Model of continuous random cascade processes in financial markets

Abstract: This article present a continuous cascade model of volatility formulated as a stochastic differential equation. Two independent Brownian motions are introduced as random sources triggering the volatility cascade. One multiplicatively combines with volatility; the other does so additively. Assuming that the latter acts perturbatively on the system, then the model parameters are estimated by application to an actual stock price time series. Numerical calculation of the Fokker--Planck equation derived from the stochastic differential equation is conducted using the estimated values of parameters. The results reproduce the pdf of the empirical volatility, the multifractality of the time series, and other empirical facts.