Copula Multivariate GARCH Model with Constrained Hamiltonian Monte Carlo

The Copula Multivariate GARCH (CMGARCH) model is based on a dynamic copula function with time-varying parameters. It is particularly suited for modelling dynamic dependence of non-elliptically distributed financial returns series. The model allows for capturing more flexible dependence patterns than a multivariate GARCH model and also generalizes static copula dependence models. Nonetheless, the model is subject to a number of parameter constraints that ensure positivity of variances and covariance stationarity of the modeled stochastic processes. As such, the resulting distribution of parameters of interest is highly irregular, characterized by skewness, asymmetry, and truncation, hindering the applicability and accuracy of asymptotic inference. In this paper, we propose Bayesian analysis of the CMGARCH model based on Constrained Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (CHMC), which has been shown in other contexts to yield efficient inference on complicated constrained dependence structures. In the CMGARCH context, we contrast CHMC with traditional random-walk sampling used in the previous literature and highlight the benefits of CHMC for applied researchers. We estimate the posterior mean, median and Bayesian confidence intervals for the coefficients of tail dependence. The analysis is performed in an application to a recent portfolio of S&P500 financial asset returns.