We introduce the realized co-range, a novel estimator of the daily covariance between asset returns based on intraday high-low price ranges. In an ideal world, the co-range is five times more efficient than the realized covariance, which uses cross-products of intraday returns, when sampling at...

We propose a novel method to estimate risk-neutral quantiles that uses sorting to minimize an objective function given by a convex combination of call and put option prices over the range of available strike prices. We demonstrate that this new method significantly improves the accuracy of...

We show that option prices predict future stock returns only when stock returns are ex-ante predictable using public signals from the stock market itself. Directional option trading cannot explain these results, suggesting that they are not driven by informed trading or superior ability of...

We document that a theoretically founded, real-time, and easy-to-implement option-based measure, termed synthetic-stock difference (SSD), accurately estimates the part of stock's expected return arising from stock's transaction costs. We calculate SSD for U.S. optionable stocks. SSD can be more...

We dissect the impact of information contained for future asset returns in the implied volatility skew. Future returns are linked to the discrepancy between call and put volatilities of at-the-money options and to the left side of the volatility skew, calculated as the difference between...

We develop an ex-ante measure of expected stock returns based on analyst price targets. We then show that ex-ante measures of volatility, skewness, and kurtosis implied from stock option prices are positively related to the cross section of ex-ante expected stock returns. While expected returns...

We nest multiple volatility components, fat tails and a U-shaped pricing kernel in a single option model and compare their contribution to describing returns and option data. All three features lead to statistically significant model improvements. A U-shaped pricing kernel is economically most...