Multifractal property of Chinese stock market in the CSI 800 index based on MF-DFA approach

Abstract

CSI 800 index consists of CSI 500 index and CSI 300 index, aiming to reflect the performance of stocks with large, mid and small size of China A share market. In this paper we analyze the multifractal structure of Chinese stock market in the CSI 800 index based on the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA) method. We find that the fluctuation of the closing logarithmic returns have multifractal properties, the shape and width of multifractal spectrum are depended on the weighing order q. More interestingly, we observe a bigger market crash in June–August 2015 than the one in 2008 based on the local Hurst exponents. The result provides important information for further study on dynamic mechanism of return fluctuation and whether it would trigger a new financial crisis.