A common belief in strategy design is that ‘more data is better.’ But is this always true? Reference examined the impact of the quantity of data in predicting realized volatility. Specifically, it focused on the accuracy of volatility forecasts as a function of data sampling frequency. The study was …

Airbag options are a new structured product that has gained popularity among investors in the over-the-counter derivatives market. They offer protection against downside losses, similar to how an airbag protects in a car crash. Airbag options provide investors with downside risk protection in the event of a market “collision.” However, …

A Credit Default Swap (CDS) is a financial derivative that allows investors to hedge or speculate on the credit risk of a borrower, such as a corporation or government. In a CDS contract, the buyer of the swap makes periodic payments to the seller in exchange for protection against the …

The volatility risk premium (VRP) is the compensation investors receive for bearing the risk associated with fluctuations in market volatility, typically measured as the difference between implied and realized volatility. The VRP in equities has been studied extensively. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the VRP in other …

We have discussed at length the implied volatility and its relationships with realized volatility, volatility skew, dividend yield, and correlations. Moreover, it is interesting to examine implied volatility from a behavioural finance perspective. Reference studied the relationship between various countries’ implied volatilities and their cultural characteristics. Specifically, it utilized …

Much has been discussed about the relationship between implied volatility (IV) and realized volatility, between IVs of different markets, asset classes, maturities, etc. However little has been discussed about the relationship between IV and dividend yield. The dividend yield is a financial ratio that indicates how much a company pays …

Skewness of returns is a statistical measure that captures the asymmetry of the distribution of an asset’s returns over a specified period. It is particularly important in risk management and option pricing, where the skewness of returns can affect the valuation of derivatives and the construction of portfolios. Reference  …

Stochastic volatility models, unlike constant volatility models, which assume a fixed level of volatility, allow volatility to change. These models, such as the Heston model, introduce an additional stochastic process to account for the variability in volatility, providing a more nuanced dynamics of the market. By incorporating factors like mean …

Realized volatility (RV) refers to the actual movement of an asset’s price over a specific period, typically measured using high-frequency data. Unlike implied volatility, which is derived from options prices and reflects market expectations, realized volatility is computed from historical price data and provides an empirical measure of how much …

The traditional option pricing model assumes that the market is frictionless. However, a body of research has developed theories that do not make this assumption. Reference utilizes the Stochastic Arbitrage (SA) approach to derive price bounds within which the admissible risk-neutral option prices, which are determined by using the …