We document that leverage-adjusted returns on S&P 500 index call and put portfolios are decreasing in their strike-to-price ratio over 1986-2010, contrary to the prediction of the Black-Scholes-Merton model. We test a large number of plausible unconditional factor models and find that only...

An anchoring-adjusted option pricing model is developed in which the volatility of the underlying stock return is used as a starting point that gets adjusted upwards to form expectations about call option volatility. I show that the anchoring price lies within the bounds implied by risk-averse...

In this study, we separately estimate the implied volatility from bid prices and ask prices ofdeep out-of-the-money (OTM) put options on the S&P500 index. We find that the impliedvolatility of ask prices has stronger stock return predictability than that of bid prices. Our finding is robust to...

Equity option markets exhibit intense trading activity. We use the variability of option implied volatility spread as a proxy for the impounding of new information, and changes in the interpretation of existing information, into option prices. Over the 2006 – 2016 period, we find that the...

We examine whether option prices correct for predictable bias in stock prices associated with accounting anomalies. Evidence from put-call parity violations suggests that they do not. Rather, option prices accurately track contemporaneous stock prices. Further analysis suggests that high costs...

We study whether prices of traded options contain information about future extreme market events. Our option-implied conditional expectation of market loss due to tail events, or tail loss measure, predicts future market returns, magnitude, and probability of the market crashes, beyond and above...

In this paper we find that the decline in the momentum profitability is partly driven by option trading. Momentum profits arise from the short leg and therefore on barriers to short selling. We find strong evidence that the presence of stock options creates alternate avenues for short selling,...

This paper implements a novel model-free methodology to measure skewness risk premia in individual stocks. The methodology takes the form of a trading strategy, a skewness swap. The return on the strategy shows a significant positive skewness risk premium in individual stocks. The risk premium...

This paper employs Hasbrouck's (2003) information share method to analyze the flow of information in equity markets. In particular we compare trading in Index ETFs with that of their underlying securities. Surprisingly, ETFs seem to play a significant role in the price discovery process, rather...

This paper investigates whether multivariate crash risk (MCRASH), defined as exposure to extreme realizations of multiple systematic factors, is priced in the cross-section of expected stock returns. We derive an extended linear model with a positive premium for MCRASH and we empirically confirm...