arXiv subjects

Giacomo Bormetti

Publications and source records attributed to Giacomo Bormetti.

32 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Impact of Multiple Curve Dynamics in Credit Valuation Adjustments under Collateralization

We present a detailed analysis of interest rate derivatives valuation under credit risk and collateral modeling. We show how the credit and collateral extended valuation framework in Pallavicini et al (2011), and the related collateralized valuation measure, can be helpful in defining the key market rates underlying the multiple interest rate curves that characterize current interest rate markets. A key point is that spot Libor rates are to be treated as market primitives rather than being defined by no-arbitrage relationships. We formulate a consistent realistic dynamics for the different rates emerging from our analysis and compare the resulting model performances to simpler models used in the industry. We include the often neglected margin period of risk, showing how this feature may increase the impact of different rates dynamics on valuation. We point out limitations of multiple curve models with deterministic basis considering valuation of particularly sensitive products such as basis swaps. We stress that a proper wrong way risk analysis for such products requires a model with a stochastic basis and we show numerical results confirming this fact.

q-fin.PR↗

arXiv2015

Collective synchronization and high frequency systemic instabilities in financial markets

Recent years have seen an unprecedented rise of the role that technology plays in all aspects of human activities. Unavoidably, technology has heavily entered the Capital Markets trading space, to the extent that all major exchanges are now trading exclusively using electronic platforms. The ultra fast speed of information processing, order placement, and cancelling generates new dynamics which is still not completely deciphered. Analyzing a large dataset of stocks traded on the US markets, our study evidences that since 2001 the level of synchronization of large price movements across assets has significantly increased. Even though the total number of over-threshold events has diminished in recent years, when an event occurs, the average number of assets swinging together has increased. Quite unexpectedly, only a minor fraction of these events -- regularly less than 40% along all years -- can be connected with the release of pre-announced macroeconomic news. We also document that the larger is the level of sistemicity of an event, the larger is the probability -- and degree of sistemicity -- that a new event will occur in the near future. This opens the way to the intriguing idea that systemic events emerge as an effect of a purely endogenous mechanism. Consistently, we present a high-dimensional, yet parsimonious, model based on a class of self- and cross-exciting processes, termed Hawkes processes, which reconciles the modeling effort with the empirical evidence.

q-fin.ST↗

arXiv2014

Smile from the Past: A general option pricing framework with multiple volatility and leverage components

In the current literature, the analytical tractability of discrete time option pricing models is guaranteed only for rather specific types of models and pricing kernels. We propose a very general and fully analytical option pricing framework, encompassing a wide class of discrete time models featuring multiple-component structure in both volatility and leverage, and a flexible pricing kernel with multiple risk premia. Although the proposed framework is general enough to include either GARCH-type volatility, Realized Volatility or a combination of the two, in this paper we focus on realized volatility option pricing models by extending the Heterogeneous Autoregressive Gamma (HARG) model of Corsi, Fusari, La Vecchia (2012) to incorporate heterogeneous leverage structures with multiple components, while preserving closed-form solutions for option prices. Applying our analytically tractable asymmetric HARG model to a large sample of S&P 500 index options, we demonstrate its superior ability to price out-of-the-money options compared to existing benchmarks.

q-fin.PR↗

arXiv2014

The adaptive nature of liquidity taking in limit order books

In financial markets, the order flow, defined as the process assuming value one for buy market orders and minus one for sell market orders, displays a very slowly decaying autocorrelation function. Since orders impact prices, reconciling the persistence of the order flow with market efficiency is a subtle issue. A possible solution is provided by asymmetric liquidity, which states that the impact of a buy or sell order is inversely related to the probability of its occurrence. We empirically find that when the order flow predictability increases in one direction, the liquidity in the opposite side decreases, but the probability that a trade moves the price decreases significantly. While the last mechanism is able to counterbalance the persistence of order flow and restore efficiency and diffusivity, the first acts in opposite direction. We introduce a statistical order book model where the persistence of the order flow is mitigated by adjusting the market order volume to the predictability of the order flow. The model reproduces the diffusive behaviour of prices at all time scales without fine-tuning the values of parameters, as well as the behaviour of most order book quantities as a function of the local predictability of order flow.

q-fin.ST↗

arXiv2013

Value matters: Predictability of Stock Index Returns

We present a simple dynamical model of stock index returns which is grounded on the ability of the Cyclically Adjusted Price Earning (CAPE) valuation ratio devised by Robert Shiller to predict long-horizon performances of the market. More precisely, we discuss a discrete time dynamics in which the return growth depends on three components: i) a momentum component, naturally justified in terms of agents' belief that expected returns are higher in bullish markets than in bearish ones, ii) a fundamental component proportional to the logarithmic CAPE at time zero. The initial value of the ratio determines the reference growth level, from which the actual stock price may deviate as an effect of random external disturbances, and iii) a driving component which ensures the diffusive behaviour of stock prices. Under these assumptions, we prove that for a sufficiently large horizon the expected rate of return and the expected gross return are linear in the initial logarithmic CAPE, and their variance goes to zero with a rate of convergence consistent with the diffusive behaviour. Eventually this means that the momentum component may generate bubbles and crashes in the short and medium run, nevertheless the valuation ratio remains a good reference point of future long-run returns.

q-fin.GN↗

arXiv2013

Stochastic Volatility with Heterogeneous Time Scales

Agents' heterogeneity is recognized as a driver mechanism for the persistence of financial volatility. We focus on the multiplicity of investment strategies' horizons, we embed this concept in a continuous time stochastic volatility framework and prove that a parsimonious, two-scale version effectively captures the long memory as measured from the real data. Since estimating parameters in a stochastic volatility model is challenging, we introduce a robust methodology based on the Generalized Method of Moments supported by a heuristic selection of the orthogonal conditions. In addition to the volatility clustering, the estimated model also captures other relevant stylized facts, emerging as a minimal but realistic and complete framework for modelling financial time series.

q-fin.ST↗

arXiv2013

Modelling systemic price cojumps with Hawkes factor models

Instabilities in the price dynamics of a large number of financial assets are a clear sign of systemic events. By investigating a set of 20 high cap stocks traded at the Italian Stock Exchange, we find that there is a large number of high frequency cojumps. We show that the dynamics of these jumps is described neither by a multivariate Poisson nor by a multivariate Hawkes model. We introduce a Hawkes one factor model which is able to capture simultaneously the time clustering of jumps and the high synchronization of jumps across assets.

q-fin.ST↗

arXiv2011

Multiplicative noise, fast convolution, and pricing

In this work we detail the application of a fast convolution algorithm computing high dimensional integrals to the context of multiplicative noise stochastic processes. The algorithm provides a numerical solution to the problem of characterizing conditional probability density functions at arbitrary time, and we applied it successfully to quadratic and piecewise linear diffusion processes. The ability in reproducing statistical features of financial return time series, such as thickness of the tails and scaling properties, makes this processes appealing for option pricing. Since exact analytical results are missing, we exploit the fast convolution as a numerical method alternative to the Monte Carlo simulation both in objective and risk neutral settings. In numerical sections we document how fast convolution outperforms Monte Carlo both in velocity and efficiency terms.

q-fin.CP↗

arXiv2011

Minimal model of financial stylized facts

In this work we afford the statistical characterization of a linear Stochastic Volatility Model featuring Inverse Gamma stationary distribution for the instantaneous volatility. We detail the derivation of the moments of the return distribution, revealing the role of the Inverse Gamma law in the emergence of fat tails, and of the relevant correlation functions. We also propose a systematic methodology for estimating the parameters, and we describe the empirical analysis of the Standard & Poor 500 index daily returns, confirming the ability of the model to capture many of the established stylized fact as well as the scaling properties of empirical distributions over different time horizons.

q-fin.ST↗

arXiv2010

Accounting for risk of non linear portfolios: a novel Fourier approach

The presence of non linear instruments is responsible for the emergence of non Gaussian features in the price changes distribution of realistic portfolios, even for Normally distributed risk factors. This is especially true for the benchmark Delta Gamma Normal model, which in general exhibits exponentially damped power law tails. We show how the knowledge of the model characteristic function leads to Fourier representations for two standard risk measures, the Value at Risk and the Expected Shortfall, and for their sensitivities with respect to the model parameters. We detail the numerical implementation of our formulae and we emphasizes the reliability and efficiency of our results in comparison with Monte Carlo simulation.

q-fin.RM↗

arXiv2010

Option pricing under Ornstein-Uhlenbeck stochastic volatility: a linear model

We consider the problem of option pricing under stochastic volatility models, focusing on the linear approximation of the two processes known as exponential Ornstein-Uhlenbeck and Stein-Stein. Indeed, we show they admit the same limit dynamics in the regime of low fluctuations of the volatility process, under which we derive the exact expression of the characteristic function associated to the risk neutral probability density. This expression allows us to compute option prices exploiting a formula derived by Lewis and Lipton. We analyze in detail the case of Plain Vanilla calls, being liquid instruments for which reliable implied volatility surfaces are available. We also compute the analytical expressions of the first four cumulants, that are crucial to implement a simple two steps calibration procedure. It has been tested against a data set of options traded on the Milan Stock Exchange. The data analysis that we present reveals a good fit with the market implied surfaces and corroborates the accuracy of the linear approximation.

q-fin.PR↗

arXiv2010

Exact Moment Scaling from Multiplicative Noise

For a general class of diffusion processes with multiplicative noise, describing a variety of physical as well as financial phenomena, mostly typical of complex systems, we obtain the analytical solution for the moments at all times. We allow for a non trivial time dependence of the microscopic dynamics and we analytically characterize the process evolution, possibly towards a stationary state, and the direct relationship existing between the drift and diffusion coefficients and the time scaling of the moments.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2009

Bayesian Analysis of Value-at-Risk with Product Partition Models

In this paper we propose a novel Bayesian methodology for Value-at-Risk computation based on parametric Product Partition Models. Value-at-Risk is a standard tool to measure and control the market risk of an asset or a portfolio, and it is also required for regulatory purposes. Its popularity is partly due to the fact that it is an easily understood measure of risk. The use of Product Partition Models allows us to remain in a Normal setting even in presence of outlying points, and to obtain a closed-form expression for Value-at-Risk computation. We present and compare two different scenarios: a product partition structure on the vector of means and a product partition structure on the vector of variances. We apply our methodology to an Italian stock market data set from Mib30. The numerical results clearly show that Product Partition Models can be successfully exploited in order to quantify market risk exposure. The obtained Value-at-Risk estimates are in full agreement with Maximum Likelihood approaches, but our methodology provides richer information about the clustering structure of the data and the presence of outlying points.

q-fin.RM↗

arXiv2008

Probability distribution of returns in the exponential Ornstein-Uhlenbeck model

We analyze the problem of the analytical characterization of the probability distribution of financial returns in the exponential Ornstein-Uhlenbeck model with stochastic volatility. In this model the prices are driven by a Geometric Brownian motion, whose diffusion coefficient is expressed through an exponential function of an hidden variable Y governed by a mean-reverting process. We derive closed-form expressions for the probability distribution and its characteristic function in two limit cases. In the first one the fluctuations of Y are larger than the volatility normal level, while the second one corresponds to the assumption of a small stationary value for the variance of Y. Theoretical results are tested numerically by intensive use of Monte Carlo simulations. The effectiveness of the analytical predictions is checked via a careful analysis of the parameters involved in the numerical implementation of the Euler-Maruyama scheme and is tested on a data set of financial indexes. In particular, we discuss results for the German DAX30 and Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50, finding a good agreement between the empirical data and the theoretical description.

q-fin.CP↗