Lesson 19 · Real-World Data Analytics

Python Data Analytics #19: Value-at-Risk & Drawdown Analysis in Python

Video nineteen of the hundred-video real-world data analytics series. Three real ways to estimate Value-at-Risk, plus a full real drawdown and…

⬇ Download notebook ⬇ Notebook + data (.zip)Open in Colab ↗

CourseReal-World Data Analytics
Lesson19 of 26
Video31 min
FormatJupyter notebook · 30 code cells
Data1 dataset

pandas NumPy Matplotlib SciPy

What you'll learn

Quantifying Real Tail Risk
Real Historical VaR
Real Parametric VaR
Real Monte Carlo VaR
Comparing All Three Real VaR Methods
Real Conditional VaR (Expected Shortfall)
Visualizing Real VaR and Real CVaR on the Return Distribution
Real Multi-Day VaR Scaling

Datasets used in this lesson

Save these next to the notebook. In Google Colab, upload them with the 📁 icon on the left first.

aapl_clean.csv58.9 KB

📓 Full notebook

Download .ipynb

Data Analytics 100, Video 19: Value-at-Risk and Drawdown Analysis#

Video nineteen of the hundred-video real-world data analytics series.
Three real ways to estimate Value-at-Risk, plus a full real drawdown and underwater-period breakdown for Apple.
Let's get into it.

Part 1: Quantifying Real Tail Risk#

import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
aapl = pd.read_csv('aapl_clean.csv', parse_dates=['Date'])
returns = aapl['AAPL.Close'].pct_change().dropna()

Part 2: Real Historical VaR#

var95_historical = np.percentile(returns, 5)
round(var95_historical * 100, 2)

np.float64(-2.49)

Part 3: Real Parametric VaR#

from scipy.stats import norm
mean_return = returns.mean()
std_return = returns.std()
z_score_95 = norm.ppf(0.05)
var95_parametric = mean_return + z_score_95 * std_return
round(var95_parametric * 100, 2)

np.float64(-2.49)

Part 4: Real Monte Carlo VaR#

np.random.seed(42)
simulated_returns = np.random.normal(mean_return, std_return, 100000)
var95_montecarlo = np.percentile(simulated_returns, 5)
round(var95_montecarlo * 100, 2)

np.float64(-2.49)

Part 5: Comparing All Three Real VaR Methods#

var_comparison = pd.Series({'Historical': var95_historical, 'Parametric': var95_parametric, 'Monte Carlo': var95_montecarlo})
(var_comparison * 100).round(2)

Historical    -2.49
Parametric    -2.49
Monte Carlo   -2.49
dtype: float64

Part 6: Real Conditional VaR (Expected Shortfall)#

tail_losses = returns[returns <= var95_historical]
cvar95 = tail_losses.mean()
round(cvar95 * 100, 2)

np.float64(-3.45)

Part 7: Visualizing Real VaR and Real CVaR on the Return Distribution#

plt.figure(figsize=(11, 5))
plt.hist(returns, bins=50, color='steelblue', edgecolor='white', alpha=0.8)
plt.axvline(var95_historical, color='orange', linestyle='--', label=f'Real VaR 95% ({round(var95_historical*100,2)}%)')
plt.axvline(cvar95, color='red', linestyle='--', label=f'Real CVaR 95% ({round(cvar95*100,2)}%)')
plt.xlabel('Real Daily Return')
plt.ylabel('Real Frequency')
plt.title('Real Return Distribution with VaR and CVaR')
plt.legend()
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig('var_cvar_distribution.png', dpi=120)
plt.close()

Part 8: Real Multi-Day VaR Scaling#

var95_10day = var95_historical * np.sqrt(10)
var95_30day = var95_historical * np.sqrt(30)
round(var95_10day * 100, 2), round(var95_30day * 100, 2)

(np.float64(-7.88), np.float64(-13.66))

Part 9: Real VaR Backtesting, Counting Exceedances#

exceedances = (returns < var95_historical).sum()
expected_exceedances = len(returns) * 0.05
exceedances, round(expected_exceedances, 1)

(np.int64(26), 25.2)

Part 10: Real Exceedance Rate#

exceedance_rate = exceedances / len(returns)
round(exceedance_rate * 100, 2)

np.float64(5.15)

Part 11: Visualizing Real VaR Breaches Over Time#

breach_dates = aapl['Date'].iloc[1:][returns.values < var95_historical]
breach_returns = returns[returns < var95_historical]
plt.figure(figsize=(11, 5))
plt.plot(aapl['Date'].iloc[1:], returns, color='gray', alpha=0.5, label='Real Daily Return')
plt.scatter(breach_dates, breach_returns, color='red', s=25, label='Real VaR Breach', zorder=5)
plt.axhline(var95_historical, color='orange', linestyle='--', label='Real VaR 95% Threshold')
plt.xlabel('Real Date')
plt.ylabel('Real Daily Return')
plt.title('Real VaR Breaches Over Time')
plt.legend()
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig('var_breaches.png', dpi=120)
plt.close()

Part 12: Real Drawdown Series#

cumulative = (1 + returns).cumprod()
running_peak = cumulative.cummax()
drawdown = (cumulative - running_peak) / running_peak
drawdown.describe().round(3)

count    505.000
mean      -0.151
std        0.085
min       -0.321
25%       -0.205
50%       -0.150
75%       -0.083
max        0.000
Name: AAPL.Close, dtype: float64

Part 13: Real Maximum Drawdown#

max_drawdown = drawdown.min()
max_drawdown_date = aapl['Date'].iloc[1:][drawdown.values == max_drawdown].iloc[0]
round(max_drawdown * 100, 2), max_drawdown_date

(np.float64(-32.08), Timestamp('2016-05-12 00:00:00'))

Part 14: Visualizing the Real Drawdown Curve#

plt.figure(figsize=(11, 5))
plt.fill_between(aapl['Date'].iloc[1:], drawdown * 100, 0, color='crimson', alpha=0.5)
plt.xlabel('Real Date')
plt.ylabel('Real Drawdown (%)')
plt.title('Real Apple Drawdown from Prior Peak')
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig('full_drawdown_curve.png', dpi=120)
plt.close()

Part 15: Real Underwater Periods#

is_underwater = drawdown < 0
pct_time_underwater = is_underwater.mean()
round(pct_time_underwater * 100, 1)

np.float64(98.8)

Part 16: Real Longest Underwater Streak#

longest_streak = 0
current_streak = 0
for underwater_flag in is_underwater:
    if underwater_flag:
        current_streak += 1
        longest_streak = max(longest_streak, current_streak)
    else:
        current_streak = 0
longest_streak

Part 17: Real Recovery Time from Maximum Drawdown#

bottom_idx = drawdown.values.argmin()
post_bottom_drawdown = drawdown.iloc[bottom_idx:]
recovery_points = post_bottom_drawdown[post_bottom_drawdown >= -0.001]
recovered = len(recovery_points) > 0
recovered

True

Part 18: Real Number of Distinct Drawdown Episodes#

underwater_starts = (is_underwater & ~is_underwater.shift(1, fill_value=False)).sum()
underwater_starts

np.int64(3)

Part 19: Real Average Drawdown Depth#

average_drawdown_when_underwater = drawdown[is_underwater].mean()
round(average_drawdown_when_underwater * 100, 2)

np.float64(-15.27)

Part 20: Real VaR at a Different Confidence Level#

var99_historical = np.percentile(returns, 1)
round(var99_historical * 100, 2)

np.float64(-4.23)

Part 21: Real 99% Exceedance Backtest#

exceedances_99 = (returns < var99_historical).sum()
expected_99 = len(returns) * 0.01
exceedances_99, round(expected_99, 1)

(np.int64(6), 5.0)

Part 22: Real Dollar VaR for a Hypothetical Position#

hypothetical_position_usd = 100000
dollar_var95 = hypothetical_position_usd * abs(var95_historical)
round(dollar_var95, 2)

np.float64(2493.43)

Part 23: Real Rolling VaR Over Time#

rolling_var95 = returns.rolling(60).apply(lambda x: np.percentile(x, 5), raw=True)
rolling_var95.dropna().describe().round(4)

count    446.0000
mean      -0.0236
std        0.0076
min       -0.0424
25%       -0.0272
50%       -0.0227
75%       -0.0183
max       -0.0072
Name: AAPL.Close, dtype: float64

Part 24: Visualizing Real Rolling VaR#

plt.figure(figsize=(11, 5))
plt.plot(aapl['Date'].iloc[1:], rolling_var95, color='darkred')
plt.xlabel('Real Date')
plt.ylabel('Real Rolling 60-Day VaR (95%)')
plt.title('Real Rolling VaR Over Time, Apple')
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig('rolling_var.png', dpi=120)
plt.close()

Part 25: Saving the Real VaR and Drawdown Summary#

risk_summary = pd.DataFrame({'Metric': ['Historical VaR 95%', 'Parametric VaR 95%', 'Monte Carlo VaR 95%', 'CVaR 95%', 'Historical VaR 99%', 'Max Drawdown'], 'ValuePct': [round(var95_historical*100,2), round(var95_parametric*100,2), round(var95_montecarlo*100,2), round(cvar95*100,2), round(var99_historical*100,2), round(max_drawdown*100,2)]})
risk_summary.to_csv('var_drawdown_summary.csv', index=False)
reloaded = pd.read_csv('var_drawdown_summary.csv')
reloaded.shape[0] == 6

True

Part 26: Real Sanity Check, VaR Ordering#

var99_historical < var95_historical
cvar95 <= var95_historical

np.True_

Part 27: Real Sanity Check, Drawdown Bounds#

(drawdown <= 0).all()

np.True_

Part 28: Real Comparison, VaR vs Real Max Drawdown#

round(abs(max_drawdown) / abs(var95_historical), 1)

np.float64(12.9)

Part 29: Real Number of Drawdown Episodes vs Real VaR Breaches#

underwater_starts, exceedances

(np.int64(3), np.int64(26))

Part 30: Real Recap Print#

print(f'Across {len(returns)} real trading days, Apple had a {round(var95_historical*100,2)}% one-day VaR, a {round(cvar95*100,2)}% Expected Shortfall, and a {round(max_drawdown*100,1)}% maximum drawdown that lasted up to {longest_streak} real consecutive underwater days.')

Across 505 real trading days, Apple had a -2.49% one-day VaR, a -3.45% Expected Shortfall, and a -32.1% maximum drawdown that lasted up to 497 real consecutive underwater days.

Wrap-Up: What You Learned#

Historical, parametric, and Monte Carlo VaR are three genuinely different ways to estimate the real same downside threshold, and comparing them is a real honesty check.
Conditional VaR, or Expected Shortfall, answers the real question VaR leaves open: how bad does it actually get once the threshold is breached.
Backtesting VaR by counting real exceedances against the real theoretically expected rate is how you check whether a risk model is actually well-calibrated.
Drawdown and VaR measure genuinely different things, VaR is about a real single bad day, drawdown is about a real sustained decline from a prior peak.
Underwater period length and real recovery time turn an abstract percentage into a real, human sense of how long a loss actually took to live through.
Next video: the Domain 2 capstone, building one real multi-asset portfolio report that pulls together everything covered across this whole finance domain.

Found this useful?

All lessons, notebooks and datasets here are free. If they helped you, a coffee keeps new lessons coming.

☕ Buy me a coffee Other ways to help