Evaluating risk in precious metal prices with generalised lambda, generalised pareto and generalised extreme value distributions

Abstract

In this study we investigate the performance of the generalised lambda distribution (GLD), the generalised Pareto distribution (GPD) and the generalised extreme value distribution (GEVD) in modelling daily platinum, gold and silver price log-returns. Our primary goal is to compare GLD against GPD, and GEVD, in the estimation of Value-at-Risk (VaR) and expected shortfall (ES) as per the international Basel regulatory framework. Our analyses show that GPD and GLD generally outperform GEVD for VaR and ES estimation for negative precious metal returns. For gold, the GPD stands out as the most suitable model. For platinum, GPD and GLD are equally adequate, especially at the 1% VaR level. For silver, GLD is the most suitable at 1% VaR level, whereas GPD is the best model at 0.1%. This study has shown that GLD is a suitable model for extreme risk in precious metal prices and can be used for the estimation of VaR and ES values. Keywords: Expected shortfall, Generalised extreme value, Generalised lambda, Generalised Pareto, Precious metal returns, Value-at-Risk