals.

Prediction of quantiles at extreme tails is of interest in numerous applications. Extreme value modelling provides various competing predictors for this point prediction problem. A common method of assessment of a set of competing predictors is to evaluate their predictive performance in a given situation. However, due to the extreme nature of this inference problem, it can be possible that the predicted quantiles are not seen in the historical records, particularly when the sample size is small. This situation poses a problem to the validation of the prediction with its realisation. In this article, we propose two non-parametric scoring approaches to assess extreme quantile prediction mechanisms. The proposed assessment methods are based on predicting a sequence of equally extreme quantiles on different parts of the data. We then use the quantile scoring function to evaluate the competing predictors. The performance of the scoring methods is compared with the conventional scoring method and the superiority of the former methods are demonstrated in a simulation study. The methods are then applied to reanalyse cyber Netflow data from Los Alamos National Laboratory and daily precipitation data at a station in California available from Global Historical Climatology Network.