Valuation equations for stochastic volatility models

We analyze the valuation partial differential equation for European contingent claims in a general framework of stochastic volatility models where the diffusion coefficients may grow faster than linearly and degenerate on the boundaries of the state space. We allow for various types of model behavior: the volatility process in our model can potentially reach zero and either stay there or instantaneously reflect, and the asset-price process may be a strict local martingale. Our main result is a necessary and sufficient condition on the uniqueness of classical solutions to the valuation equation: the value function is the unique nonnegative classical solution to the valuation equation among functions with at most linear growth if and only if the asset-price is a martingale.Comment: Keywords: Stochastic volatility models, valuation equations, Feynman-Kac theorem, strict local martingales, necessary and sufficient conditions for uniquenes

Outperforming the market portfolio with a given probability

Our goal is to resolve a problem proposed by Fernholz and Karatzas [On optimal arbitrage (2008) Columbia Univ.]: to characterize the minimum amount of initial capital with which an investor can beat the market portfolio with a certain probability, as a function of the market configuration and time to maturity. We show that this value function is the smallest nonnegative viscosity supersolution of a nonlinear PDE. As in Fernholz and Karatzas [On optimal arbitrage (2008) Columbia Univ.], we do not assume the existence of an equivalent local martingale measure, but merely the existence of a local martingale deflator.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/11-AAP799 the Annals of Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

On backward stochastic differential equations and strict local martingales

We study a backward stochastic differential equation whose terminal condition is an integrable function of a local martingale and generator has bounded growth in $z$. When the local martingale is a strict local martingale, the BSDE admits at least two different solutions. Other than a solution whose first component is of class D, there exists another solution whose first component is not of class D and strictly dominates the class D solution. Both solutions are $\mathbb{L}^p$ integrable for any $0<p<1$. These two different BSDE solutions generate different viscosity solutions to the associated quasi-linear partial differential equation. On the contrary, when a Lyapunov function exists, the local martingale is a martingale and the quasi-linear equation admits a unique viscosity solution of at most linear growth.Comment: Keywords: Backward stochastic differential equation, strict local martingale, viscosity solution, comparison theore

The Stochastic Solution to a Cauchy Problem for Degenerate Parabolic Equations

We study the stochastic solution to a Cauchy problem for a degenerate parabolic equation arising from option pricing. When the diffusion coefficient of the underlying price process is locally H\"older continuous with exponent $\delta\in (0, 1]$, the stochastic solution, which represents the price of a European option, is shown to be a classical solution to the Cauchy problem. This improves the standard requirement $\delta\ge 1/2$. Uniqueness results, including a Feynman-Kac formula and a comparison theorem, are established without assuming the usual linear growth condition on the diffusion coefficient. When the stochastic solution is not smooth, it is characterized as the limit of an approximating smooth stochastic solutions. In deriving the main results, we discover a new, probabilistic proof of Kotani's criterion for martingality of a one-dimensional diffusion in natural scale.Comment: Keywords: local martingales, local stochastic solutions, degenerate Cauchy problems, Feynman-Kac formula, necessary and sufficient condition for uniqueness, comparison principl