Implied volatility
Structural shifts in equity flows and ETFs force up correlation, says HSBC
HSBC's global report indicates that correlation in the global equities market has been steadily rising since 2001.
Sponsored statement: Controlling volatility to reduce uncertainty
Controlling volatility to reduce uncertainty
A dynamic model for correlation
Equity markets have experienced a significant increase in correlation during the crisis, resulting in exotic derivatives portfolios realising large losses. As larger correlations in downward scenarios are already implied in the index option market in the…
Putting the smile back on the face of derivatives
Cross-asset quadratic Gaussian models have been limited in the scale of their implementation by the difficulty in ensuring the correct drift conditions to omit arbitrage. Here, Paul McCloud shows how to exploit the symmetries of the functional form to…
Smile dynamics IV
Lorenzo Bergomi addresses the relationship between the smile that stochastic volatility models produce and the dynamics they generate for implied volatilities. He introduces a new quantity, the skew stickiness ratio (SSR), and shows how, at order one in…
Sponsored statement: The implied volatility surface in the presence of dividends
Standard Bank quantitative analyst Roelof Sheppard shows how absolute and proportional dividend payments give rise to arbitrage constraints on the implied volatility surface
Combining the SABR and LMM models
Pierre Henry-Labordere analyses a stochastic volatility Libor market model that combines the SABR and Brace-Gatarek-Musiela (BGM) models in a natural way. Using an innovative geometrical method, he explains how to obtain analytical formulas for swaption…
The equity volatility-credit link
Sponsored Statement
Combining the SABR and LMM models
Pierre Henry-Labordere analyses a stochastic volatility Libor market model that combines the SABR and Brace-Gatarek-Musiela (BGM) models in a natural way
A time-homogeneous, SABR-consistent extension of the LMM
Riccardo Rebonato proposes an extension of the Libor market model (LMM) that recovers the stochastic, alpha, beta, rho (SABR) caplet prices almost exactly for all strikes and maturities. The dynamics of the volatility are chosen so as to be consistent…
A time-homogeneous, SABR-consistent extension of the LMM
Riccardo Rebonato proposes an extension of the Libor market model (LMM) that recovers the SABR caplet prices almost exactly for all strikes and maturities. The dynamics of the volatility are chosen so as to be consistent across expiries, to be…
The vanna-volga method for implied volatilities
Cutting Edge - Option pricing
The vanna-volga method for implied volatilities
Option pricing
Smiling at convexity
The price of a constant maturity swap (CMS)-based derivative is largely determined by the value of swaption volatilities at extreme strikes. Fabio Mercurio and Andrea Pallavicini propose a simple procedure for stripping consistently implied volatilities…
Smiling hybrids
Vladimir Piterbarg develops a multi-currency model with foreign exchange skew suitable for valuation and risk management of forex-linked hybrids, in particular power-reverse dual-currency (PRDC) swaps. The emphasis of the article is on model calibration…
An arbitrage-free interpolation of volatilities
Nabil Kahalé describes a new construction of an implied volatilities surface from a discrete set of implied volatilities that is arbitrage-free and satisfies some smoothness conditions. His method provides an excellent fit to the smile of the local…
Practical relative-value volatility trading
The rapid growth of fixed-income hedge funds has resulted in increased interest in identifying relative-value trade opportunities. Here, the author presents a consistent framework for finding value within interest rate options markets.
Index volatility surface via moment-matching techniques
Peter Lee, Limin Wang and Abdelkerim Karim present a basket construction technique using Gram-Charlier-Edgeworth expansions. They show how to express basket option skews and smiles in terms of its underlying components, and demonstrate how market…
Profiting from gas prices
Natural Gas
Reconstructing volatility
Options on stock baskets have become a mainstay of the equity derivatives business, but pricing and hedging of such products is highly sensitive to implied volatility and correlation assumptions. Here, Marco Avellaneda, Dash Boyer-Olson, Jérôme Busca and…