4
votes
5answers
553 views

Call vs. Put Option

I have two interrelated questions that have been bothering me for some time. I have read all the stuff online and it still doesn't make sense to me: Let us assume: 0% interest rate (both hedge ...
2
votes
2answers
311 views

How to calculate Vomma of Black Scholes model

This source (PDF) gives the closed-form for vomma (or volga, i.e. the second derivative of price w.r.t. volatility) of the Black Scholes option pricing model as: ...
3
votes
1answer
148 views

Choice of epsilon for numerical calculation of vega in binomial option pricing model

I have a binomial option-pricing model (I don't think the details of how its implemented are relevant). However, when I go to calculate vega, I am essentially running the model a second time with new ...
0
votes
1answer
231 views

Which prediction market model is efficient and simple to use?

For a college project I'm tasked with implementing prediction market. Which model of it I'd better choose? I want something useful and simple enough for other people to quickly understand and use. ...
5
votes
0answers
100 views

Replicating portfolio and risk-neutral pricing for interest rate options

For equity options, the pricing of options depends on the existence of a replicating portfolio, so you can price the option as the constituents of that replicating portfolio. However, I am not seeing ...
4
votes
2answers
335 views

Basket option pricing: step by step tutorial for beginners

I would like to learn how to price options written on basket of several underlyings. I've never tried to do it and I would appreciate if you can provide some documents, papers, web sites and so on in ...
1
vote
0answers
82 views

Pricing a Power Contract derivative security

I'm trying to price a "power contract" and would appreciate guidance on the next step. The payoff at time $T$ is $(S(T)/K)^\alpha$, where $K > 0$, $\alpha \in \mathbb{N}$, $T > 0$. $S$ is ...
6
votes
2answers
343 views

How to transform process to risk-neutral measure for Monte Carlo option pricing?

I am trying to price an option using the Monte Carlo method, and I have the price process simulations as an inputs. The underlying is a forward contract, so at all times the mean of the simulations is ...
0
votes
1answer
166 views

Exotic option pricing

I'm trying to price an option with payoff $\max\{a\cdot S_t - K,0\}$ where $a$ is a known constant. Ideally I'm looking for a closed form, continuous-time solution. Where should I begin?
2
votes
0answers
65 views

Any thoughts on how Warren Buffet's B of A warrants might be “marked-to-market” by either counterparty?

It's not too long since Berkshire Hathaway got its 10-year warrants in Bank of America alongside its \$5 billion purchase of preferred stock. At the time I saw some discussion about the value of ...
2
votes
0answers
90 views

How to find the upper bound of a digital option given some market data?

Given the price of a call equals to 5 with Strike 100, please find the upper bound (sup) of the digital option with strike 105. I am not sure about the solution, but I write the condition like this, ...
6
votes
2answers
1k views

What causes the call and put volatility surface to differ?

I currently have a local volatility model that uses the standard Black Scholes assumptions. When calculating the volatility surface, what causes the difference between the call volatility surface, ...
6
votes
4answers
1k views

How does an option's time value depend on moneyness?

How does an option's time value (also known as extrinsic or instrumental value) depend on how far it is in the money or out of the money? In other words, how does the time value change as the ...
-6
votes
3answers
489 views

True or False? An option's price will always be greater than or equal to its intrinsic value

Since if the option's price is lower than its intrinsic value (eg. strike price - current stock price for puts), then an arbitrage opportunity arises from buying the option at bargain and then ...
3
votes
1answer
248 views

Which approach is better for modeling option exercise strategies, rational or behavioral?

This question is most relevant to the evaluation of embedded options, such as the refinancing option granted to borrowers in the mortgage and bank loan markets, or the call option present in some ...
4
votes
1answer
338 views

How to apply quasi-Monte Carlo to path-dependent options?

Following up on my recent question on variance reduction in a Cox-Ingersoll-Ross Monte Carlo simulation, I would like to learn more about using a quasi-random sequence, such as Sobol or Niederreiter, ...
3
votes
0answers
81 views

Analysis of Unbalanced Covered Calls

Hello I am doing an analysis on covered calls with and extra amount of naked calls. Ignore the symbol and current macroeconomic events. I couldn't find any reference to this strategy (unbalanced is ...
0
votes
1answer
154 views

Does an option's price “ratio” with the underlying security price?

I'm trying to understand option pricing better. Let's say security ABC is \$40, and a 38 PUT option with 40% implied volatility (and 90 days till expiration) is priced at X. If security ABC then ...
7
votes
2answers
1k views

Are there comprehensive analyses of theta decay in weekly options?

Are there comprehensive analyses of how much theta a weekly options loses in a day, per day? I know what the shape of theta decay looks like, in theory, where the decay towards zero happens more ...
3
votes
1answer
112 views

What are good conditions to roll a leap further out in time?

If you're hedging with a back month / leap option, what are good underlying / market conditions to move this option out even further in time? For simplicity, let's say you own a call with 6 months ...
4
votes
4answers
673 views

How to price a calendar spread option?

How do you price calendar spread options, that is, options on the same underlying and the same strike but different times to maturity? Clarification: I'm interested in the pricing of a a CSO ...
1
vote
1answer
258 views

Calculating Theta assuming other variables remain the same

Is there any way to calculate theta at X day in future based solely on knowing 1) Total Current Option Price 2) Days Till Expiration How would this be done? Thank you
4
votes
1answer
167 views

Standard Deviations out the money where options will respond to underlying asset price changes

Is there an understood way of determining how far out the money an option can be, before it starts/stops responding to the underlying asset price changes? I usually look at the greeks, gamma, delta, ...
2
votes
0answers
160 views

Tian third moment-matching tree with smoothing - implementation

I was wondering if someone has an implementation of the Tian third moment-matching tree (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1030143) with smoothing in code (e.g. c++, vba, c#, etc.)? ...
8
votes
2answers
595 views

How does volatility affect the price of binary options?

In theory, how should volatility affect the price of a binary option? A typical out the money option has more extrinsic value and therefore volatility plays a much more noticeable factor. Now let's ...
8
votes
1answer
178 views

How should FX options be priced when a currency is artificially capped?

The question is inspired by yesterday's (06/09/11) historic announcement by the Swiss National Bank that it would impose a ceiling on the franc of 1.20 against the euro. I would like to know if there ...
9
votes
3answers
785 views

How to solve for the implied stock lending rate given equity options prices?

When market makers price options on hard-to-borrow equities, they include the cost to borrow the underlying equity that their broker is going to charge them to sell the security short to hedge. I'm ...
8
votes
1answer
327 views

What are important model and assumption-free no-arbitrage conditions in options trading?

In the paper "Why We Have Never Used the Black-Scholes-Merton Option Pricing Formula" (Espen Gaarder Haug, Nassim Nicholas Taleb) a couple of model-free arbitrage conditions are mentioned which limits ...
15
votes
6answers
5k views

What are some useful approximations to the Black-Scholes formula?

Let the Black-Scholes formula be defined as the function $f(S, X, T, r, v)$. I'm curious about functions that are computationally simpler than the Black-Scholes that yields results that approximate ...
3
votes
1answer
192 views

European turbo warrants

Totally new to the world of quant finance, so perhaps this is an odd question... Does there exist an American equivalent to the German style "knock out zertifkate"? (The name might be slightly ...
7
votes
4answers
960 views

Methods for pricing options

I'm looking at doing some research drawing comparisons between various methods of approaching option pricing. I'm aware of the Monte Carlo simulation for option pricing, Black-Scholes, and that ...
4
votes
1answer
714 views

Simple model for option premium (for covered call simulation)?

Given a historical distribution of weekly prices and price changes for a stock, how can I estimate the the option premium for a nearly at-the-money (ATM) option, say with an expiration date 3 months ...
9
votes
5answers
2k views

What is the implied volatility skew?

I often hear people talking about the skew of the volatility surface, model, etc... but it appears to me that a clear standard definition is not unanimously in place among practitioners. So here is ...
10
votes
7answers
2k views

Why does implied volatility show an inverse relation with strike price when examining option chains?

When looking at option chains, I often notice that the (broker calculated) implied volatility has an inverse relation to the strike price. This seems true both for calls and puts. As a current ...