• Asymmetry in statistics is the degree of asymmetry observed in a probability distribution.

  • Distributions can show right (positive) or left (negative) skewness to varying degrees. The normal distribution (bell curve) shows zero skewness.
  • Investors note right skewness when estimating the distribution of returns because, like excess kurtosis, it better reflects the extremes of the dataset than focuses solely on the mean.
  • Asymmetry informs users about the direction of emissions, but does not tell users the number of emissions.
  • Asymmetries are often found in stock market returns as well as in the distribution of average individual income.