• It is not widely emphasized in the literature that derivatives are complex random quantities which should, by custom, be characterized by their probability density functions. • It is understood that Black-Scholes style of derivatives pricing represents an expected value, i.e. the...

A new method to retrieve the risk-neutral probability measure from observed option prices is developed and a closed form pricing formula for European options is obtained by employing a modified Gram-Charlier series expansion, known as the Gauss-Hermite expansion. This expansion converges for...

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...

Most of the empirical studies on stochastic volatility dynamics favor the 3/2 specification over the square-root (CIR) process in the Heston model. In the context of option pricing, the 3/2 stochastic volatility model is reported to be able to capture the volatility skew evolution better than...

Option prices seem to behave in ways inconsistent with the Black-Scholes model. Implied volatility varies with the strike price in a parabolic shape that is often called the volatility 'smile.' My objective in this paper is to identify implied probability distributions that might explain this...

This paper provides a number of relevant guidelines to build a consistent Volatility Smile accounting for the FX market conventions. This consistency is understood as fitting a model which is able to price vanilla options across all possible strikes given the knowledge of a few market...

The stock options implied volatility skew reflects both the structural risk characteristics of the underlying company and the short-term information flow about the stock price movement. This paper builds a semi-structural cross-sectional option pricing model to separate the structural risk...

The prices of derivatives contracts can be used to estimate ‘risk-neutral' probability density functions that give an indication of the weight investors place on different future prices of their underlying assets, were they risk-neutral. In the likely case that investors are risk-averse, this...