Commodity Option Pricing

This book covers foreign exchange options from the point of view of the finance practitioner. It contains everything a quant or trader working in a bank or hedge fund would need to know about the mathematics of foreign exchange—not just the theoretical mathematics covered in other books but also comprehensive coverage of implementation, pricing and calibration. With content developed with input from traders and with examples using real-world data, this book introduces many of the more commonly requested products from FX options trading desks, together with the models that capture the risk characteristics necessary to price these products accurately. Crucially, this book describes the numerical methods required for calibration of these models – an area often neglected in the literature, which is nevertheless of paramount importance in practice. Thorough treatment is given in one unified text to the following features: Correct market conventions for FX volatility surface construction Adjustment for settlement and delayed delivery of options Pricing of vanillas and barrier options under the volatility smile Barrier bending for limiting barrier discontinuity risk near expiry Industry strength partial differential equations in one and several spatial variables using finite differences on nonuniform grids Fourier transform methods for pricing European options using characteristic functions Stochastic and local volatility models, and a mixed stochastic/local volatility model Three-factor long-dated FX model Numerical calibration techniques for all the models in this work The augmented state variable approach for pricing strongly path-dependent options using either partial differential equations or Monte Carlo simulation Connecting mathematically rigorous theory with practice, this is the essential guide to foreign exchange options in the context of the real financial marketplace.

This comprehensive guide offers traders, quants, and students the tools and techniques for using advanced models for pricing options. The accompanying website includes data files, such as options prices, stock prices, or index prices, as well as all of the codes needed to use the option and volatility models described in the book. Praise for Option Pricing Models & Volatility Using Excel-VBA «Excel is already a great pedagogical tool for teaching option valuation and risk management. But the VBA routines in this book elevate Excel to an industrial-strength financial engineering toolbox. I have no doubt that it will become hugely successful as a reference for option traders and risk managers.» —Peter Christoffersen, Associate Professor of Finance, Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University «This book is filled with methodology and techniques on how to implement option pricing and volatility models in VBA. The book takes an in-depth look into how to implement the Heston and Heston and Nandi models and includes an entire chapter on parameter estimation, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Everyone interested in derivatives should have this book in their personal library.» —Espen Gaarder Haug, option trader, philosopher, and author of Derivatives Models on Models «I am impressed. This is an important book because it is the first book to cover the modern generation of option models, including stochastic volatility and GARCH.» —Steven L. Heston, Assistant Professor of Finance, R.H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland

An A to Z options trading guide for the new millennium and the new economy Written by professional trader and quantitative analyst Euan Sinclair, Option Trading is a comprehensive guide to this discipline covering everything from historical background, contract types, and market structure to volatility measurement, forecasting, and hedging techniques. This comprehensive guide presents the detail and practical information that professional option traders need, whether they're using options to hedge, manage money, arbitrage, or engage in structured finance deals. It contains information essential to anyone in this field, including option pricing and price forecasting, the Greeks, implied volatility, volatility measurement and forecasting, and specific option strategies. Explains how to break down a typical position, and repair positions Other titles by Sinclair: Volatility Trading Addresses the various concerns of the professional options trader Option trading will continue to be an important part of the financial landscape. This book will show you how to make the most of these profitable products, no matter what the market does.

Presents inference and simulation of stochastic process in the field of model calibration for financial times series modelled by continuous time processes and numerical option pricing. Introduces the bases of probability theory and goes on to explain how to model financial times series with continuous models, how to calibrate them from discrete data and further covers option pricing with one or more underlying assets based on these models. Analysis and implementation of models goes beyond the standard Black and Scholes framework and includes Markov switching models, L?vy models and other models with jumps (e.g. the telegraph process); Topics other than option pricing include: volatility and covariation estimation, change point analysis, asymptotic expansion and classification of financial time series from a statistical viewpoint. The book features problems with solutions and examples. All the examples and R code are available as an additional R package, therefore all the examples can be reproduced.

For traders trying to navigate the increasingly volatile credit default swap market, CDS Delivery Option provides worked-out examples, over 30 charts, a case study of Delphi, and detailed explanations of how the subprime crisis caused the credit crisis and the near collapse of the GSEs. The book includes detailed information on: how to value a CDS contract how to value the delivery option how contract value changes when the yield curve flattens or becomes steeper how contract value changes with bullish or bearish market moves how to figure out when to buy protection and when to sell protection how to hedge CDS risk when and how to unwind a contract prior to settlement when to hold a trade through delivery how to navigate a «squeeze» (when the notional value of contracts going through delivery is larger than the supply of the cheapest-to-deliver issue) when buying contracts can make their prices go down how to construct a basis trade how to find arbitrage opportunities how to analyze default probability and corporate debt when to settle via auction and when to settle via physical delivery which note is the cheapest to deliver This book is an indispensable resource for all market professionals working in the CDS market.

Veteran options trader Dan Passarelli explains a new methodology for option trading and valuation. With an introduction to option basics as well as chapters on all types of spreads, put-call parity and synthetic options, trading volatility and studying volatility charts, and advanced option trading, Trading Option Greeks holds pertinent new information on how more accurate pricing can drive profit. Most options traders focus on strategies such as covered calls, vertical spreads, butterflies and condors, and so on. But traders often don't know how to use the «greeks»—the five factors that influence an option's price—to trade more effectively. The «greeks» (Delta, Gamma, Theta, Vega, Rho) are tools to measure minute changes in an option's price based on corresponding changes in: Interest rates Time to expiration Price changes in the underlying security Volatility Dividends Using the greeks can lead to more accurate pricing information that will alert an option trader to mispriced derivatives that can be exploited for profit. In straightforward language and making use of charts and examples, Passarelli explains how to use the greeks to be a better options trader.

The essential resource for the successful option trader High Performance Options Trading offers a fresh perspective on trading options from a seasoned options trader programmer/engineer, Leonard Yates. Drawing on twenty-five years of experience as an options trader and software programmer, Yates has written this straightforward guide. First he provides readers with a solid foundation to trading options, including an introduction to basic options terminology, a thorough explanation on how options are traded, and specific trading strategies. Accompanied by the OptionVue Educational website, this hands-on guide to the options market is a thorough and essential resource for any trader looking to increase his or her practical knowledge of options.

Updated and revised to include a decade of growth in the scope and complexity of options, Options Strategies: Profit-Making Techniques for Stock, Stock Index, and Commodity Options, 3rd Edition is a comprehensive guide to options trading strategies written in clear, non-technical language. In addition to insight into options issues like carrying changes, strike prices, commissions, interest rates, and break-even points, new chapters show how to predict the direction of implied volatility. Accessible examples, charts, and graphs will help you obtain the information you need to succeed in the high-risk, high-profit world of options.

—Reed Holden, founder, Holden Advisors Corp., www.holdenadvisors.com coauthor, The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: A Guide to Profitable Decision Making, Third Edition «With Pricing on Purpose, Ron Baker had made an enormous contribution to the better understanding of pricing that will be accessible to anyone who wants to learn. People are intrigued by instances of what they see as idiosyncratic pricing. Sometimes it is idiosyncratic, but oft-times it is fiendishly clever and well researched. So is this book. There are examples that at first sight seem to have nothing to do with the subject at hand, but the learning points are all made and explained in any number of interesting and memorable ways. Pricing on Purpose is a welcome and valuable addition to the learning on pricing and I recommend it to professional pricers, marketers, and anyone interested in capturing the value their business creates.» —Eric G. Mitchell, President, Professional Pricing Society, www.pricingsociety.com «Ron Baker is what I'd call a 'thought giant.' In his first two books he literally began a revolution in the accounting and legal professions. Thousands of professionals in public practice now lead far better, more rewarding lives thanks to him. Now he's broadened his impact in a huge way. Read this book, implement the ideas and you'll never look at your prices or your pricing policies in the same way again. You'll be richer in many ways because of it.» —Paul Dunn, founder and CEO, ResultsNet Australia, coauthor, The Firm of the Future: A Guide for Accountants, Lawyers, and Other Professional Services, www.resultsnetaustralia.com «As a reader of hundreds of business books, I am thrilled when I come across one that has something new to say. Pricing on Purpose does just that. Instead of presenting a set of feel-good items to check off a list, Ron Baker encourages us 'to think with him, not like him.' He methodically builds his argument leading us through the labyrinth of pricing theory and encourages us to look at pricing as the strategic tool that it is rather than taking the lazy cost-based tactical approach of most businesses. To paraphrase Karl Marx in terms of Baker's book, 'Cost-based pricing is the opium of business.'» —Ed Kless, Director, Partner Development and Recruitment, Sage Software «Baker has done it again! Building on the core principles that he advanced in Professional's Guide to Value Pricing and The Firm of the Future, Ron Baker has again evolved thought leadership on the critical dynamics of value and pricing. Baker's latest work, Pricing on Purpose: Creating and Capturing Value, provides real-world examples and practical strategies that provide a framework for pricing optimization. His clarity of purpose and passionate call to action resonates in today's intellectual capital economy.» —Thomas Finneran, Executive Vice President, American Association of Advertising Agencies «We love this book! With detailed research, thorough references, and recommendations for further reading, this could be considered a textbook. That it is so readable and engaging is a triumph. The chapter providing the epitaph for cost-plus pricing is worth many times the price of this book. 'Got price-sensitive customers? Wonder why? Read and stop weeping. Who's in charge of value in your company?' Baker asks. If you can't immediately answer, you'd better read this book. Bravo, Baker!» —Paul O'Byrne and Paul Kennedy, partners, O'Byrne and Kennedy LLP, Chartered Accountants, United Kingdom, www.obk.co.uk "Ron Baker is nothing short of brilliant, and his enthusiasm for pricing is contagious. Pricing on Purpose will add more value to your firm than anything else you could do. As usual in Ron's books, he presents cutting-edge ideas. There is no gr

Three things can happen when establishing a product price. A price set too high is a lost sale that could have been profitable at a lower price. A price set too low is rewarded with unprofitable work. Only when a price is set appropriately does a company make both a sale and a profit. Just as activity-based costing and activity-based management revolutionized the cost accounting world, activity-based pricing will bring a disciplined approach to developing pricing. Activity-based pricing examines the relationships between price, cost and sales volume and how this relationship effects profitability. Pricing for Profitability joins the disciplines of marketing, economics, business strategy, engineering and cost accounting to achieve maximum profitability.