The art market has seen boom and bust during the last years and, despite the downturn, has received more attention from investors given the low interest environment following the financial crisis. However, participation has been reserved for a few investors and the hedging of exposures remains...

This paper describes a method for computing risk-neutral density functions based on the option-implied volatility smile. Its aim is to reduce complexity and provide cookbook-style guidance through the estimation process. The technique is robust and avoids violations of option no-arbitrage...

In this article we evaluate the pricing performance of the rather simple but revolutionary Black-Scholes model and one of the more complex techniques (neural networks) on the European-style S&P Index call and put options over the period of 1.6.2006 till 8.6.2007. Our results on call options show...

The characteristic functions of many affine jump-diffusion models, such as Heston’s stochastic volatility model and all of its extensions, involve multivalued functions such as the complex logarithm. If we restrict the logarithm to its principal branch, as is done in most software packages,...

At the time of writing this article, Fourier inversion is the computational method of choice for a fast and accurate calculation of plain vanilla option prices in models with an analytically available characteristic function. Shifting the contour of integration along the complex plane allows for...

The paper proposes a general asymmetric multifactor Wishart stochastic volatility (AMWSV) diffusion process which accommodates leverage, feedback effects and multifactor for the covariance process. The paper gives the closed-form solution for the conditional and unconditional Laplace transform...

This paper describes a set of indicators of systemic risk computed from current market prices of equity and equity index options. It displays results from a prototype version, computed daily from January 2006 to January 2013. The indicators represent a systemic risk event as the realization of...

The valuation of options and many other derivative instruments requires an estimation of exante or forward looking volatility. This paper adopts a Bayesian approach to estimate stock price volatility. We find evidence that overall Bayesian volatility estimates more closely approximate the...

We will present a model to compute a lower bound for the price of this option. The model, represented by a non-linear parabolic PDE, is implemented with finite elements in order to demonstrate the results with several derivatives from the European market.

A barrier option is a financial derivative which includes an activation (or deactivation) clause within a standard vanilla option. For instance, a copper mining company could secure to sell in at least K dollars each ton of copper during the next year, by buying M European put options. However,...