Relative liquidity and future volatility

The main contribution of this paper is to identify the strong predictive power of the relative, rather than the absolute, volume of orders over volatility. To this end, we propose a new measure, relative liquidity, which accounts for how quoted depth is distributed in a limit order book and captures the level of consensus on a security's trading price. Higher liquidity provision farther away from the best quotes, relative to the rest of the book, is associated with a disagreement on the current price and followed by high volatility. The relationship is robust to the inclusion of several alternative measures

The minimal entropy martingale measure for general Barndorff-Nielsen/Shephard models

We determine the minimal entropy martingale measure for a general class of stochastic volatility models where both price process and volatility process contain jump terms which are correlated. This generalizes previous studies which have treated either the geometric Lévy case or continuous price processes with an orthogonal volatility process. We proceed by linking the entropy measure to a certain semi-linear integro-PDE for which we prove the existence of a classical solution

An entropy approach to the Stein and Stein model with correlation

We outline a martingale duality method for determining the minimal entropy martingale measure in a general continuous semimartingale model, and provide the relevant verification results. This method is illustrated by a detailed case study of the Stein and Stein stochastic volatility model driven by two correlated Brownian motions. It turns out that in case the mean reversion level and the correlation coefficient are nonzero, an investor who can use trading strategies adapted to the Brownian filtration may achieve a higher expected exponential utility from terminal wealth than an investor who can only observe the price process. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin/Heidelberg 2005Stochastic volatility, Relative entropy, Martingale measures, Progressive enlargement of filtrations,

Utility indifference hedging with exponential additive processes

We determine the exponential utility indifference price and hedging strategy for contingent claims written on returns given by exponential additive processes. We proceed by linking the pricing measure to a certain second-order semi-linear Integro-PDE. As main application, we study the problem of hedging with basis risk

Hedging derivatives

Valuation and hedging of financial derivatives are intrinsically linked concepts. Choosing appropriate hedging techniques depends on both the type of derivative and assumptions placed on the underlying stochastic process. This volume provides a systematic treatment of hedging in incomplete markets. Mean-variance hedging under the risk-neutral measure is applied in the framework of exponential Lévy processes and for derivatives written on defaultable assets. It is discussed how to complete markets based upon stochastic volatility models via trading in both stocks and vanilla options. Exponential utility indifference pricing is explored via a duality with entropy minimization. Backward stochastic differential equations offer an alternative approach and are moreover applied to study markets with trading constraints including basis risk. A range of optimal martingale measures are discussed including the entropy, Esscher and minimal martingale measures. Quasi-symmetry properties of stochastic processes are deployed in the semi-static hedging of barrier options. This book is directed towards both graduate students and researchers in mathematical finance, and will also provide an orientation to applied mathematicians, financial economists and practitioners wishing to explore recent progress in this field

Arbitrage opportunities in diverse markets via a non-equivalent measure change

We study arbitrage opportunities in diverse markets as introduced by Fernholz (J Math Econ 31:393–417, 1999). By a change of measure technique we are able to generate a variety of diverse markets. The construction is based on an absolutely continuous but non-equivalent measure change which implies the existence of instantaneous arbitrage opportunities in diverse markets. For this technique to work, we single out a crucial non-degeneracy condition. Moreover, we discuss the dynamics of the price process under the new measure as well as further applications