# All Questions

302 views

### QuantLib error with qlPiecewiseYieldCurveData() on qlPiecewiseYieldCurve() with ZeroYield and ForwardRate

I'm using QuantLibXL to build a discount curve, a zero yield curve and a forward curve of the EURIBOR rate (QuantLibXL is downloadable here). I've built an object of class ...
481 views

### ETF Negative Roll Yield

I have a quick question about the ETF Roll Yield. As we all know commodity ETF’s have struggled with contango (spot price is below futures prices on the term structure). Look at an ETF like USO which ...
384 views

I have a question about a option theta. When I evaluate the option theta of near expiry put option using Black-Scholes formula given the data as follow: Index Level = 20,500 Strike Price = 20,000 ...
953 views

### What is the best solution to use QuantLib within Excel?

Excel is likely the most widespread instrument across all not-only-quants desks; in addition, we have to keep in mind that Bloomberg and Reuters allow to easily import real time data in Excel, and ...
544 views

### Brownian motion - first passage time

Can anyone point me to the expression for the first passage time for a geometric Brownian motion process X(t) as a function of the starting point, threshold, drift and diffusion parameters. I am ...
638 views

### What are modern algorithms for trade classification?

When dealing with trade data, for example from TAQ, a common problem is that of determining whether a trade was a buy or a sell. The most commonly used classifier is the Lee-Ready algorithm (Inferring ...
180 views

### Deutsche Börse sample Level 2 data, how to view in Windows?

DB has some sample Level 2 market data: ...
285 views

### Where can I get real-time equity options quotes for a reasonable price (i am not a company) besides screen scrapping Yahoo! Finance? [duplicate]

Want to have electronic access to equity options quotes in real-time. Is there anyone offering this service to the individual investor for a reasonable price? Again it must be electronic, in other ...
161 views

### How to compute the volume of an index from the volume of its constituents?

I'm trying to understand how to compute the daily volumes of the Dow Jones Industrial Average but I haven't found the proper formula yet. I thought it was the sum of the price*volume of each ...
143 views

### How to test that a distribution has infinite mean?

I observe a sample from a distribution that I expect to be the hitting time $$\tau = \inf\{t>0| X(t)>a\}$$ where $X(t)$ is a Lévy process with $X(0)=0$ and $a$ is some constant. $X$ is not a ...
74 views

### Increasing Market Depth

Are there any sure-fire ways to increase market-depth that people have experience with? Has much research been done/published on this subject?
149 views

### Example code for “Gauge Invariance, Geometry and Arbitrage” paper

This paper describes an algorithm for computing arbitrage opportunites using a gauge connetion. Has anyone written a python program or C++ or C# program that shows how to follow the steps outlines in ...
59 views

### Inferring the maximum drawdown depth for a different sample size

Let's say there's a trading system that has a 10 % chance of getting a maximum drawdown >= 50 % over a sample of ...
175 views

### reinsurance pricing equivalent to option pricing

Is it true that pricing a reinsurance contact is equivalent to pricing an option. Basically a reinsurance just cuts off the risk exposure of the insured institution to a threshold say $K$. So if we ...
211 views

### Has there been success in applying Mandelbrot's ideas to financial markets?

More specifically, I am looking for recent research papers that have harnessed Mandelbrot's ideas too successfully predict asset prices. I have read many papers about wavelets, and I would like to ...
140 views

### Portfolio optimization with absolute position constraints

I'm looking to optimize a portfolio maximizing expected return for a particular risk budget, but with absolute constraints on the individual instrument positions. I've been experimenting with QP, ...
292 views

### Definition of gearings, spreads and curve in RQuantLib's Floating Rate Bond function

Consider the RQuantLib package function FloatingRateBond(). This takes as inputs gearings ...
198 views

### What structural model does Reuters use for default probability?

When using Reuters, for each listed company there is credit tab that shows relevant information in terms of credit default. There is also rating class as well as one year default probability. It is ...
378 views

### Japan day count conventions

I am after a good comprehensive resource on Japanese day count conventions. By that I mean, is actual/360 or actual/365 used for pricing various options, forwards, futures, etc.
107 views

### Currency forwards implied interest rates

I am calculating implied interest rates using covered interest rate parity theorem. I am looking at the Australian US currency pair. When evaluating day counts, should I be using Actual/365 for ...
87 views

### How do I take an unbiased, sector neutral sample from a stock index?

I am looking to take a cross sector subset of a larger stock index universe. What steps to I take to assure that sector representation is as equal as possible to help smooth out my variance(while ...
105 views

### Black (1976) model: boundary conditions with non-convergence of spot and forward prices

Let's suppose we have a futures contract F in a market where the relation $$F(t,T)=S(t)e^{r(T−t)}$$ doesn't hold. What are the the boundary conditions for the derivation of the Black (1976) ...
2k views

### Seagull option strategy - clear example

It looks like the subject of seagull option strategy is not as clearly explained as for other strategies (butterly, bull,bear spread). Thus, can someone provide a clear example of what you buy and ...
273 views

### Bond futures - calendar spread pricing

I am looking on literature and models on pricing a bond futures' calendar spread. assuming the basket of deliverable bonds is the same and the ctd is the same, what are the factores determining the ...
99 views

Is there any good research on the price elasticity of trading in financial markets? Things like optimal fee structures and the like?
355 views

### What is the difference between the methods (listed in content) in pricing convertible bond?

To price the convertible bond, one of the models is the bond plus equity option method. That is, the value of convertible bonds is evaluated by finding the value of the straight bond and the value of ...
357 views

### VaR Calculation - Covariance matrix is not positive semidefinite

This is a basic question. I have three assets, equally weighted, and all the mutual covariances are -1. Then, the covariance matrix looks like - ...
287 views

### How to compute a sector's volatility within a portfolio?

Assume I have a large portfolio of equities spread across three sectors. I am attempting to compute the volatility of these sectors within the portfolio considering the cross correlations among the ...
636 views

### Covariance of a GMV portfolio with any asset

Why is that the covariance of a global minimum variance (GMV) portfolio in the efficient frontier with any asset is always the same?
292 views

### Black (1976) model: relationship between spot and forward prices

Does the Black (1976) model require the existence of the relation $F(t,T)=S(t)e^{r(T−t)}$? I studied the derivation of the Black-Scholes formula. However, although I know the Black formula, I've ...
89 views

### DCF of Arbitrary Dates Cash Flows

I am having a problem understanding discounted cash flows. I appreciate your patience and help. Lets say I have a bond that I want to price. ...
136 views

### how to extend lognormal model so that $\sigma$ is correlated to $\mu$?

Consider a log-normal model, $dx / x = \mu dt + \sigma dW$, where $W(t)$ is a Wiener process. Let's say $\mu$ and $\sigma$ change with time, slowly, so we note them by $\mu(t)$ and $\sigma(t)$. ...
467 views

### Testing Valuation, Size and Momentum (proprietary factors) from 1988-2013: No evidence of driving cross-sectional returns

I am currently testing whether three proprietary factors - Valuation, Size and Momentum - explain cross-sectional returns. A sample of 3000 securities was tested using Fama-MacBeth two-pass ...
290 views

### VSTOXX Implied Volatility Calculation

What is the industry consensus (if it exists) about implied volatility calculation for options on VSTOXX (OVS)? I've experimented with the following approach: Standard Black-Scholes VSTOXX futures ...
3k views

### relation between asset's and equity volatilities - merton model

In terms of Merton credit risk model need to find the initial value of counterparty's assets and the volatility of the assets. Both value are not directly observable thus we have to approximate them ...
3k views

### What is the difference between the Interactive Brokers demo account and a personal paper trader account?

I'm interested in testing my trading strategy using the Interactive Brokers API for Trader Workstation. A demo account is provided to play with TWS for free, but if I fund a real account I will be ...
100 views

### What is the difference between full and only futures?

If you look at instrument name for listed on various futures exchange you often see Gold Only1214 Gold Full1214 What is "Full" and "Only" mean? The price listed is the same and I cannot find a ...
292 views

### Interest only loan formula [closed]

Forgive me I am not good at economics, I have following values. amount I want to lend. the current bank interest rate. the amount of years the loan will be for Please tell me the formula to ...
160 views

### Good criteria to sort state-space $\beta_{t}$ according to Kalman filter output

Let the usual state-space linear model (without constant term for the sake of simplicity): $y_{t}=\beta_{t} X_{t}+\epsilon_{t}$ If we use Gaussian Kalman filter to estimate $\beta_{t}$ we get ...
249 views

### Constant maturity futures price methodology

What is the correct methodology to compute constant maturity futures price. I've met in some papers that do the following. To create constant maturity synthetic futures prices with maturity \$m = 30, ...
214 views

### CME historical option data provider

Is there any other historical end-of-day CME option data provider rather then CME DataMine? I've searched all the internet and found only CBOE traded options.
740 views

### Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis

Could anyone point me to detailed literature about "Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis"? Intuition, methodology and examples.. Thanks,
253 views

### Is HMM of Volatility any different from a simple filter?

I have constructed a simple HMM (Hidden Markov Model) with 2 states on the Vol (stdev) of a time series of currency returns. The state vector I produce looks reasonable, in the sense that it appears ...
3k views

### How to calibrate Hull-White from zero curve?

I am interested in calibrating a Hull-White model to the market. I do not, however, have data on anything except the market zero curves, as all derivatives are being traded OTC. My plan is to ...
237 views

### Electricity volatility smile

In the electricity sector, what should be the shape of the volatility smile? a behavior similar to other commodities with a convex curve, decreasing first and then growing to the initial level. or ...
213 views

### Black model - volatility estimation

In the Black (1976) model: We should use the settlement prices of the underlying futures contract in order to estimate the volatility, right? Or can we also use the spot prices? Because the ...
250 views

### What is meant by a structural short?

What is meant by a structural short in this context: "First lesson: Valuation shorts are pretty difficult. Look for structural shorts instead." Link
633 views

### How popular is the IRR as a tool for capital budgeting, nowadays?

This 2004 McKinsey Quarterly article reports that, back in 1999, three-quarters of CFOs always or almost always use[d] IRR when evaluating capital projects. The same article warns against the ...