We prove that if the Black-Scholes formula holds with the spot volatility for call options with all strikes, then the volatility parameter is constant. The proof relies some result on semimartingales (Theorem 2) of independent interest.
Classical (Itô diffusions) stochastic volatility models are not able to capture the steepness of small-maturity implied volatility smiles. Jumps, in particular exponential Lévy and affine models, which exhibit small-maturity exploding smiles, have historically been proposed to remedy this (see \cite{Tank} for an overview), and more recently rough volatility models \cite{AlosLeon, Fukasawa}. We suggest here a different route, randomising the Black-Scholes variance by a CEV-generated distribution, which allows us to modulate the rate of explosion (through the CEV exponent) of the implied volatil…
We study the risk premium impact in the Perturbative Black Scholes model. The Perturbative Black Scholes model, developed by Scotti, is a subjective volatility model based on the classical Black Scholes one, where the volatility used by the trader is an estimation of the market one and contains measurement errors. In this article we analyze the correction to the pricing formulas due to the presence of an underlying drift different from the risk free return. We prove that, under some hypothesis on the parameters, if the asset price is a sub-martingale under historical probability, then the impl…
An investor faced with a contingent claim may eliminate risk by perfect hedging, but as it is often quite expensive, he seeks partial hedging (quantile hedging or efficient hedging) that requires less capital and reduces the risk. Efficient hedging for European call option was considered in the standard Black-Scholes model with constant drift and volatility coefficients. In this paper we considered the efficient hedging for European call option in general Black-Scholes model $dX_t=X_t(m(t)dt+σ(t)dw(t))$ with time-varying drift and volatility coefficients and in fractional Black-Scholes model $…
We study specific nonlinear transformations of the Black-Scholes implied volatility to show remarkable properties of the volatility surface. Model-free bounds on the implied volatility skew are given. Pricing formulas for the European options which are written in terms of the implied volatility are given. In particular, we prove elegant formulas for the fair strikes of the variance swap and the gamma swap.
The space of call price functions has a natural noncommutative semigroup structure with an involution. A basic example is the Black--Scholes call price surface, from which an interesting inequality for Black--Scholes implied volatility is derived. The binary operation is compatible with the convex order, and therefore a one-parameter sub-semigroup gives rise to an arbitrage-free market model. It is shown that each such one-parameter semigroup corresponds to a unique log-concave probability density, providing a family of tractable call price surface parametrisations in the spirit of the Gathera…
This note develops a stochastic model of asset volatility. The volatility obeys a continuous-time autoregressive equation. Conditions under which the process is asymptotically stationary and possesses long memory are characterised. Connections with the class of ARCH($\infty$) processes are sketched.
We consider a generic market model with a single stock and with random volatility. We assume that there is a number of tradable options for that stock with different strike prices. The paper states the problem of finding a pricing rule that gives Black-Scholes price for at-money options and such that the market is arbitrage free for any number of tradable options, even if there are two Brownian motions only: one drives the stock price, the other drives the volatility process. This problem is reduced to solving a parabolic equation.
In this paper we study the continuum time dynamics of a stock in a market where agents behavior is modeled by a Minority Game and a Grand Canonical Minority Game. The dynamics derived is a generalized geometric Brownian motion; from the Black & Scholes formula the calibration of both the Minority Game and the Grand Canonical Minority Game, by means of their characteristic parameters, is performed. We conclude that for both games the asymmetric phase with characteristic parameters close to critical ones is coherent with options implied volatility market.
We consider the Black--Scholes model of financial market modified to capture the stochastic nature of volatility observed at real financial markets. For volatility driven by the Ornstein--Uhlenbeck process, we establish the existence of equivalent martingale measure in the market model. The option is priced with respect to the minimal martingale measure for the case of uncorrelated processes of volatility and asset price, and an analytic expression for the price of European call option is derived. We use the inverse Fourier transform of a characteristic function and the Gaussian property of th…
The validity of an approximation formula for European option prices under a general stochastic volatility model is proved in the light of the Edgeworth expansion for ergodic diffusions. The asymptotic expansion is around the Black-Scholes price and is uniform in bounded payoff func- tions. The result provides a validation of an existing singular perturbation expansion formula for the fast mean reverting stochastic volatility model.
This paper deals with an extension of the so-called Black-Scholes model in which the volatility is modeled by a linear combination of the components of the solution of a differential equation driven by a fractional Brownian motion of Hurst parameter greater than $1/4$. In order to ensure the positiveness of the volatility, the coefficients of that equation satisfy a viability condition. The absence of arbitrages, the completeness of the market and a pricing formula are established.
A bubble is characterized by the presence of an underlying asset whose discounted price process is a strict local martingale under the pricing measure. In such markets, many standard results from option pricing theory do not hold, and in this paper we address some of these issues. In particular, we derive existence and uniqueness results for the Black--Scholes equation, and we provide convexity theory for option pricing and derive related ordering results with respect to volatility. We show that American options are convexity preserving, whereas European options preserve concavity for general …
It is well known that in models with time-homogeneous local volatility functions and constant interest and dividend rates, the European Put prices are transformed into European Call prices by the simultaneous exchanges of the interest and dividend rates and of the strike and spot price of the underlying. This paper investigates such a Call Put duality for perpetual American options. It turns out that the perpetual American Put price is equal to the perpetual American Call price in a model where, in addition to the previous exchanges between the spot price and the strike and between the interes…
We develop an expansion approach for the pricing of European quanto options written on LIBOR rates (of a foreign currency). We derive the dynamics of the system of foreign LIBOR rates under the domestic forward measure and then consider the price of the quanto option. In order to take the skew/smile effect observed in fixed income and FX markets into account, we consider local volatility models for both the LIBOR and the FX rate. Because of the structure of the local volatility function, a closed form solution for quanto option prices does not exist. Using expansions around a proxy related to …
A motivating question in this paper is whether a sensible investment strategy may systematically contain long positions in out-of-the-money European calls with short expiry. Here we consider a very simple trading strategy for calls. The main points of this note are the following. First, the presented trading strategy appears very lucrative in the Black-Scholes-Merton (BSM) framework. In fact, it is such even to the extent that the BSM model turns out to be, in a sense, incompatible with the CAPM. Second, if one wishes to adapt these models together, then the adjustment of the consistent pricin…
We study some properties of the American option price in the stochastic volatility Heston model. We first prove that, if the payoff function is convex and satisfies some regularity assumptions, then the option value function is increasing with respect to the volatility variable. Then, we focus on the standard put option and we extend to the Heston model some well known results in the Black and Scholes world, most by using probabilistic techniques. In particular, we study the exercise boundary, we prove the strict convexity of the value function in the continuation region, we extend to this mod…
We provide a complete representation of the interest rate in the extended CIR model. Since it was proved in Maghsoodi (1996) that the representation of the CIR process as a sum of squares of independent Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes is possible only when the dimension of the interest rate process is integer, we use a slightly different representation, valid when the dimension is not integer. Our representation consists in an infinite sum of squares of basic processes. Each basic process can be described as an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process with jumps at fixed times. In this case, the price of a bon…