chart.Histogram: histogram of returns

Description

Create a histogram of returns, with optional curve fits for density and normal. This is a wrapper function for hist, see the help for that function for additional arguments you may wish to pass in.

Usage

chart.Histogram(R, breaks = "FD", main = NULL, xlab = "Returns", ylab = "Frequency", methods = c("none", "add.density", "add.normal", "add.centered", "add.cauchy", "add.sst", "add.rug", "add.risk", "add.qqplot"), show.outliers = TRUE, colorset = c("lightgray", "#00008F", "#005AFF", "#23FFDC", "#ECFF13", "#FF4A00", "#800000"), border.col = "white", lwd = 2, xlim = NULL, ylim = NULL, elementcolor = "gray", note.lines = NULL, note.labels = NULL, note.cex = 0.7, note.color = "darkgray", probability = FALSE, p = 0.99, ...)

Arguments

a vector, matrix, data frame, timeSeries or zoo object of asset returns

breaks

how to calculate the breaks between the bars, one of:

a vector giving the breakpoints between histogram cells,
a single number giving the number of cells for the histogram,
a character string naming an algorithm to compute the

methods

confidence level for calculation, default p=.99

probability

logical; if TRUE, the histogram graphic is a representation of frequencies, the counts component of the result; if FALSE, probability densities, component density, are plotted (so that the histogram has a total area of one). Defaults to TRUE if and only i

show.outliers

logical; if TRUE (the default), the histogram will show all of the data points. If FALSE, it will show only the first through the fourth quartile and will exclude outliers.

main

set the chart title, same as in plot

ylab

set the y-axis label, same as in plot

xlab

set the x-axis label, same as in plot

ylim

set the y-axis limits, same as in plot

border.col

color to use for the border

xlim

set the x-axis limit, same as in plot

lwd

set the line width, same as in plot

colorset

color palette to use, set by default to rational choices

elementcolor

provides the color for drawing less-important chart elements, such as the box lines, axis lines, etc. replaces darken

note.lines

draws a vertical line through the value given.

note.labels

adds a text label to vertical lines specified for note.lines.

note.cex

The magnification to be used for note line labels relative to the current setting of 'cex'.

note.color

specifies the color(s) of the vertical lines drawn.

...

any other passthru parameters

Value

chart of histogram of returns

Details

The default for breaks is "FD". Other names for which algorithms are supplied are "Sturges" (see nclass.Sturges), "Scott", and "FD" / "Freedman-Diaconis" (with corresponding functions nclass.scott and nclass.FD). Case is ignored and partial matching is used. Alternatively, a function can be supplied which will compute the intended number of breaks as a function of R.

Examples

Run this code

data(edhec)
    chart.Histogram(edhec[,'Equity.Market.Neutral',drop=FALSE])

    # version with more breaks and the standard close fit density distribution
    chart.Histogram(edhec[,'Equity.Market.Neutral',drop=FALSE], breaks=40, methods = c("add.density", "add.rug") )

    chart.Histogram(edhec[,'Equity.Market.Neutral',drop=FALSE], methods = c( "add.density", "add.normal") )

    # version with just the histogram and normal distribution centered on 0
    chart.Histogram(edhec[,'Equity.Market.Neutral',drop=FALSE], methods = c( "add.density", "add.centered") )

    # add a rug to the previous plot for more granularity on precisely where the distribution fell
    chart.Histogram(edhec[,'Equity.Market.Neutral',drop=FALSE], methods = c( "add.centered", "add.density", "add.rug") )

    # now show a qqplot to give us another view on how normal the data are
    chart.Histogram(edhec[,'Equity.Market.Neutral',drop=FALSE], methods = c( "add.centered", "add.density", "add.rug", "add.qqplot") )

    # add risk measure(s) to show where those are in relation to observed returns
    chart.Histogram(edhec[,'Equity.Market.Neutral',drop=FALSE], methods = c("add.density", "add.centered", "add.rug", "add.risk") )