Bid and ask sizes at the top of the order book provide information on short-term price moves. Drawing from classical descriptions of the order book in terms of queues and order-arrival rates (Smith et al., 2003), we consider a diffusion model for the evolution of the best bid/ask queues. We...

We propose a model to describe stock pinning on option expiration dates. We argue that if the open interest on a particular contract is unusually large, delta-hedging in aggregate by floor market-makers can impact the stock price and drive it to the strike price of the option. We derive a...

We present an algorithm for hedging option portfolios and custom-tailored derivative securities, which uses options to manage volatility risk. The algorithm uses a volatility band to model heteroskedasticity and a non- linear partial differential equation to evaluate worst-case volatility...

We construct a statistical model for the term-structure of implied volatilities of currency options based on daily historical data for 13 currency pairs over a 19-month period. We examine the joint evolution of 1 month, 2 month, 3 month, 6 month and 1 year at-the-money (50 δ) options in all the...

Sufficient conditions for existence and a closed form probabilistic representation are obtained for solutions of nonlinear parabolic equations with gauge function term. In particular, the result applies to the generalized Leland equationwhere BSn is the n-dimensional Black-Scholes operator, Ai...

A framework for calibrating a pricing model to a prescribed set of options prices quoted in the market is presented. Our algorithm yields an arbitrage-free diffusion process that minimizes the Kullback-Leibler relative entropy distance to a prior diffusion. It consists in solving a constrained...

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We establish new optimal bounds on the Ohmic conductivity tensor of a single-phase polycrystal through a comparison principle which uses a null-Lagrangian. A similar technique is used to obtain a sharp inequality correlating the conductivities of a two-phase composite material and the material...