We develop and implement methods for determining whether introducing new securities or relaxing investment constraints improves the investment opportunity set for prospect investors. We formulate a new testing procedure for prospect spanning for two nested portfolio sets based on subsampling and...

We show that the stochastic dominance (SD) approach to the valuation of index options in frictionless markets allows the derivation of a unique variance risk premium and price of volatility risk based only on the underlying return and volatility dynamics for a wide class of stochastic volatility...

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...

This paper examines the joint time series of the S&P500 index and its options with a two-factor Hawkes jump-diffusion model that captures jump propagation (i.e., the phenomenon in which the strike of one jump substantially raises the probability for more to follow). The propagation effect...

We present a new finding that the return autocorrelation of underlying stock is an important determinant of expected equity option returns. Using an extended Black-Scholes model incorporating the presence of stock return autocorrelation, we show that expected returns of both call and put options...

We document empirically that the returns from shorting out-of-the-money S&P 500 put options are concentrated in the few days preceding their expiration. Back-month options generate almost no returns, and front-month options do so only towards the end of the option cycle. The concentration of the...

We investigate the pricing of risk-neutral skewness in the stock options market by creating skewness assets comprised of two option positions (one long and one short) and a position in the underlying stock. The assets are created such that exposure to changes in the price of the underlying stock...

We investigate the pricing of risk-neutral skewness in the stock options market by creating skewness assets comprised of two option positions (one long and one short) and a position in the underlying stock. The assets are created such that exposure to changes in the underlying stock price...

Several exchanges in futures and options deploy pro-rata matching. The executed size of limit orders in pro-rata markets is never certain, unlike in price-time priority matching systems. This article derives the optimal size of limit orders in pro-rata markets given the trader's desired...