Keating and Shadwick (2002) proposed Omega (referred to as Gamma in their original paper) as a way to capture all of the higher moments of the returns distribution.

Omega(
  R,
  L = 0,
  method = c("simple", "interp", "binomial", "blackscholes"),
  output = c("point", "full"),
  Rf = 0,
  SE = FALSE,
  SE.control = NULL,
  ...
)

Arguments

R

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

L

L is the loss threshold that can be specified as zero, return from a benchmark index, or an absolute rate of return - any specified level

method

one of: simple, interp, binomial, blackscholes

output

one of: point (in time), or full (distribution of Omega)

Rf

risk free rate, as a single number

SE

TRUE/FALSE whether to ouput the standard errors of the estimates of the risk measures, default FALSE.

SE.control

Control parameters for the computation of standard errors. Should be done using the RPESE.control function.

...

any other passthru parameters

Details

Mathematically, Omega is: integral[L to b](1 - F(r))dr / integral[a to L](F(r))dr

where the cumulative distribution F is defined on the interval (a,b). L is the loss threshold that can be specified as zero, return from a benchmark index, or an absolute rate of return - any specified level. When comparing alternatives using Omega, L should be common.

Input data can be transformed prior to calculation, which may be useful for introducing risk aversion.

This function returns a vector of Omega, useful for plotting. The steeper, the less risky. Above it's mean, a steeply sloped Omega also implies a very limited potential for further gain.

Omega has a value of 1 at the mean of the distribution.

Omega is sub-additive. The ratio is dimensionless.

Kazemi, Schneeweis, and Gupta (2003), in "Omega as a Performance Measure" show that Omega can be written as: Omega(L) = C(L)/P(L) where C(L) is essentially the price of a European call option written on the investment and P(L) is essentially the price of a European put option written on the investment. The maturity for both options is one period (e.g., one month) and L is the strike price of both options.

The numerator and the denominator can be expressed as: exp(-Rf=0) * E[max(x - L, 0)] exp(-Rf=0) * E[max(L - x, 0)] with exp(-Rf=0) calculating the present values of the two, where rf is the per-period riskless rate.

The first three methods implemented here focus on that observation. The first method takes the simplification described above. The second uses the Black-Scholes option pricing as implemented in fOptions. The third uses the binomial pricing model from fOptions. The second and third methods are not implemented here.

The fourth method, "interp", creates a linear interpolation of the cdf of returns, calculates Omega as a vector, and finally interpolates a function for Omega as a function of L. This method requires library Hmisc, which can be found on CRAN.

References

Keating, J. and Shadwick, W.F. The Omega Function. working paper. Finance Development Center, London. 2002. Kazemi, Schneeweis, and Gupta. Omega as a Performance Measure. 2003.

See also

Author

Peter Carl

Examples


    data(edhec)
    Omega(edhec)
#>                Convertible Arbitrage CTA Global Distressed Securities
#> Omega (L = 0%)              2.848491   1.618552              2.756588
#>                Emerging Markets Equity Market Neutral Event Driven
#> Omega (L = 0%)         1.752959              4.291785     2.630127
#>                Fixed Income Arbitrage Global Macro Long/Short Equity
#> Omega (L = 0%)               3.369045      2.89794          2.314433
#>                Merger Arbitrage Relative Value Short Selling Funds of Funds
#> Omega (L = 0%)         3.955367       3.662014     0.9247907       2.185667
    
    # CRAN (questionably(ahem) requires these methods to not run if you don't have Suggests loaded)
    if(requireNamespace("Hmisc", quietly = TRUE)){
      Omega(edhec[,13],method="interp",output="point")
      Omega(edhec[,13],method="interp",output="full")
    } # end  spurious CRAN check
#>         Funds of Funds
#> -0.0705    292.0000000
#> -0.0705    292.0000000
#> -0.0618    218.7500000
#> -0.0616    166.4285714
#> -0.06      132.1818182
#> -0.0272    102.4117647
#> -0.0269     81.0400000
#> -0.0266     67.9411765
#> -0.0264     58.9318182
#> -0.0262     51.3214286
#> -0.0252     45.7101449
#> -0.0222     41.3614458
#> -0.0205     37.8673469
#> -0.0202     34.9824561
#> -0.0192     32.5496183
#> -0.0176     30.4630872
#> -0.0163     28.6488095
#> -0.0156     27.0531915
#> -0.0149     25.6363636
#> -0.0148     24.3679654
#> -0.0142     23.2244094
#> -0.0141     22.1870504
#> -0.014      21.1677632
#> -0.0138     20.2447130
#> -0.0133     19.3472222
#> -0.0132     18.5333333
#> -0.0127     17.7909739
#> -0.0126     17.1103753
#> -0.0122     16.4835391
#> -0.0119     15.9038462
#> -0.0116     15.3657658
#> -0.0108     14.8646362
#> -0.0104     14.3964968
#> -0.0099     13.9579580
#> -0.0095     13.5254958
#> -0.0093     13.1204819
#> -0.0089     12.7401774
#> -0.0083     12.3822115
#> -0.0082     12.0445205
#> -0.0079     11.7252986
#> -0.0077     11.4229576
#> -0.0074     11.1360947
#> -0.0072     10.8634652
#> -0.0071     10.5935252
#> -0.007      10.3370593
#> -0.0069     10.0930041
#> -0.0068      9.8347758
#> -0.0063      9.5823928
#> -0.0062      9.3436599
#> -0.0059      9.1174033
#> -0.0054      8.9025845
#> -0.0049      8.6982813
#> -0.0044      8.4978593
#> -0.004       8.3015873
#> -0.0037      8.0993789
#> -0.0036      7.9028757
#> -0.0034      7.7165971
#> -0.0033      7.5268440
#> -0.0031      7.3471753
#> -0.0028      7.1767442
#> -0.0027      7.0147982
#> -0.0025      6.8606664
#> -0.0022      6.7105263
#> -0.0021      6.5673931
#> -0.0019      6.4307452
#> -0.0018      6.3001133
#> -0.0015      6.1750731
#> -0.0012      6.0552408
#> -0.001       5.9402678
#> -9e-04       5.8298368
#> -7e-04       5.7214863
#> -6e-04       5.6173149
#> -5e-04       5.5170628
#> -4e-04       5.4204916
#> -3e-04       5.3273827
#> -2e-04       5.2375350
#> 1e-04        5.1507634
#> 4e-04        5.0668967
#> 6e-04        4.9842296
#> 8e-04        4.9042821
#> 9e-04        4.8269089
#> 0.0013       4.7492223
#> 0.0015       4.6740551
#> 0.0017       4.6012745
#> 0.0018       4.5295293
#> 0.0019       4.4600217
#> 0.0021       4.3914975
#> 0.0022       4.3217750
#> 0.0024       4.2542817
#> 0.0025       4.1878812
#> 0.0026       4.1225744
#> 0.0028       4.0593093
#> 0.003        3.9970658
#> 0.0031       3.9367270
#> 0.0032       3.8781984
#> 0.0033       3.8213918
#> 0.0034       3.7654259
#> 0.0035       3.7110747
#> 0.0037       3.6567667
#> 0.0039       3.6032993
#> 0.004        3.5506689
#> 0.0041       3.4988710
#> 0.0043       3.4478998
#> 0.0046       3.3983834
#> 0.005        3.3502545
#> 0.0051       3.3034502
#> 0.0052       3.2573330
#> 0.0053       3.2124601
#> 0.0057       3.1687769
#> 0.0058       3.1262322
#> 0.0059       3.0847777
#> 0.006        3.0443678
#> 0.0064       3.0049595
#> 0.0066       2.9660413
#> 0.0067       2.9280718
#> 0.0068       2.8901225
#> 0.0069       2.8526635
#> 0.007        2.8161148
#> 0.0071       2.7800304
#> 0.0072       2.7448078
#> 0.0073       2.7100251
#> 0.0075       2.6756812
#> 0.0076       2.6417745
#> 0.0077       2.6086611
#> 0.0078       2.5763109
#> 0.0079       2.5446952
#> 0.008        2.5131231
#> 0.0082       2.4819423
#> 0.0083       2.4511505
#> 0.0085       2.4210526
#> 0.0086       2.3916232
#> 0.0088       2.3628380
#> 0.0089       2.3346740
#> 0.009        2.3065521
#> 0.0091       2.2787633
#> 0.0092       2.2515708
#> 0.0093       2.2249538
#> 0.0094       2.1988924
#> 0.0095       2.1731204
#> 0.0096       2.1476366
#> 0.0097       2.1222037
#> 0.0099       2.0970671
#> 0.0104       2.0724500
#> 0.0106       2.0481144
#> 0.0108       2.0242739
#> 0.0109       2.0007015
#> 0.0111       1.9776011
#> 0.0113       1.9547561
#> 0.0114       1.9321647
#> 0.0119       1.9100179
#> 0.0121       1.8881128
#> 0.0125       1.8664478
#> 0.0126       1.8452018
#> 0.0127       1.8243615
#> 0.013        1.8039143
#> 0.0131       1.7838480
#> 0.0133       1.7641509
#> 0.0134       1.7444866
#> 0.0136       1.7251828
#> 0.0137       1.7062287
#> 0.0138       1.6876139
#> 0.0139       1.6693285
#> 0.014        1.6513629
#> 0.0142       1.6337079
#> 0.0145       1.6163546
#> 0.0147       1.5991557
#> 0.0148       1.5822471
#> 0.0152       1.5656208
#> 0.0153       1.5492689
#> 0.0156       1.5331842
#> 0.0157       1.5173592
#> 0.016        1.5017871
#> 0.0163       1.4863393
#> 0.0164       1.4711357
#> 0.0169       1.4561698
#> 0.0171       1.4410888
#> 0.0172       1.4262456
#> 0.0175       1.4116341
#> 0.0182       1.3972484
#> 0.0185       1.3830826
#> 0.0189       1.3691311
#> 0.0191       1.3553887
#> 0.0199       1.3418501
#> 0.0202       1.3285103
#> 0.0203       1.3153646
#> 0.0204       1.3024081
#> 0.0205       1.2895408
#> 0.0206       1.2768569
#> 0.0209       1.2643523
#> 0.0213       1.2520227
#> 0.0216       1.2398639
#> 0.0217       1.2278722
#> 0.0219       1.2160436
#> 0.022        1.2043745
#> 0.0222       1.1928613
#> 0.0223       1.1815005
#> 0.0225       1.1702888
#> 0.0233       1.1592229
#> 0.0244       1.1482996
#> 0.0256       1.1375160
#> 0.0267       1.1268689
#> 0.0274       1.1163556
#> 0.0275       1.1059732
#> 0.0282       1.0957189
#> 0.0286       1.0855903
#> 0.0303       1.0755846
#> 0.0311       1.0656994
#> 0.0312       1.0559323
#> 0.0313       1.0462808
#> 0.0317       1.0367428
#> 0.0334       1.0273160
#> 0.034        1.0179981
#> 0.0373       1.0087872
#> 0.0384       0.9996811
#> 0.04         0.9906778
#> 0.0435       0.9817755
#> 0.0483       0.9729721
#> 0.0622       0.9642659
#> 0.0666       0.9556551