This study reviews techniques to estimate volatility and price Variance Swaps.
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The paper prices swaps on generalized variance measures for multiple assets.
A variance swap is a derivative with a path-dependent payoff which allows investors to take positions on the future variability of an asset. In the idealised setting of a continuously monitored variance swap written on an asset with continuous paths it is well known that the variance swap payoff can be replicated exact…
Empirical study finds variance swap rate is affine in spot variance for S&P500 data.
We study the fair strike of a discrete variance swap for a general time-homogeneous stochastic volatility model. In the special cases of Heston, Hull-White and Schobel-Zhu stochastic volatility models we give simple explicit expressions (improving Broadie and Jain (2008a) in the case of the Heston model). We give condi…
This paper investigates the pricing and hedging of variance swaps under a volatility model. Explicit pricing and hedging formulas of variance swaps are obtained under the benchmark approach, which only requires the existence of the numéraire portfolio. The growth optimal portfolio is the numéraire portfolio and u…
In this paper, we consider the problem of pricing discretely-sampled variance swaps based on a hybrid model of stochastic volatility and stochastic interest rate with regime-switching. Our modelling framework extends the Heston stochastic volatility model by including the CIR stochastic interest rate and model paramete…
This paper proposes swaps on two important new measures of generalized variance, namely the maximum eigen-value and trace of the covariance matrix of the assets involved. We price these generalized variance swaps for financial markets with Markov-modulated volatilities. We consider multiple assets in the portfolio for …
Develops a novel framework for pricing variance swaps in multi-asset stochastic volatility models.
In this paper the zero vanna implied volatility approximation for the price of freshly minted volatility swaps is generalised to seasoned volatility swaps. We also derive how volatility swaps can be hedged using a strip of vanilla options with weights that are directly related to trading intuition. Additionally, we der…
We develop robust pricing and hedging of a weighted variance swap when market prices for a finite number of co--maturing put options are given. We assume the given prices do not admit arbitrage and deduce no-arbitrage bounds on the weighted variance swap along with super- and sub- replicating strategies which enforce t…
This paper considers the case of pricing discretely-sampled variance swaps under the class of equity-interest rate hybridization. Our modeling framework consists of the equity which follows the dynamics of the Heston stochastic volatility model, and the stochastic interest rate is driven by the Cox-Ingersoll-Ross (CIR)…
This paper focuses on the pricing of the variance swap in an incomplete market where the stochastic interest rate and the price of the stock are respectively driven by Cox-Ingersoll-Ross model and Heston model with simultaneous Lévy jumps. By using the equilibrium framework, we obtain the pricing kernel and the equival…
We compute the value of a variance swap when the underlying is modeled as a Markov process time changed by a Lévy subordinator. In this framework, the underlying may exhibit jumps with a state-dependent Lévy measure, local stochastic volatility and have a local stochastic default intensity. Moreover, the Lévy subordina…
In stochastic volatility models based on time-homogeneous diffusions, we provide a simple necessary and sufficient condition for the discretely sampled fair strike of a variance swap to converge to the continuously sampled fair strike. It extends Theorem 3.8 of Jarrow, Kchia, Larsson and Protter (2013) and gives an aff…
The latest generation of volatility derivatives goes beyond variance and volatility swaps and probes our ability to price realized variance and sojourn times along bridges for the underlying stock price process. In this paper, we give an operator algebraic treatment of this problem based on Dyson expansions and moment …
A new permutation method improves two-sample testing power.
In this chapter, we consider volatility swap, variance swap and VIX future pricing under different stochastic volatility models and jump diffusion models which are commonly used in financial market. We use convexity correction approximation technique and Laplace transform method to evaluate volatility strikes and estim…
We prove that the variance swap rate (fair strike) equals the price of a co-terminal European-style contract when the underlying is an exponential Markov process, time-changed by an arbitrary continuous stochastic clock, which has arbitrary correlation with the driving Markov process, provided that the payoff function …
The paper introduces a new stochastic volatility model with long-term memory and jumps.
In the recent years, banks have sold structured products such as worst-of options, Everest and Himalayas, resulting in a short correlation exposure. They have hence become interested in offsetting part of this exposure, namely buying back correlation. Two ways have been proposed for such a strategy : either pure correl…
The mixed-fractional CEV model improves CDS pricing by accounting for default risk.
Perfect hedging of options with a dynamic portfolio in rough volatility models.
To address the challenge of backpropagating the gradient through categorical variables, we propose the augment-REINFORCE-swap-merge (ARSM) gradient estimator that is unbiased and has low variance. ARSM first uses variable augmentation, REINFORCE, and Rao-Blackwellization to re-express the gradient as an expectation und…
Realised pay-offs for discretisation-invariant swaps are those which satisfy a restricted `aggregation property' of Neuberger [2012] for twice continuously differentiable deterministic functions of a multivariate martingale. They are initially characterised as solutions to a second-order system of PDEs, then those pay-…
Revisits Lee's Moment Formula, relaxing moment assumptions for implied volatility.
We develop a new nonparametric approach for estimating the risk-neutral density of asset prices and reformulate its estimation into a double-constrained optimization problem. We evaluate our approach using the S\&P 500 market option prices from 1996 to 2015. A comprehensive cross-validation study shows that our approac…
We use the P&L on a particular class of swaps, representing variance and higher moments for log returns, as estimators in our empirical study on the S&P500 that investigates the factors determining variance and higher-moment risk premia. This class is the discretisation invariant sub-class of swaps with Neuberger's agg…
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…
This paper presents hedging strategies for European and exotic options in a Levy market. By applying Taylor's Theorem, dynamic hedging portfolios are con- structed under different market assumptions, such as the existence of power jump assets or moment swaps. In the case of European options or baskets of European optio…
Robust, or model-independent properties of the variance swap are well-known, and date back to Dupire and Neuberger, who showed that, given the price of co-terminal call options, the price of a variance swap was exactly specified under the assumption that the price process is continuous. In Cox and Wang we showed that a…
We study the problem of finding probability densities that match given European call option prices. To allow prior information about such a density to be taken into account, we generalise the algorithm presented in Neri and Schneider (2011) to find the maximum entropy density of an asset price to the relative entropy c…
Classical solvable stochastic volatility models (SVM) use a CEV process for instantaneous variance where the CEV parameter takes just few values: 0 - the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, 1/2 - the Heston (or square root) process, 1- GARCH, and 3/2 - the 3/2 model. Some other models were discovered in \cite{Labordere2009…
In a financial market model, we consider the variance-optimal semi-static hedging of a given contingent claim, a generalization of the classic variance-optimal hedging. To obtain a tractable formula for the expected squared hedging error and the optimal hedging strategy, we use a Fourier approach in a general multidime…
Develops new e-processes and confidence sequences for Gaussian means with unknown variance.
In this article, we apply the forward variance modeling approach by L.Bergomi to the co-terminal swap market model. We build an interest rate model for which all the market price changes of hedging instruments, interest rate swaps and European swaptions, are interpreted as the state variable variations, and no diffusio…
We consider hedging of a contingent claim by a 'semi-static' strategy composed of a dynamic position in one asset and static (buy-and-hold) positions in other assets. We give general representations of the optimal strategy and the hedging error under the criterion of variance-optimality and provide tractable formulas u…
This paper demonstrates a practical method for computing the solution of an expectation-constrained robust maximization problem with immediate applications to model-free no-arbitrage bounds and super-replication values for many financial derivatives. While the previous literature has connected super-replication values …
Debt swaps improve financial networks by optimizing clearing payments and stability.
The paper calculates Bachelier option prices using Taylor expansions and applies it as a variance reduction technique.
Swapping debt contracts can mitigate risk in financial networks.
We derive an arbitrage free relationship between recovery swap rates, digital default swap spreads and conventional CDS spreads, and argue that the fair forward recovery rate used in recovery swaps must contain a convexity premium over the expected recovery value.
A new model adds stochastic spot/volatility correlation to Heston model for better exotic pricing.
Paper develops efficient mechanisms for estimating variance and covariance under differential privacy in the add-remove model.
F. Labourie [arXiv:1212.5015] characterized the Hitchin components for for any by using the swapping algebra, where the swapping algebra should be understood as a ring equipped with a Poisson bracket. We introduce the rank swapping algebra, which is the quotient of the swap…
In this paper, we model financial markets with semi-Markov volatilities and price covarinace and correlation swaps for this markets. Numerical evaluations of vari- nace, volatility, covarinace and correlations swaps with semi-Markov volatility are presented as well. The novelty of the paper lies in pricing of volatilit…
Exact relationships found between ATM slope, volatility swap, and zero vanna.
An uncollateralized swap hedged back-to-back by a CCP swap is used to introduce FVA. The open IR01 of FVA, however, is a sure sign of risk not being fully hedged, a theoretical no-arbitrage pricing concern, and a bait to lure market risk capital, a practical business concern. By dynamically trading the CCP swap, with t…