Multifractal moving average analysis and test of multifractal model with tuned correlations

► We introduce and test a generalized binomial multifractal model. ► In the model persistence and multifractality strength can be tuned separately. ► Block shuffling allows one to destroy correlations selectively on certain scales. ► MF-CMA is a simple and robust method to study multifractal scaling in time series. ► Spurious multifractality can arise from monofractal data and data with trends.