Valuing financial securities often assumes that the contractual obligations of the security are going to be honored. However, frequently a party to a contract will default on its obligations. Because the contractual features of defaultable securities are usually complex and it is difficult to...

Many financial institutions hold derivative securities in their portfolios, and frequently these securities need to be hedged for extended periods of time. Failure to hedge properly can expose an institution to sudden swings in the values of derivatives, such as options, resulting from large,...

The popular practice of selling market volatility through selling straddles exposes traders and investors to substantial risk, especially in equity markets. The returns can be very lucrative, but the probability of large negative returns far exceeds the probability of large positive returns. In...

Because volatility of the underlying asset price is a critical factor affecting option prices and hedge ratios, the modeling of volatility and its dynamics is of vital interest to traders, investors, and risk managers. This modeling is a difficult task because the path of volatility during the...

Auctions, as selling mechanisms, have existed for well over two thousand years. Today, one of the most important auction markets in the world is that of U.S. Treasury securities; approximately $2 trillion worth of Treasury securities was auctioned in 1995. ; A long-standing debate has been about...