arXiv subjects

Christian Bender

Publications and source records attributed to Christian Bender.

30 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

A First-Order BSPDE for Swing Option Pricing: Classical Solutions

In Bender and Dokuchaev (2013), we studied a control problem related to swing option pricing in a general non-Markovian setting. The main result there shows that the value process of this control problem can be uniquely characterized in terms of a first order backward SPDE and a pathwise differential inclusion. In the present paper we additionally assume that the cashflow process of the swing option is left-continuous in expectation (LCE). Under this assumption we show that the value process is continuously differentiable in the space variable that represents the volume which the holder of the option can still exercise until maturity. This gives rise to an existence and uniqueness result for the corresponding backward SPDE in a classical sense. We also explicitly represent the space derivative of the value process in terms of a nonstandard optimal stopping problem over a subset of predictable stopping times. This representation can be applied to derive a dual minimization problem in terms of martingales.

q-fin.PR↗

arXiv2014

A primal-dual algorithm for BSDEs

We generalize the primal-dual methodology, which is popular in the pricing of early-exercise options, to a backward dynamic programming equation associated with time discretization schemes of (reflected) backward stochastic differential equations (BSDEs). Taking as an input some approximate solution of the backward dynamic program, which was pre-computed, e.g., by least-squares Monte Carlo, our methodology allows to construct a confidence interval for the unknown true solution of the time discretized (reflected) BSDE at time 0. We numerically demonstrate the practical applicability of our method in two five-dimensional nonlinear pricing problems where tight price bounds were previously unavailable.

q-fin.CP↗

arXiv2014

Maximal inequalities for fractional Lévy and related processes

In this paper we study processes which are constructed by a convolution of a deterministic kernel with a martingale. A special emphasis is put on the case where the driving martingale is a centred Lévy process, which covers the popular class of fractional Lévy processes. As a main result we show that, under appropriate assumptions on the kernel and the martingale, the maximum process of the corresponding `convoluted martingale' is $p$-integrable and we derive maximal inequalities in terms of the kernel and of the moments of the driving martingale.

math.PR↗

arXiv2014

Sticky continuous processes have consistent price systems

Under proportional transaction costs, a price process is said to have a consistent price system, if there is a semimartingale with an equivalent martingale measure that evolves within the bid-ask spread. We show that a continuous, multi-asset price process has a consistent price system, under arbitrarily small proportional transaction costs, if it satisfies a natural multi-dimensional generalization of the stickiness condition introduced by Guasoni [Math. Finance 16(3), 569-582 (2006)].

q-fin.PR↗

arXiv2013

A First-Order BSPDE for Swing Option Pricing

We study an optimal control problem related to swing option pricing in a general non-Markovian setting in continuous time. As a main result we show that the value process solves a first-order non-linear backward stochastic partial differential equation. Based on this result we can characterize the set of optimal controls and derive a dual minimization problem.

q-fin.PR↗

arXiv2012

Simple arbitrage

We characterize absence of arbitrage with simple trading strategies in a discounted market with a constant bond and several risky assets. We show that if there is a simple arbitrage, then there is a 0-admissible one or an obvious one, that is, a simple arbitrage which promises a minimal riskless gain of ε, if the investor trades at all. For continuous stock models, we provide an equivalent condition for absence of 0-admissible simple arbitrage in terms of a property of the fine structure of the paths, which we call "two-way crossing." This property can be verified for many models by the law of the iterated logarithm. As an application we show that the mixed fractional Black-Scholes model, with Hurst parameter bigger than a half, is free of simple arbitrage on a compact time horizon. More generally, we discuss the absence of simple arbitrage for stochastic volatility models and local volatility models which are perturbed by an independent 1/2-Hölder continuous process.

q-fin.PR↗

arXiv2011

Dual representations for general multiple stopping problems

In this paper, we study the dual representation for generalized multiple stopping problems, hence the pricing problem of general multiple exercise options. We derive a dual representation which allows for cashflows which are subject to volume constraints modeled by integer valued adapted processes and refraction periods modeled by stopping times. As such, this extends the works by Schoenmakers (2010), Bender (2011a), Bender (2011b), Aleksandrov and Hambly (2010), and Meinshausen and Hambly (2004) on multiple exercise options, which either take into consideration a refraction period or volume constraints, but not both simultaneously. We also allow more flexible cashflow structures than the additive structure in the above references. For example some exponential utility problems are covered by our setting. We supplement the theoretical results with an explicit Monte Carlo algorithm for constructing confidence intervals for the price of multiple exercise options and exemplify it by a numerical study on the pricing of a swing option in an electricity market.

q-fin.CP↗

arXiv2010

Finite Variation of Fractional Levy Processes

Various characterizations for fractional Levy process to be of finite variation are obtained, one of which is in terms of the characteristic triplet of the driving Levy process, while others are in terms of differentiability properties of the sample paths. A zero-one law and a formula for the expected total variation is also given.

math.PR↗

arXiv2010

Approximating a geometric fractional Brownian motion and related processes via discrete Wick calculus

We approximate the solution of some linear systems of SDEs driven by a fractional Brownian motion $B^H$ with Hurst parameter $H\in(\frac{1}{2},1)$ in the Wick--Itô sense, including a geometric fractional Brownian motion. To this end, we apply a Donsker-type approximation of the fractional Brownian motion by disturbed binary random walks due to Sottinen. Moreover, we replace the rather complicated Wick products by their discrete counterpart, acting on the binary variables, in the corresponding systems of Wick difference equations. As the solutions of the SDEs admit series representations in terms of Wick powers, a key to the proof of our Euler scheme is an approximation of the Hermite recursion formula for the Wick powers of $B^H$.

math.ST↗

arXiv2010

Fractional processes as models in stochastic finance

We survey some new progress on the pricing models driven by fractional Brownian motion \cb{or} mixed fractional Brownian motion. In particular, we give results on arbitrage opportunities, hedging, and option pricing in these models. We summarize some recent results on fractional Black & Scholes pricing model with transaction costs. We end the paper by giving some approximation results and indicating some open problems related to the paper.

q-fin.PR↗

arXiv2008

Stochastic calculus for convoluted Lévy processes

We develop a stochastic calculus for processes which are built by convoluting a pure jump, zero expectation Lévy process with a Volterra-type kernel. This class of processes contains, for example, fractional Lévy processes as studied by Marquardt [Bernoulli 12 (2006) 1090--1126.] The integral which we introduce is a Skorokhod integral. Nonetheless, we avoid the technicalities from Malliavin calculus and white noise analysis and give an elementary definition based on expectations under change of measure. As a main result, we derive an Itô formula which separates the different contributions from the memory due to the convolution and from the jumps.

math.PR↗

arXiv2008

Time discretization and Markovian iteration for coupled FBSDEs

In this paper we lay the foundation for a numerical algorithm to simulate high-dimensional coupled FBSDEs under weak coupling or monotonicity conditions. In particular, we prove convergence of a time discretization and a Markovian iteration. The iteration differs from standard Picard iterations for FBSDEs in that the dimension of the underlying Markovian process does not increase with the number of iterations. This feature seems to be indispensable for an efficient iterative scheme from a numerical point of view. We finally suggest a fully explicit numerical algorithm and present some numerical examples with up to 10-dimensional state space.

math.PR↗