Valuation of Music Catalogs

We propose a risk neutral approach to forecast the cashflows of music catalogs, based on historical revenue data. We use a discounted cashflows formula to produce reasonable ranges of multipliers for these assets, based on the age of the catalog, the last-twelve-months revenue and the duration of the contract. We compare the multipliers implied by the cashflows of top, median and bottom performing songs on the Royalty Exchange platform. We find that ask prices are close to the multipliers justified by median song cashflows. The best bids are near the multipliers justified by the bottom decile of song cashflows

Optimal strategies in incomplete financial markets

textThis thesis analyzes the optimal strategies of rational agents in incomplete financial markets. The incompleteness may arise from the stochastic volatility of stock prices, in which case we study the optimal pricing and hedging strategies of an option trader. We introduce a new concept that we call the relative indifference price, which is the price at which a trader is indifferent to trade in an additional option, given that he is currently holding and dynamically hedging a portfolio of options. We find that the appropriate volatility risk premium depends on the trader's risk aversion coeffcient and his portfolio position before selling or buying the additional option. More generally, the incompleteness of the market may arise from both the drift and volatility of the stock being driven by a correlated factor. In this setting, we study the optimal consumption and investment policies of CARA, conservative CRRA and aggressive CRRA agents. In particular, we provide interpretations of the non-myopic investment in terms of martingale measures and the risk monitoring strategy of a path-dependent option.Mathematic

2008: High-frequency trading in a limit order book

We study a stock dealer’s strategy for submitting bid and ask quotes in a limit order book. The agent faces an inventory risk due to the diffusive nature of the stock’s mid-price and a transactions risk due to a Poisson arrival of market buy and sell orders. After setting up the agent’s problem in a maximal expected utility framework, we derive the solution in a two step procedure. First, the dealer computes a personal indifference valuation for the stock, given his current inventory. Second, he calibrates his bid and ask quotes to the market’s limit order book. We compare this ”inventory-based ” strategy to a ”naive ” strategy that is symmetric around the mid-price, by simulating stock price paths and displaying the P&L profiles of both strategies. We find that our strategy yields P&L profiles and final inventories that have significantly less variance than the benchmark strategy.

High-frequency trading in a limit order book

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Option market making under inventory risk

Delta, European options, Gamma, Inventory management, Liquidity, Market microstructure, Vega, G13, G11, C61,