IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2505.13019.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Characterizing asymmetric and bimodal long-term financial return distributions through quantum walks

Author

Listed:
  • Stijn De Backer
  • Luis E. C. Rocha
  • Jan Ryckebusch
  • Koen Schoors

Abstract

The analysis of logarithmic return distributions defined over large time scales is crucial for understanding the long-term dynamics of asset price movements. For large time scales of the order of two trading years, the anticipated Gaussian behavior of the returns often does not emerge, and their distributions often exhibit a high level of asymmetry and bimodality. These features are inadequately captured by the majority of classical models to address financial time series and return distributions. In the presented analysis, we use a model based on the discrete-time quantum walk to characterize the observed asymmetry and bimodality. The quantum walk distinguishes itself from a classical diffusion process by the occurrence of interference effects, which allows for the generation of bimodal and asymmetric probability distributions. By capturing the broader trends and patterns that emerge over extended periods, this analysis complements traditional short-term models and offers opportunities to more accurately describe the probabilistic structure underlying long-term financial decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Stijn De Backer & Luis E. C. Rocha & Jan Ryckebusch & Koen Schoors, 2025. "Characterizing asymmetric and bimodal long-term financial return distributions through quantum walks," Papers 2505.13019, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2505.13019
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2505.13019
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Parameswaran Gopikrishnan & Vasiliki Plerou & Luis A. Nunes Amaral & Martin Meyer & H. Eugene Stanley, 1999. "Scaling of the distribution of fluctuations of financial market indices," Papers cond-mat/9905305, arXiv.org.
    2. S. G. Kou, 2002. "A Jump-Diffusion Model for Option Pricing," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(8), pages 1086-1101, August.
    3. Romanelli, Alejandro & Hernández, Guzmán, 2011. "Quantum walks: Decoherence and coin-flipping games," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 390(6), pages 1209-1220.
    4. Y. Malevergne & V. Pisarenko & D. Sornette, 2005. "Empirical distributions of stock returns: between the stretched exponential and the power law?," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(4), pages 379-401.
    5. Merton, Robert C., 1976. "Option pricing when underlying stock returns are discontinuous," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(1-2), pages 125-144.
    6. R. Cont, 2001. "Empirical properties of asset returns: stylized facts and statistical issues," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(2), pages 223-236.
    7. Black, Fischer & Scholes, Myron S, 1973. "The Pricing of Options and Corporate Liabilities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 637-654, May-June.
    8. Santanu Dutta & Tushar Kanti Powdel, 2023. "Modeling Long Term Return Distribution and Nonparametric Market Risk Estimation," Sankhya B: The Indian Journal of Statistics, Springer;Indian Statistical Institute, vol. 85(1), pages 257-289, May.
    9. Campbell, John Y. & Lo, Andrew W. & MacKinlay, A. Craig & Whitelaw, Robert F., 1998. "The Econometrics Of Financial Markets," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(4), pages 559-562, December.
    10. Tuncay, Çağlar & Stauffer, Dietrich, 2007. "Power laws and Gaussians for stock market fluctuations," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 374(1), pages 325-330.
    11. Rostek, S. & Schöbel, R., 2013. "A note on the use of fractional Brownian motion for financial modeling," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 30-35.
    12. Xavier Gabaix, 2009. "Power Laws in Economics and Finance," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 255-294, May.
    13. Benoit Mandelbrot, 2015. "The Variation of Certain Speculative Prices," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Anastasios G Malliaris & William T Ziemba (ed.), THE WORLD SCIENTIFIC HANDBOOK OF FUTURES MARKETS, chapter 3, pages 39-78, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    14. István Ábel & Pierre L. Siklos & István P. Székely, 1998. "Money and Finance in the Transition to a Market Economy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 830, March.
    15. Madan, Dilip B & Seneta, Eugene, 1990. "The Variance Gamma (V.G.) Model for Share Market Returns," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63(4), pages 511-524, October.
    16. L. C. G. Rogers, 1997. "Arbitrage with Fractional Brownian Motion," Mathematical Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(1), pages 95-105, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. De Backer, Stijn & Rocha, Luis E.C. & Ryckebusch, Jan & Schoors, Koen, 2025. "On the potential of quantum walks for modeling financial return distributions," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 657(C).
    2. Stijn De Backer & Luis E. C. Rocha & Jan Ryckebusch & Koen Schoors, 2024. "On the potential of quantum walks for modeling financial return distributions," Papers 2403.19502, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2024.
    3. Jovanovic, Franck & Schinckus, Christophe, 2017. "Econophysics and Financial Economics: An Emerging Dialogue," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780190205034, Decembrie.
    4. De Domenico, Federica & Livan, Giacomo & Montagna, Guido & Nicrosini, Oreste, 2023. "Modeling and simulation of financial returns under non-Gaussian distributions," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 622(C).
    5. Federica De Domenico & Giacomo Livan & Guido Montagna & Oreste Nicrosini, 2023. "Modeling and Simulation of Financial Returns under Non-Gaussian Distributions," Papers 2302.02769, arXiv.org.
    6. Suárez-García, Pablo & Gómez-Ullate, David, 2013. "Scaling, stability and distribution of the high-frequency returns of the Ibex35 index," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 392(6), pages 1409-1417.
    7. Anirban Chakraborti & Ioane Muni Toke & Marco Patriarca & Frederic Abergel, 2011. "Econophysics review: I. Empirical facts," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(7), pages 991-1012.
    8. Göncü, Ahmet & Karahan, Mehmet Oğuz & Kuzubaş, Tolga Umut, 2016. "A comparative goodness-of-fit analysis of distributions of some Lévy processes and Heston model to stock index returns," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 69-83.
    9. Jean-Philippe Aguilar & Jan Korbel & Nicolas Pesci, 2021. "On the Quantitative Properties of Some Market Models Involving Fractional Derivatives," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(24), pages 1-24, December.
    10. Alexandre Petkovic, 2009. "Three essays on exotic option pricing, multivariate Lévy processes and linear aggregation of panel models," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/210357, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    11. Liuren Wu, 2006. "Dampened Power Law: Reconciling the Tail Behavior of Financial Security Returns," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 79(3), pages 1445-1474, May.
    12. Pablo Su'arez-Garc'ia & David G'omez-Ullate, 2012. "Scaling, stability and distribution of the high-frequency returns of the IBEX35 index," Papers 1208.0317, arXiv.org.
    13. Anirban Chakraborti & Ioane Muni Toke & Marco Patriarca & Frederic Abergel, 2011. "Econophysics review: II. Agent-based models," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(7), pages 1013-1041.
    14. Anirban Chakraborti & Ioane Muni Toke & Marco Patriarca & Frédéric Abergel, 2011. "Econophysics review: I. Empirical facts," Post-Print hal-00621058, HAL.
    15. Ravi Kashyap, 2022. "Options as Silver Bullets: Valuation of Term Loans, Inventory Management, Emissions Trading and Insurance Risk Mitigation using Option Theory," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 315(2), pages 1175-1215, August.
    16. Göncü, Ahmet & Yang, Hao, 2016. "Variance-Gamma and Normal-Inverse Gaussian models: Goodness-of-fit to Chinese high-frequency index returns," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 279-292.
    17. Chen, Zhimin & Ibragimov, Rustam, 2019. "One country, two systems? The heavy-tailedness of Chinese A- and H- share markets," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 115-141.
    18. Leunga Njike, Charles Guy & Hainaut, Donatien, 2024. "Affine Heston model style with self-exciting jumps and long memory," LIDAM Discussion Papers ISBA 2024001, Université catholique de Louvain, Institute of Statistics, Biostatistics and Actuarial Sciences (ISBA).
    19. Henri Bertholon & Alain Monfort & Fulvio Pegoraro, 2006. "Pricing and Inference with Mixtures of Conditionally Normal Processes," Working Papers 2006-28, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    20. Björn Lutz, 2010. "Pricing of Derivatives on Mean-Reverting Assets," Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems, Springer, number 978-3-642-02909-7, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2505.13019. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.