A nonparametric method of pricing American options was recently developed that requires only historical underlying price data (Alcock and Carmichael, 2008). We derive an extension to this method to include conditioning information from a small number of observed option prices. This additional...

This paper introduces a new semi-parametric methodology for the implied volatility surface, which incorporates machine learning algorithms. Given a starting model, a tree boosting algorithm sequentially minimizes the residuals of observed and estimated implied volatility. To overcome the poor...

We propose a new semi-parametric model for the implied volatility surface, which incorporates machine learning algorithms. Given a starting model, a tree-boosting algorithm sequentially minimizes the residuals of observed and estimated implied volatility. To overcome the poor predicting power of...

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the default probabilities in infrastructure projects. For that, we analyze the exposure of the lenders to a state of default. This application is made by assuming the debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) dynamic itself and the payment profile determined by...

We introduce an alternative approach for computing the values of CDO tranche spreads in reduced-form models for portfolio credit derivatives (quot;top-downquot; models), which allows for efficient computations and can be used as an ingredient of an efficient calibration algorithm. Our approach...

We present a non-parametric method for calibrating jump-diffusion models to a finite set of observed option prices. We show that the usual formulations of the inverse problem via nonlinear least squares are ill-posed and propose a regularization method based on relative entropy. We reformulate...

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the default probabilities in infrastructure projects. For that, we analyze the exposure of the lenders to a state of default. This application is made by assuming the debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) dynamic itself and the payment profile determined by...

We propose constructing a set of trading strategies using predicted option returns for a relatively small forecasting period of ten trading days to form profitable hold-to-expiration, equally weighted, zero-cost portfolios based on 1-month at-the-money call and put options. We use a statistical...

This paper applies to the static hedge of barrier options a technique, mean-square hedging, designed to minimize the size of the hedging error when perfect replication is not possible. It introduces an extension of this technique which preserves the computational efficiency of mean-square...