The Valuation of Options on Futures Contracts

Rational restrictions are derived for the values of American options on futures contracts. For these options, the optimal policy, in general, involves premature exercise. A model is developed for valuing options on futures contracts in a constant interest rate setting. Despite the fact that premature exercise may be optimal, the value of this American feature appears to be small and a European formula due to Black serves as a useful approximation. Finally, a model is developed to value these options in a world with stochastic interest rates. It is shown that the pricing errors caused by ignoring the location of the interest rate (relative to its long-run mean) range from ?5% to 7%, when the current rate is ±200 basis points from its long-run value. The role of interest rate expectations is, therefore, crucial to the valuation. Optimal exercise policies are found from numerical methods for both models.     

Relative Pricing of Eurodollar Futures and Forward Contracts

Past research explains observed spreads between futures and forward Eurodollar yields as being due to the futures contract's mark-to-market feature. We derive closed form solutions for this yield spread and show that, theoretically, it should be small. Also, differences in liquidity, taxation, and default risk cannot account for the large spreads observed. We also present evidence that the spreads, which are nonnegligible primarily in the first half of the sample period, are likely to be attributable to the mispricing of futures contracts relative to the forward rates and that the mispricing was gradually eliminated over time.     

The End of the Month Option and Other Embedded Options in Futures Contracts

Asia-Pacific Financial Markets - Futures contracts often contain several different kinds of embedded options related to the delivery of the underlying. The end of the month option allows the holder...     

Pricing U.S. Dollar Index Futures Options: An Empirical Investigation

This paper develops a pricing model and empirically tests the pricing efficiency of options on the U.S. Dollar Index (USDX) futures contract. Empirical tests of the model indicate that the market consistently overprices these options relative to the derived model. This overpricing is more pronounced for out‐of‐the‐money options than for in‐the‐money options and more pronounced for put options than for call options. To validate the above results, delta neutral portfolios are created for one‐ and two‐day holding periods and consistently generate positive arbitrage profits, indicating that on average the market overprices the options on the USDX futures contracts.     

Tax Timing Options on Futures Contracts and the 1981 Economic Recovery Act

This study utilizes foreign currency futures contracts to evaluate the tax timing options created by the 1981 Economic Recovery Act. Our findings suggest that the act had an impact on contracts with less than six months to maturity and that the marginal trader in those contracts is a long-position holder. Similarly, the results suggest that the option of tax year selection for foreign currency futures in valuable.     

Taxes and the Pricing of Stock Index Futures

Stock index futures prices are generally below the level predicted by simple arbitrage models. This paper suggests that the discrepancy between the actual and predicted prices is caused by taxes. Capital gains and losses are not taxed until they are realized. As Constantinides demonstrates in a recent paper, this gives stockholders a valuable timing option. If the stock price drops, the investor can pass part of the loss on to the government by selling the stock. On the other hand, if the stock price rises, the investor can postpone the tax by not realizing the gain. Since this option is not available to stock index futures traders, the futures prices will be lower than standard no-tax models predict.     

Price Expectation and the Pricing of Stock Index Futures

Capital markets are not perfect or frictionless, and arbitrage mechanism cannot be complete, particularly for index arbitrage. This study constructs a theoretical foundation to explain why the price expectation of the underlying asset should be entered into the pricing formula of stock index futures. The price expectation and incompleteness of arbitrage then are taken into account to develop a pricing model of stock index futures in imperfect markets. This study also presents three approaches for estimating the model parameter. Finally, the concept of the degree of market imperfection is defined and the valuation model is provided.     

股指期货定价方法研究

本文针对存在借贷利差、交易成本、保证金要求等不完美市场环境,主要研究了股指期货的定价方法。通过构建一个正向套利组合和一个反向套利组合,分别得到了不完美市场中股指期货理论价格的无套利上界和下界,即无套利区间。该结论对于确定股指期货投资机会以及套利机会等具有重要的意义。     

Pricing of Futures Contracts on Coupon Bonds: Empirical Evidence from Finland

This paper investigates the pricing of the two year old Finnish bond futures market. We show that the market has mispriced the futures contracts during the test period with the futures contracts being underpriced most of the time. We also measure whether the futures market has prediction power over the bond market. Our results suggest that there is a lead-lag relationship between the Finnish bond and the futures markets.     

Options on the Spot and Options on Futures

This paper analyzes and compares the valuation of two types of options that relate to the same asset: options on the asset itself and options on the futures on the asset. The early exercise privilege plays a central role in explaining the differences between the values of the two options. It is shown that in the case of a cash instrument that does not make interim payments, such as gold, the value of a call option on the spot is smaller than the call option on the futures contract; the opposite is true for put options. The early exercise boundaries, which characterize when it pays to exercise, are also compared and analyzed.     

股指期货与股票市场定价效率问题

股指期货的推出,大大提高了股票市场的定价效率.在无套利均衡市场上,股指期货价格由相关股票组合的价格及持有成本决定,股票现货价格成为影响股指期货价格的主要因素.但在动态非均衡市场上,股指期货的价格形成集中并传递大量信息,这些信息通过股指期货市场与股票市场间的套利机制及时传递到股票市场,增加相关股票组合价格的信息含量,引导和发现现货价格,从而提高股市的定价效率.     

Asymmetric Volatility and Trading Activity in Index Futures Options

We examine the impact of option trading activity on implied volatility changes to returns in the index futures option market. Controlling for option moneyness, delta‐to‐option‐premium ratio, and liquidity, we find that net buying pressure, profit‐maximization behavior, and liquidity are interrelated and affect asymmetric responses of implied volatilities to returns. Implied volatilities of options with more liquidity, a higher exercise price, and a higher delta‐to‐option‐premium ratio have the most profound asymmetric response.     

Futures Options and the Volatility of Futures Prices

Assuming nonstochastic interest rates, European futures options are shown to be European options written on a particular asset referred to as a futures bond. Consequently, standard option pricing results may be invoked and standard option pricing techniques may be employed in the case of European futures options. Additional arbitrage restrictions on American futures options are derived. The efficiency of a number of futures option markets is examined. Assuming that at-the-money American futures options are priced accurately by Black's European futures option pricing model, the relationship between market participants' ex ante assessment of futures price volatility and the term to maturity of the underlying futures contract is also investigated empirically.     

上海期货交易所金属铜国际定价能力研究

近年来,上海期货交易所作为金属铜的三大国际期货交易市场之一,市场机制日渐成熟,价格发现功能日益增强,但其国际定价能力到底有多大,与伦敦金属交易所和纽约商业交易所的联动关系如何,逐渐受到国际市场关注。本文借助计量分析方法,在相关系数、协整关系、Granger成因、方差分解等方面研究三大交易所铜期货价格之间的相互联系。实证结果表明,伦敦金属期货交易所铜期货的国际定价能力居第一位,上海期货交易所铜期货的国际定价能力在2005年我国汇率制度改革后超越纽约商业交易所居第二位,上海市场期铜价格对其他两大期货市场存在显著的影响力。     

The Value of Embedded Real Options: Evidence from Consumer Automobile Lease Contracts

Under the common assumption of constant interest rates, we show that penalties for early termination of a lease are often structured in such a way that the cancellation option embedded in consumer automotive leases has little value. Furthermore, our estimates drawn from a sample of three popular car models over 1990 to 2000 indicate that the stand‐alone value of the lease‐end purchase option is, on average, about 16% of the market value of underlying used vehicles, or about $1,462 per contract. Finally, we examine the sensitivity of our option value estimates to model parameters and default risk.     

全球股指期货与期权市场的发展动向及启示

本文通过对近年来全球股指期货及期权场内交易发展态势及动向分析,指出全球股指期货及期权呈现出交易量稳居各类产品之首、交易高度集中于几家交易所的几种产品、中国概念股指备受关注、创新步伐不断加快等四大趋势,启示我们适时推出股指期货,研究股指期权,不但可以拓展期货市场发展空间,推动境内资本市场的健康发展,建立完善的股指市场体系,而且是股票类衍生品创新的基础。     

恒生指数和沪深300股指期货套期保值效果对比研究

本文利用OLS、ECM、ECM-GARCH模型对沪深300股指期货和恒生指数期货的最优套期保值率进行了估算,并在风险最小化框架下对它们的套期保值效果进行了对比研究。结果发现:无论是哪种股指期货,不考虑期现货间存在的协整关系会使估算的最优套期保值率偏高,影响套期保值效果;其次是虽然在样本内外,沪深300股指期货的套期保值效果比恒生指数期货的好,但是沪深300股指期货套期保值效果的稳定性比恒生指数差。此时,ECM-GARCH和OLS模型分别为样本内外投资者利用沪深300指数期货进行套期保值时的最佳选择;对于恒生指数股指期货,最优模型是ECM。     

电力期货和电力期货合约的设计

引言 在传统的电力工业管理体制下,国家对电价实行严格管制,政府统一管理电价,对电价实行严格审计.在这样的硬性控制下,电价的波动很小,几乎没有独立发、输、配电企业,因此不会面临由于电价波动造成的风险.但随着电力体制向市场化方向改革的进行,电力市场中批发电价和零售电价都将逐步放开.电价通过市场竞价方式来确定,将不可避免地导致市场价格的波动.由于电力商品的特殊性,其需求弹性很小,这样电价很容易受电力供求关系的影响,从而使电价产生剧烈波动,例如一日内负荷处于高峰时的实时电价与负荷处于低谷时的实时电价可以相差几倍,有时甚至低谷电价可以为零或负值,而不同天、不同月份的电价则相差更大.这样,将使电力市场的参与者面临巨大的价格风险.