Using a novel equity lending dataset, this paper is the first to show that expected returns strongly and negatively predict future equity lending fees. In comparing two expected return measures, I find that a rational expected return has stronger predictive power of future short selling activity...

We examine whether the distribution of trades along the set of strike prices of option contracts on the same stock contains information about underlying price discovery. We show that option traders' demand for delta exposure drives the volume-weighted average strike-spot price ratio (VWKS). In...

Existing models of option returns neglect the distribution of expected underlying asset volatility. An ensemble of six common GARCH models affords estimates of the moments of the physical—rather than the risk-neutral—distribution of anticipated—instead of historical—volatility, as well...

We provide a historical perspective focusing on Ziemba's experiences and research on the bond-stock earnings yield differential model (BSEYD) starting from when he first used it in Japan in 1988 through to the present in 2014. The model has called many but not all crashes. Those called have high...

Investors' views, expressed in individual securities, when averaged are informative about the future path of aggregate market returns. Our predictor of the market, PC-OI, is an average of traders' positions in options on individual stocks, formed simply by summing the put open interest across...

We comprehensively analyze the predictive power of several option implied variables for monthly S & P 500 excess returns and realized variance. The correlation risk premium (CRP) emerges as a strong predictor of both excess returns and realized variance. This is true both in- and out-of-sample....