The implied volatilities provided by OptionMetrics in the IvyDB database suggest substantial deviations from put-call parity that do not really exist. In S&P 500 options, artificial deviations occur because OptionMetrics uses non-synchronous index and option prices and an average implied...

Numerous studies find S-shaped pricing kernels, which is conflicting with standard theory. In contrast to that, based on a novel GARCH model with structural breaks, I show that the pricing kernel is consistently U-shaped. The results are robust to variations in the methodology and hold for...

In this paper we present a critical point on connections between stock volatility, implied volatility, and local volatility. The essence of the Black Sholes pricing model is based on assumption that option piece is formed by no arbitrage portfolio. Such assumption effects the change of the real...

We analyze how informed investors trade in the options market ahead of corporate news when they receive private, but noisy, information about the timing and impact of these announcements on stock prices. We propose a framework that ranks options trading strategies (option type, maturity, and...

In recent years there has been a remarkable growth of volatility options. In particular, VIX options are among the most actively trading contracts at CBOE. These options exhibit upward sloping volatility skew and the shape of the skew is largely independent of the volatility level. To take into...

Market option prices in last 20 years confirmed deviations from the Black and Scholes (BS) models assumptions, especially on the BS implied volatility. Implied binomial trees (IBT) models capture the variations of the implied volatility known as "volatility smile". They provide a discrete...