|
Variance Swap
A variance swap is an over-the-counter financial derivative that allows one to speculate on or hedge risks associated with the magnitude of movement, i.e. volatility, of some underlying product, like an exchange rate, interest rate, or stock index. One leg of the swap will pay an amount based upon the realized variance of the price changes of the underlying product. Conventionally, these price changes will be daily log returns, based upon the most commonly used closing price. The other leg of the swap will pay a fixed amount, which is the strike, quoted at the deal's inception. Thus the net payoff to the counterparties will be the difference between these two and will be settled in cash at the expiration of the deal, though some cash payments will likely be made along the way by one or the other counterparty to maintain agreed upon margin. Structure and features The features of a variance swap include: * the variance strike * the realized variance * the vega notional: Like ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Over-the-counter (finance)
Over-the-counter (OTC) or off-exchange trading or pink sheet trading is done directly between two parties, without the supervision of an exchange. It is contrasted with exchange trading, which occurs via exchanges. A stock exchange has the benefit of facilitating liquidity, providing transparency, and maintaining the current market price. In an OTC trade, the price is not necessarily publicly disclosed. OTC trading, as well as exchange trading, occurs with commodities, financial instruments (including stocks), and derivatives of such products. Products traded on traditional stock exchanges, and other regulated bourse platforms, must be well standardized. This means that exchanged deliverables match a narrow range of quantity, quality, and identity which is defined by the exchange and identical to all transactions of that product. This is necessary for there to be transparency in stock exchange-based equities trading. The OTC market does not have this limitation. Parties may ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swap (finance)
In finance, a swap is an agreement between two counterparty, counterparties to trade, exchange financial instruments, cashflows, or payments for a certain time. The instruments can be almost anything but most swaps involve cash based on a notional principal amount.Financial Industry Business Ontology Version 2 , Annex D: Derivatives, EDM Council, Inc., Object Management Group, Inc., 2019 The general swap can also be seen as a series of forward contracts through which two parties exchange financial instruments, resulting in a common series of exchange dates and two streams of instruments, the ''legs'' of the swap. The legs can be almost anything but usually one leg involves cash flows based on a notional principal amount that both parties agree to. This principal usu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Delta Hedging
In finance, delta neutral describes a portfolio of related financial securities, in which the portfolio value remains unchanged when small changes occur in the value of the underlying security (having zero delta). Such a portfolio typically contains options and their corresponding underlying securities such that positive and negative delta components offset, resulting in the portfolio's value being relatively insensitive to changes in the value of the underlying security. A related term, delta hedging, is the process of setting or keeping a portfolio as close to delta-neutral as possible. In practice, maintaining a zero delta is very complex because there are risks associated with re-hedging on large movements in the underlying stock's price, and research indicates portfolios tend to have lower cash flows if re-hedged too frequently.De Weert F. pp. 74-81 Delta hedging may be accomplished by trading underlying securities of the portfolio. See for details. Mathematical interpret ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Option (finance)
In finance, an option is a contract which conveys to its owner, the ''holder'', the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a specific quantity of an underlying asset or instrument at a specified strike price on or before a specified date, depending on the style of the option. Options are typically acquired by purchase, as a form of compensation, or as part of a complex financial transaction. Thus, they are also a form of asset (or contingent liability) and have a valuation that may depend on a complex relationship between underlying asset price, time until expiration, market volatility, the risk-free rate of interest, and the strike price of the option. Options may be traded between private parties in '' over-the-counter'' (OTC) transactions, or they may be exchange-traded in live, public markets in the form of standardized contracts. Definition and application An option is a contract that allows the holder the right to buy or sell an underlying asset or financia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Static Replication
In mathematical finance, a replicating portfolio for a given asset or series of cash flows is a portfolio of assets with the same properties (especially cash flows). This is meant in two distinct senses: static replication, where the portfolio has the same cash flows as the reference asset (and no changes need to be made to maintain this), and dynamic replication, where the portfolio does not have the same cash flows, but has the same "Greeks" as the reference asset, meaning that for small (properly, infinitesimal) changes to underlying market parameters, the price of the asset and the price of the portfolio change in the same way. Dynamic replication requires continual adjustment, as the asset and portfolio are only assumed to behave similarly at a single point (mathematically, their partial derivatives are equal at a single point). Given an asset or liability, an offsetting replicating portfolio (a "hedge") is called a static hedge or dynamic hedge, and constructing such a portfol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heston Model
In finance, the Heston model, named after Steven L. Heston, is a mathematical model that describes the evolution of the volatility of an underlying asset. It is a stochastic volatility model: such a model assumes that the volatility of the asset is not constant, nor even deterministic, but follows a random process. Mathematical formulation The Heston model assumes that ''St'', the price of the asset, is determined by a stochastic process, : dS_t = \mu S_t\,dt + \sqrt S_t\,dW^S_t, where the volatility \sqrt is given by a Feller square-root or CIR process, : d\nu_t = \kappa(\theta - \nu_t)\,dt + \xi \sqrt\,dW^_t, and W^S_t, W^_t are Wiener processes (i.e., continuous random walks) with correlation ρ. The value \nu_t, being the square of the volatility, is called the instantaneous variance. The model has five parameters: * \nu_0, the initial variance. * \theta, the long variance, or long-run average variance of the price; as ''t'' tends to infinity, the expected value of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vanilla Option
In finance, an option is a contract which conveys to its owner, the ''holder'', the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a specific quantity of an underlying asset or instrument at a specified strike price on or before a specified date, depending on the style of the option. Options are typically acquired by purchase, as a form of compensation, or as part of a complex financial transaction. Thus, they are also a form of asset (or contingent liability) and have a valuation that may depend on a complex relationship between underlying asset price, time until expiration, market volatility, the risk-free rate of interest, and the strike price of the option. Options may be traded between private parties in ''over-the-counter'' (OTC) transactions, or they may be exchange-traded in live, public markets in the form of standardized contracts. Definition and application An option is a contract that allows the holder the right to buy or sell an underlying asset or financial in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Volatility Smile
Volatility smiles are implied volatility patterns that arise in pricing financial options. It is a parameter (implied volatility) that is needed to be modified for the Black–Scholes formula to fit market prices. In particular for a given expiration, options whose strike price differs substantially from the underlying asset's price command higher prices (and thus implied volatilities) than what is suggested by standard option pricing models. These options are said to be either deep in-the-money or out-of-the-money. Graphing implied volatilities against strike prices for a given expiry produces a skewed "smile" instead of the expected flat surface. The pattern differs across various markets. Equity options traded in American markets did not show a volatility smile before the Crash of 1987 but began showing one afterwards. It is believed that investor reassessments of the probabilities of fat-tail have led to higher prices for out-of-the-money options. This anomaly implies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Put Option
In finance, a put or put option is a derivative instrument in financial markets that gives the holder (i.e. the purchaser of the put option) the right to sell an asset (the ''underlying''), at a specified price (the ''strike''), by (or on) a specified date (the '' expiry'' or ''maturity'') to the ''writer'' (i.e. seller) of the put. The purchase of a put option is interpreted as a negative sentiment about the future value of the underlying stock. page 15 , 4.2.3 Positive and negative sentiment The term "put" comes from the fact that the owner has the right to "put up for sale" the stock or index. Puts may also be combined with other derivatives as part of more complex investment strategies, and in particular, may be useful for hedging. Holding a European put option is equivalent to holding the corresponding call option and selling an appropriate forward contract. This equivalence is called " put-call parity". Put options are most commonly used in the stock market to prot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Call Option
In finance, a call option, often simply labeled a "call", is a contract between the buyer and the seller of the call Option (finance), option to exchange a Security (finance), security at a set price. The buyer of the call option has the right, but not the obligation, to buy an agreed quantity of a particular commodity or financial instrument (the underlying) from the seller of the option at or before a certain time (the Expiration (options), expiration date) for a certain price (the strike price). This effectively gives the buyer a Long (finance), ''long'' position in the given asset. The seller (or "writer") is obliged to sell the commodity or financial instrument to the buyer if the buyer so decides. This effectively gives the seller a Short (finance), ''short'' position in the given asset. The buyer pays a fee (called a Insurance, premium) for this right. The term "call" comes from the fact that the owner has the right to "call the stock away" from the seller. Price of opt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Volatility Swap
In finance, a volatility swap is a forward contract on the future realised volatility of a given underlying asset. Volatility swaps allow investors to trade the volatility of an asset directly, much as they would trade a price index. Its payoff at expiration is equal to :(\sigma_-K_)N_ where: *\sigma_ is the annualised realised volatility, *K_ is the volatility strike, and *N_ is a preagreed notional amount. that is, the holder of a volatility swap receives N_ for every point by which the underlying's annualised realised volatility \sigma_ exceeded the delivery price of K_, and conversely, pays N_ for every point the realised volatility falls short of the strike. The underlying is usually a financial instrument with an active or liquid options market, such as foreign exchange, stock indices, or single stocks. Unlike an investment in options, whose volatility exposure is contaminated by its price dependence, these swaps provide pure exposure to volatility alone. This is tru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
