Platykurtic
A description of the kurtosis in a distribution in which the statistical value is negative. When compared to a normal distribution, a platykurtic data set has a flatter peak around its mean, which causes thin tails within the distribution. The flatness results from the data being less concentrated around its mean, due to large variations within observations. Investopedia Says:
Referred to as the "volatility of volatility", kurtosis gauges the level of fluctuation within a distribution. High levels of kurtosis represent a low level of data fluctuation, as the observations cluster about the mean. Lower values of kurtosis mean that data has a larger degree of variance.
For example, when looking at past stock returns, analysts will want to determine the likelihood of extreme returns (or losses) in the future. If past stock data results in a platykurtic distribution, analysts will expect more volatility in future returns. This means that there is a higher probability than usual for extreme price movements to occur. Related Terms:
Kurtosis
Leptokurtic
Normal Distribution
Skewness
Tail Risk |