2,915 research outputs found
Constrained Quadratic Risk Minimization via Forward and Backward Stochastic Differential Equations
In this paper we study a continuous-time stochastic linear quadratic control
problem arising from mathematical finance. We model the asset dynamics with
random market coefficients and portfolio strategies with convex constraints.
Following the convex duality approach, we show that the necessary and
sufficient optimality conditions for both the primal and dual problems can be
written in terms of processes satisfying a system of FBSDEs together with other
conditions. We characterise explicitly the optimal wealth and portfolio
processes as functions of adjoint processes from the dual FBSDEs in a dynamic
fashion and vice versa. We apply the results to solve quadratic risk
minimization problems with cone-constraints and derive the explicit
representations of solutions to the extended stochastic Riccati equations for
such problems.Comment: 22 page
B-spline techniques for volatility modeling
This paper is devoted to the application of B-splines to volatility modeling,
specifically the calibration of the leverage function in stochastic local
volatility models and the parameterization of an arbitrage-free implied
volatility surface calibrated to sparse option data. We use an extension of
classical B-splines obtained by including basis functions with infinite
support. We first come back to the application of shape-constrained B-splines
to the estimation of conditional expectations, not merely from a scatter plot
but also from the given marginal distributions. An application is the Monte
Carlo calibration of stochastic local volatility models by Markov projection.
Then we present a new technique for the calibration of an implied volatility
surface to sparse option data. We use a B-spline parameterization of the
Radon-Nikodym derivative of the underlying's risk-neutral probability density
with respect to a roughly calibrated base model. We show that this method
provides smooth arbitrage-free implied volatility surfaces. Finally, we sketch
a Galerkin method with B-spline finite elements to the solution of the partial
differential equation satisfied by the Radon-Nikodym derivative.Comment: 25 page
Transformation Method for Solving Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman Equation for Constrained Dynamic Stochastic Optimal Allocation Problem
In this paper we propose and analyze a method based on the Riccati
transformation for solving the evolutionary Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation
arising from the stochastic dynamic optimal allocation problem. We show how the
fully nonlinear Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation can be transformed into a
quasi-linear parabolic equation whose diffusion function is obtained as the
value function of certain parametric convex optimization problem. Although the
diffusion function need not be sufficiently smooth, we are able to prove
existence, uniqueness and derive useful bounds of classical H\"older smooth
solutions. We furthermore construct a fully implicit iterative numerical scheme
based on finite volume approximation of the governing equation. A numerical
solution is compared to a semi-explicit traveling wave solution by means of the
convergence ratio of the method. We compute optimal strategies for a portfolio
investment problem motivated by the German DAX 30 Index as an example of
application of the method
Stochastic maximum principle and dynamic convex duality in continuous-time constrained portfolio optimization
This thesis seeks to gain further insight into the connection between stochastic optimal control and forward and backward stochastic differential equations and its applications in solving continuous-time constrained portfolio optimization problems. Three topics are studied in this thesis. In the first part of the thesis, we focus on stochastic maximum principle, which seeks to establish the connection between stochastic optimal control and backward stochastic differential differential equations coupled with static optimality condition on the Hamiltonian. We prove a weak neccessary and sufficient maximum principle for Markovian regime switching stochastic optimal control problems. Instead of insisting on the maxi- mum condition of the Hamiltonian, we show that 0 belongs to the sum of Clarkes generalized gradient of the Hamiltonian and Clarkes normal cone of the control constraint set at the optimal control. Under a joint concavity condition on the Hamiltonian and a convexity condition on the terminal objective function, the necessary condition becomes sufficient. We give four examples to demonstrate the weak stochastic maximum principle. In the second part of the thesis, we study a continuous-time stochastic linear quadratic control problem arising from mathematical finance. We model the asset dynamics with random market coefficients and portfolio strategies with convex constraints. Following the convex duality approach,we show that the necessary and sufficient optimality conditions for both the primal and dual problems can be written in terms of processes satisfying a system of FBSDEs together with other conditions. We characterise explicitly the optimal wealth and portfolio processes as functions of adjoint processes from the dual FBSDEs in a dynamic fashion and vice versa. We apply the results to solve quadratic risk minimization problems with cone-constraints and derive the explicit representations of solutions to the extended stochastic Riccati equations for such problems. In the final section of the thesis, we extend the previous result to utility maximization problems. After formulating the primal and dual problems, we construct the necessary and sufficient conditions for both the primal and dual problems in terms of FBSDEs plus additional conditions. Such formulation then allows us to explicitly characterize the primal optimal control as a function of the adjoint processes coming from the dual FBSDEs in a dynamic fashion and vice versa. Moreover, we also find that the optimal primal wealth process coincides with the optimal adjoint process of the dual problem and vice versa. Finally we solve three constrained utility maximization problems and contrasts the simplicity of the duality approach we propose with the technical complexity in solving the primal problem directly.Open Acces
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