We show that microstructure biases in the estimation of expected option returns and risk premia are large, in some cases over 50 basis points per day. We propose a new method that corrects for these biases. We then apply our method to real data and produce three main findings. First, the...

We show that the average difference between the implied volatilities of call and put options on individual equities, which we term the implied volatility spread (IVS), has strong predictive power for stock market returns at horizons between one and six months, with monthly in-sample and...

This paper investigates the performance of option investments across different stocks by computing monthly returns on at-the-money straddles on individual equities. It finds that options with high historical returns continue to significantly outperform options with low historical returns over...

The stylized fact that volatility is not priced in individual equity options does not withstand scrutiny. We show, first, that the average return of heavily traded deep out-of-the-money call options on stocks is -116 basis points per day. Second, Fama- MacBeth estimates of the volatility risk...

This paper develops a new method to calculate hedged returns on model-free “equity VIX” option portfolios. Our returns are highly correlated with realized variance minus implied variance. Compared to CBOE’s VIX formula, our formulas are more accurate for both simulated and actual prices,...