Comparing the Efficiency and Similarity Between WTI, Fiat Currencies and Foreign Exchange Rates

Abstract

The complex dynamics of financial asset prices play a pivotal role in the global economy and consequently in the life of the people. Thus, this research encompasses a systematic analysis of the price dynamics of the financial assets considering simultaneously four critical attributes of the financial market (disorder, predictability, efficiency and similarity/dissimilarity). We explore these essential attributes of the financial market using the permutation entropy ([Formula: see text]) and Fisher Information measure ([Formula: see text]), and cluster analysis. Primary, we use the values of the information theory quantifiers to construct the Shannon–Fisher causality plane (SFCP) allows us to quantify the disorder and assess the randomness exhibited by these financial price time series. Bearing in mind the complexity hierarchy, we apply the values of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] to rank the efficiency of these financial assets. The overall results suggest that the fiat currencies of developed countries, such as the Canadian dollar (CAD), British pound (GBP), and Norwegian krone (NOK), display higher disorder, lower predictability, and higher efficiency than other financial assets such as Crude oil (WTI) and Foreign exchange rates. Also, the cluster analysis provided by the K-means and the Hierarchical cluster techniques grouped these financial assets into only three distinct groups. We conclude that an oligopolistic market structure drives the WTI. At the same time, the other financial assets are characterized by atomized markets.