Distribution-Free test for Changepoint Detection in Angular Mean Direction: Application in Finance

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a distribution-free test for detecting changepoint in the mean direction of angular data. The uncertainty in angular measurements is quantified through the \textit{square of an angle}, derived from the intrinsic geometry of the torus. It is established that, under the null hypothesis, the test statistic distributionally converges to the Kolmogorov distribution, while under the alternative hypothesis, both the consistency of the test and the asymptotic properties of the changepoint estimator are established. Through extensive simulations, we compare the empirical performance of the proposed method with two existing approaches for angular data and further benchmark it against a test based on the circular arc length distance. Finally, we demonstrate the practical utility of our approach by analyzing the timestamps of extreme events in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Gold price datasets, where the continuous, high-frequency nature of the data is modeled in the circular framework.