Calibration for Weak Variance-Alpha-Gamma Processes

Abstract: The weak variance-alpha-gamma process is a multivariate L\'evy process constructed by weakly subordinating Brownian motion, possibly with correlated components with an alpha-gamma subordinator. It generalises the variance-alpha-gamma process of Semeraro constructed by traditional subordination. We compare three calibration methods for the weak variance-alpha-gamma process, method of moments, maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) and digital moment estimation (DME). We derive a condition for Fourier invertibility needed to apply MLE and show in our simulations that MLE produces a better fit when this condition holds, while DME produces a better fit when it is violated. We also find that the weak variance-alpha-gamma process exhibits a wider range of dependence and produces a significantly better fit than the variance-alpha-gamma process on an S&P500-FTSE100 data set, and that DME produces the best fit in this situation.