Compact finite difference method for American option pricing

A compact finite difference method is designed to obtain quick and accurate solutions to partial differential equation problems. The problem of pricing an American option can be cast as a partial differential equation. Using the compact finite difference method this problem can be recast as an ordinary differential equation initial value problem. The complicating factor for American options is the existence of an optimal exercise boundary which is jointly determined with the value of the option. In this article we develop three ways of combining compact finite difference methods for American option price on a single asset with methods for dealing with this optimal exercise boundary. Compact finite difference method one uses the implicit condition that solutions of the transformed partial differential equation be nonnegative to detect the optimal exercise value. This method is very fast and accurate even when the spatial step size h   is large (h?0.1)$(h?0.1)$. Compact difference method two must solve an algebraic nonlinear equation obtained by Pantazopoulos (1998) at every time step. This method can obtain second order accuracy for space x and requires a moderate amount of time comparable with that required by the Crank Nicolson projected successive over relaxation method. Compact finite difference method three refines the free boundary value by a method developed by Barone-Adesi and Lugano [The saga of the American put, 2003], and this method can obtain high accuracy for space x. The last two of these three methods are convergent, moreover all the three methods work for both short term and long term options. Through comparison with existing popular methods by numerical experiments, our work shows that compact finite difference methods provide an exciting new tool for American option pricing.     

Differential quadrature method for pricing American options

In this article, differential quadrature method (DQM), a highly accurate and efficient numerical method for solving nonlinear problems, is used to overcome the difficulty in determining the optimal exercise boundary of American option. The following three parts of the problem in pricing American options are solved. The first part is how to treat the uncertainty of the early exercise boundary, or free boundary in the language of the PDE treatment of the American option, because American options can be exercised before the date of expiration. The second part is how to solve the nonlinear problem, because the problem of pricing American options is nonlinear. And the third part is how to treat the initial value condition with the singularity and the boundary conditions in the DQM. Numerical results for the free boundary of American option obtained by both DQM and finite difference method (FDM) are given and from which it can be seen the computational efficiency is greatly improved by DQM. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 18: 711–725, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com); DOI 10.1002/num.10028.     

Further calculations for Israeli options

Recently Kifer introduced the concept of an Israeli (or Game) option. That is a general American-type option with the added possibility that the writer may terminate the contract early inducing a payment not less than the holder's claim had they exercised at that moment. Kifer shows that pricing and hedging of these options reduces to evaluating a stochastic saddle point problem associated with Dynkin games. Kyprianou, A.E. (2004) "Some calculations for Israeli options", Fin. Stoch. 8, 73-86 gives two examples of perpetual Israeli options where the value function and optimal strategies may be calculated explicity. In this article, we give a third example of a perpetual Israeli option where the contingent claim is based on the integral of the price process. This time the value function is shown to be the unique solution to a (two sided) free boundary value problem on (0, ∞) which is solved by taking an appropriately rescaled linear combination of Kummer functions. The probabilistic methods we appeal to in this paper centre around the interaction between the analytic boundary conditions in the free boundary problem, Itô's formula with local time and the martingale, supermartingle and submartingale properties associated with the solution to the stochastic saddle point problem.     

American Call Options Under Jump‐Diffusion Processes – A Fourier Transform Approach

We consider the American option pricing problem in the case where the underlying asset follows a jump‐diffusion process. We apply the method of Jamshidian to transform the problem of solving a homogeneous integro‐partial differential equation (IPDE) on a region restricted by the early exercise (free) boundary to that of solving an inhomogeneous IPDE on an unrestricted region. We apply the Fourier transform technique to this inhomogeneous IPDE in the case of a call option on a dividend paying underlying to obtain the solution in the form of a pair of linked integral equations for the free boundary and the option price. We also derive new results concerning the limit for the free boundary at expiry. Finally, we present a numerical algorithm for the solution of the linked integral equation system for the American call price, its delta and the early exercise boundary. We use the numerical results to quantify the impact of jumps on American call prices and the early exercise boundary.     

The Valuation of American Options with Stochastic Stopping Time Constraints

Abstract

This paper concerns the pricing of American options with stochastic stopping time constraints expressed in terms of the states of a Markov process. Following the ideas of Menaldi et al., we transform the constrained into an unconstrained optimal stopping problem. The transformation replaces the original payoff by the value of a generalized barrier option. We also provide a Monte Carlo method to numerically calculate the option value for multidimensional Markov processes. We adapt the Longstaff–Schwartz algorithm to solve the stochastic Cauchy–Dirichlet problem related to the valuation problem of the barrier option along a set of simulated trajectories of the underlying Markov process.     

美式看跌期权定价的一种混合数值方法

本文对美式看跌期权的定价提供了一种新的混合数值方法,即快速傅里叶变换法加龙格-库塔法.首先将美式看跌期权价格所满足的Black-Scholes微分方程定解问题转化为一个标准的抛物型初、边值问题,然后通过傅里叶变换,使之转换为一个不带股价变量的常微分方程初值问题,再利用龙格-库塔法对其进行数值求解.数值实验表明,本文算法是一种快速的高精度的算法.     

On the asymptotic free boundary for the American put option problem

In practical work with American put options, it is important to be able to know when to exercise the option, and when not to do so. In computer simulation based on the standard theory of geometric Brownian motion for simulating stock price movements, this problem is fairly easy to handle for options with a short lifespan, by analyzing binomial trees. It is considerably more challenging to make the decision for American put options with long lifespan. In order to provide a satisfactory analysis, we look at the corresponding free boundary problem, and show that the free boundary—which is the curve that separates the two decisions, to exercise or not to—has an asymptotic expansion, where the coefficient of the main term is expressed as an integral in terms of the free boundary. This raises the perspective that one could use numerical simulation to approximate the integral and thus get an effective way to make correct decisions for long life options.     

Optimal stopping, free boundary, and American option in a jump-diffusion model

This paper considers the American put option valuation in a jump-diffusion model and relates this optimal-stopping problem to a parabolic integro-differential free-boundary problem, with special attention to the behavior of the optimal-stopping boundary. We study the regularity of the American option value and obtain in particular a decomposition of the American put option price as the sum of its counterpart European price and the early exercise premium. Compared with the Black-Scholes (BS) [5] model, this premium has an additional term due to the presence of jumps. We prove the continuity of the free boundary and also give one estimate near maturity, generalizing a recent result of Barleset al. [3] for the BS model. Finally, we study the effect of the market price of jump risk and the intensity of jumps on the American put option price and its critical stock price.     

Solving complex PDE systems for pricing American options with regime‐switching by efficient exponential time differencing schemes

In this article, we study the numerical solutions of a class of complex partial differential equation (PDE) systems with free boundary conditions. This problem arises naturally in pricing American options with regime‐switching, which adds significant complexity in the PDE systems due to regime coupling. Developing efficient numerical schemes will have important applications in computational finance. We propose a new method to solve the PDE systems by using a penalty method approach and an exponential time differencing scheme. First, the penalty method approach is applied to convert the free boundary value PDE system to a system of PDEs over a fixed rectangular region for the time and spatial variables. Then, a new exponential time differncing Crank–Nicolson (ETD‐CN) method is used to solve the resulting PDE system. This ETD‐CN scheme is shown to be second order convergent. We establish an upper bound condition for the time step size and prove that this ETD‐CN scheme satisfies a discrete version of the positivity constraint for American option values. The ETD‐CN scheme is compared numerically with a linearly implicit penalty method scheme and with a tree method. Numerical results are reported to illustrate the convergence of the new scheme. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 2013     

Singular Perturbation in a Nonlocal Diffusion Problem

We study a singular perturbation problem for a nonlocal evolution operator. The problem appears in the analysis of the propagation of flames in the high activation energy limit, when admitting nonlocal effects.

We obtain uniform estimates and we show that, under suitable assumptions, limits are solutions to a free boundary problem in a viscosity sense and in a pointwise sense at regular free boundary points.

We study the nonlocal problem both for a single equation and for a system of two equations.

Some of the results obtained are new even when the operator under consideration is the heat operator.     

A fast high-order finite difference algorithm for pricing American options

We describe an improvement of Han and Wu’s algorithm [H. Han, X.Wu, A fast numerical method for the Black–Scholes equation of American options, SIAM J. Numer. Anal. 41 (6) (2003) 2081–2095] for American options. A high-order optimal compact scheme is used to discretise the transformed Black–Scholes PDE under a singularity separating framework. A more accurate free boundary location based on the smooth pasting condition and the use of a non-uniform grid with a modified tridiagonal solver lead to an efficient implementation of the free boundary value problem. Extensive numerical experiments show that the new finite difference algorithm converges rapidly and numerical solutions with good accuracy are obtained. Comparisons with some recently proposed methods for the American options problem are carried out to show the advantage of our numerical method.     

A NUMERICAL METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE OPTIMAL EXERCISE PRICE TO AMERICAN OPTIONS

American Options can be exercised prior to the date of expiration,the valuation of American options then constitutes a free boundary value problem.How to determine the free boundary,i.e. the optimal exercise price,is a key problem.In this paper,a nonlinear equation is given.The free boundary can be obtained by solving the nonlinear equation and the numerical results are better.     

On modified Mellin transforms, Gauss-Laguerre quadrature, and the valuation of American call options

We extend a framework based on Mellin transforms and show how to modify the approach to value American call options on dividend-paying stocks. We present a new integral equation to determine the price of an American call option and its free boundary using modified Mellin transforms. We also show how to derive the pricing formula for perpetual American call options using the new framework. A result due to Kim (1990) [24] regarding the optimal exercise price at expiry is also recovered. Finally, we apply Gauss-Laguerre quadrature for the purpose of an efficient and accurate numerical valuation.     

The British Put Option

Abstract

We present a new put option where the holder enjoys the early exercise feature of American options whereupon his payoff (deliverable immediately) is the ‘best prediction’ of the European payoff under the hypothesis that the true drift of the stock price equals a contract drift. Inherent in this is a protection feature which is key to the British put option. Should the option holder believe the true drift of the stock price to be unfavourable (based upon the observed price movements) he can substitute the true drift with the contract drift and minimize his losses. The practical implications of this protection feature are most remarkable as not only can the option holder exercise at or above the strike price to a substantial reimbursement of the original option price (covering the ability to sell in a liquid option market completely endogenously) but also when the stock price movements are favourable he will generally receive higher returns at a lesser price. We derive a closed form expression for the arbitrage-free price in terms of the rational exercise boundary and show that the rational exercise boundary itself can be characterized as the unique solution to a nonlinear integral equation. Using these results we perform a financial analysis of the British put option that leads to the conclusions above and shows that with the contract drift properly selected the British put option becomes a very attractive alternative to the classic American put.     

Exercise Boundary Near Maturity for an American Option on Several Assets

We consider an American put option on a linear function of d dividend-paying assets. The value function of this option is given as the solution of a free boundary problem. When d = 1, the behavior of the free boundary near the maturity of the option is well known. In this article, we extend to the case d > 1 the study of the free boundary near maturity. A parameterization of the stopping region at time t is given. That enables us to define and give a convergence rate for this region when t goes to the maturity.     

An iterative method for pricing American options under jump-diffusion models

We propose an iterative method for pricing American options under jump-diffusion models. A finite difference discretization is performed on the partial integro-differential equation, and the American option pricing problem is formulated as a linear complementarity problem (LCP). Jump-diffusion models include an integral term, which causes the resulting system to be dense. We propose an iteration to solve the LCPs efficiently and prove its convergence. Numerical examples with Kou?s and Merton?s jump-diffusion models show that the resulting iteration converges rapidly.     

Valuing continuous-installment options

Installment options are path-dependent contingent claims in which the premium is paid discretely or continuously in installments, instead of paying a lump sum at the time of purchase. This paper deals with valuing European continuous-installment options written on dividend-paying assets in the standard Black–Scholes–Merton framework. The valuation of installment options can be formulated as a free boundary problem, due to the flexibility of continuing or stopping to pay installments. On the basis of a PDE for the initial premium, we derive an integral representation for the initial premium, being expressed as a difference of the corresponding European vanilla value and the expected present value of installment payments along the optimal stopping boundary. Applying the Laplace transform approach to this PDE, we obtain explicit Laplace transforms of the initial premium as well as its Greeks, which include the transformed stopping boundary in a closed form. Abelian theorems of Laplace transforms enable us to characterize asymptotic behaviors of the stopping boundary close and at infinite time to expiry. We show that numerical inversion of these Laplace transforms works well for computing both the option value and the optimal stopping boundary.     

The Minimal Entropy Martingale Measure and Numerical Option Pricing for the Barndorff–Nielsen–Shephard Stochastic Volatility Model

Abstract

We develop and apply a numerical scheme for pricing options in the stochastic volatility model proposed by Barndorff–Nielsen and Shephard. This non-Gaussian Ornstein–Uhlenbeck type of volatility model gives rise to an incomplete market, and we consider the option prices under the minimal entropy martingale measure. To numerically price options with respect to this risk neutral measure, one needs to consider a Black and Scholes type of partial differential equation, with an integro-term arising from the volatility process. We suggest finite difference schemes to solve this parabolic integro-partial differential equation, and derive appropriate boundary conditions for the finite difference method. As an application of our algorithm, we consider price deviations from the Black and Scholes formula for call options, and the implications of the stochastic volatility on the shape of the volatility smile.     

Calibrated American option pricing by stochastic linear programming

Abstract

We propose an approach for computing the arbitrage-free interval for the price of an American option in discrete incomplete market models via linear programming. The main idea is built replicating strategies that use both the basic asset and some European derivatives available on the market for trading. This method goes under the name of calibrated option pricing and it has given significant results for European options. Here, we extend the analysis to American options showing that the arbitrage-free interval can be characterized in terms of martingale measures and that it gets significantly reduced with respect to the non-calibrated case.     

Pricing of perpetual American and Bermudan options by binomial tree method

In this paper, we consider the binomial tree method for pricing perpetual American and perpetual Bermudan options. The closed form solutions of these discrete models are solved. Explicit formulas for the optimal exercise boundary of the perpetual American option is obtained. A nonlinear equation that is satisfied by the optimal exercise boundaries of the perpetual Bermudan option is found.