Volatility of exchange rate futures and high-low price spreads

This study explores the time-series behavior and the predictability of daily percentage changes in the Japanese Yen futures contracts. The relationship between currency futures volatility and high-low price spreads in the Japanese Yen futures contracts is examined. In addition, this study explores the issue of first- and second-order dependencies in the Japanese Yen futures contract prices changes, address the issue of asymmetric volatility, and examine the extent to which the information contained in the high-low price spreads can be used to predict future Japanese Yen currency futures contract price changes. The analysis is carried out using the EGARCH model. The volatility of the Japanese Yen currency futures price changes is adequately modeled by an EGARCH process and is predictable using information contained in the high-low price spread variables constructed in this study. This study also finds a positive and significant relationship between the spread variable and the conditional mean of price changes, suggesting that current information contained in the spread variable can be used to predict future Japanese Yen currency futures contract price changes. The hypothesis that volatility is an asymmetric function of past innovations is confirmed.     

Price discovery in the Indian gold futures market

This paper examines the price discovery process of the nascent gold futures contracts in the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) over the period 2003 to 2007. The study employs vector error correction models (VECMs) to show that futures prices of both standard and mini contracts lead spot price. We find that mini contracts contribute to over 30% of price discovery in gold futures trade even though they account for only 2% of trading value on the MCX. Our finding reveals that trades initiated in mini contracts are much more informative than what the size of their market share of volume suggests.     

Comparative empirical study of binomial call-option pricing methods using S&P 500 index data

In this paper, several binomial models are tested empirically on S&P500 Index on the levels of tradability, proximity to market (RMS) prices and profitability, especially close to expiration day. These comparisons will be carried out for many different business environments, including different market trends and moneyness levels traded. Among the models under analysis we assess the quality of the SH model, developed by the authors in previous work, in relation to other models. The option price in the SH model is affected by the players’ assessments about the behavior of the prices of the underlying asset up to the expiration day and by their “eagerness” levels (i.e., players’ readiness to respond to a given bid proposed by their opponent). We found that for all models, the higher the moneyness, the greater the proximity of models prices to actual market prices and that, eagerness parameters have a decisive effect on tradability. We also found that there was no correlation between the degree of proximity of modeled prices to actual prices and the expected profit gained by players that act according to a given model and that the SH model traded relatively small number of options. The expected profit is highest for the SH model in the ITM and ATM for days that are far from the expiration day.     

Availability and settlement of individual stock futures and options expiration-day effects: evidence from high-frequency data

This study examines whether the expiration-day effects of stock options traded in Australian Stock Exchange on return, volatility, trading volume, and temporary price changes of individual stocks vary with the availability and the settlement method of individual stock futures contracts. Using transaction data of the stocks that have both options and futures contacts from 1993 to 1997, we find that options expiration has significant effects on return and volatility of the underlying stocks in absence of individual stock futures. After introduction of a cash-settled stock futures contract, the effects decrease notably. However, the switch of a futures contract from cash settlement to physical delivery promotes the expiration effects on return and volatility and boosts temporary price changes on expiration days. Finally, options expiration has little effect on trading volume. Trading activity tends to behave normally regardless whether stock futures contracts are available or not.     

Estimation of objective and risk-neutral distributions based on moments of integrated volatility

In this paper, we present an estimation procedure which uses both option prices and high-frequency spot price feeds to estimate jointly the objective and risk-neutral parameters of stochastic volatility models. The procedure is based on a method of moments that uses analytical expressions for the moments of the integrated volatility and series expansions of option prices and implied volatilities. This results in an easily implementable and rapid estimation technique. An extensive Monte Carlo study compares various procedures and shows the efficiency of our approach. Empirical applications to the Deutsche mark–US dollar exchange rate futures and the S&P 500 index provide evidence that the method delivers results that are in line with the ones obtained in previous studies where much more involved estimation procedures were used.     

A strategy for trading the S&P 500 futures market

A system for trading the S&P 500 futures market is proposed. The system is applied to S&P 500 futures data during the period from September 14, 1987, to September 27, 1999. The system uses a momentum oscillator for generating entry or exit prices. In addition, the system uses another indicator for predicting the direction of the trend. When only the oscillator is used for selecting trades, the system is not, in general, as good as buy-and-hold. However, when the trend indicator is used as a filter, the trading system is, at least, as good as buy-and-hold.     

基于Morlet小波时频互相关的股指期货价格发现效率研究

本文采用Morlet小波时频互相关分析方法,从"时域"和"频域"两个维度检验了我国以及国际主要市场股指期货和现货价格序列的动态关联性,研究了股指期货价格发现效率的问题。研究表明,沪深300指数和股指期货在低频长周期范围内,呈现长时间高度相关、协同波动的特征;在高频短周期范围内,两者整体仍然具有协同波动特征,但时常出现短暂紊乱的情况,即期货与现货的交错引导现象。我国股指期货市场的价格发现效率较美国、英国成熟市场仍有较大差距,但强于日本。     

Variance trading and market price of variance risk

This paper develops a new approach for variance trading. We show that the discretely-sampled realized variance can be robustly replicated under very general conditions, including when the price can jump. The replication strategy specifies the exact timing for rebalancing in the underlying. The deviations from the optimal schedule can lead to surprisingly large hedging errors. In the empirical application, we synthesize the prices of the variance contract on S&P 500 index over the period from 01/1990 to 12/2009. We find that the market variance risk is priced, its risk premium is negative and economically very large. The variance risk premium cannot be explained by the known risk factors and option returns.     

Deriving equity risk premium using dividend futures

In this paper I present a simple stock price decomposition model using the dividend discount model and dividend futures. The main contribution of this paper is the use of dividend futures which represent the risk-adjusted expectations of future dividends. This allows for the calculation of the implied equity risk premium and the decomposition of stock price movements into individual components. Due to the use of daily market data, this method can take into account the structural changes associated with falling interest rates and the Covid-19 pandemic. I empirically show the risk premium development of the S&P 500 Index and Euro Stoxx 50 Index in the last decade.     

The impact of funding liquidity on market quality

This study analyzes market quality during the 2007–2008 credit crunch, by examining the impact of funding liquidity on market liquidity and price discovery of S&P 500 exchange-traded funds (i.e., S&P 500 depositary receipts [SPYs]) and index futures (E-minis). The empirical results show that funding liquidity affects market liquidity, and that the impact of illiquidity contagion between SPYs and E-minis was significant during the subprime mortgage crisis. In particular, the contagion effects between the two markets mediate the impact of funding illiquidity on market liquidity during the credit crunch. Considering the influences of other market factors on price discovery, we suggest that E-mini index futures made less contributions to price discovery during the credit crunch compared to normal periods. The empirical finding emphasizes the importance of the contagion effect between ETF and E-mini futures markets, when they suffer from external shocks.     

Hedging futures performance with denoising and noise-assisted strategies

Noise processing is very important to improve hedging effectiveness. However, the existing methods are mainly considered from the view of denoising strategy, and the research on noise-assisted strategy is limited. In this paper, a framework that includes both denoising and noise-assisted strategies is proposed to comprehensively analyze the impact of noise proceeding on hedging effectiveness. In detail, the EMD technology is utilized to decompose the futures and spot original returns. Then, the decomposition terms are stepwise removed or added in the opposite way to obtain the denoised and noise-assisted returns. Finally, under the minimum-CVaR framework, the dynamic hedged portfolios based on original and processed returns are constructed to test the hedging effectiveness. Based on the daily prices of CSI300, S&P500, WTI crude oil, and gold futures contract which range from February 9, 2007, to January 10, 2020, the empirical results indicate that both denoising and noise-assisted hedging strategies can decrease CVaR compare with using original return. Furthermore, denoising or adding high-intensity noise has better hedging performance than low-intensity noise, adding uncorrelated noise performs better than adding correlated noise Robustness results by changing confidence level validate the above conclusions.     

Thin trading and mispricing profit opportunities in the Canadian commodity futures

This study examines whether thin trading problems in the Canadian futures market can create mispricing profit opportunities for canola and feed wheat futures traded over the period 1981 through 1993. A forecasting model is developed using historical and publicly available information to predict futures closing prices for these contracts, then two trading rules (a confidence interval and a percentage price change filter) are used to determine their profit potentials. The size of profits generated from trading canola futures under either rule during the period 1987–1993 is consistent with C. Carter's (1989) earlier results that no market inefficiency was detected during the 1980–1987 period. Similarly, profits from the Canadian feed wheat thinly traded contracts and from a control group using the highly-liquid American soybean oil and wheat contracts do not violate the efficiency theory. The average gross profit per trade analysis further suggests that net positive profits may not be viable for marginal investors.     

Cross‐hedging and forward‐contract pricing of electricity in the Pacific Northwest

This paper develops a linear regression model for using actively traded NYMEX natural gas futures as a cross‐hedge against electricity spot‐price risk in the Pacific Northwest and for pricing the forward contracts in the presence of temperature and hydro risks. Our approach comports with reality and provides power purchasers with an effective instrument through which they can hedge their electricity bets through natural gas futures. It also demonstrates the sharp month‐to‐month variations in the natural gas futures' optimal hedge ratios and hedge effectiveness. Finally, it finds significant risk premiums in the Pacific Northwest forward prices, supporting the hypothesis that forward‐contract buyers are relatively more risk‐averse than sellers. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Asymmetry in the jump-size distribution of the S&P 500: Evidence from equity and option markets

This paper studies alternative distributions for the size of price jumps in the S&P 500 index. We introduce a range of new jump-diffusion models and extend popular double-jump specifications that have become ubiquitous in the finance literature. The dynamic properties of these models are tested on both a long time series of S&P 500 returns and a large sample of European vanilla option prices. We discuss the in- and out-of-sample option pricing performance and provide detailed evidence of jump risk premia. Models with double-gamma jump size distributions are found to outperform benchmark models with normally distributed jump sizes.     

Toward efficiency in the crude-oil market

The ‘official’ (OPEC) prices of crude oil before the collapse in the oil market in the mid-1980s can be interpreted as contract prices and analysed on the basis of the theory of futures (or forward) markets. This paper uses the generalized method of moments estimation technique to test for efficiency in the relationship between the official prices and the ex-post spot prices at the time of delivery. Efficiency is rejected for the sample period 1978–1985 as a whole, but evidence is found of improvements over time. Further, the GMM Wald and Hansen tests, although asymptotically equivalent, are shown to differ greatly when applied to a small sample of monthly oil price data.     

Variance dynamics: Joint evidence from options and high-frequency returns

This paper analyzes the S&P 500 index return variance dynamics and the variance risk premium by combining information in variance swap rates constructed from options and quadratic variation estimators constructed from tick data on S&P 500 index futures. Estimation shows that the index return variance jumps. The jump arrival rate is not constant over time, but is proportional to the variance rate level. The variance jumps are not rare events but arrive frequently. Estimation also identifies a strongly negative variance risk premium, the absolute magnitude of which is proportional to the variance rate level.     

A functional time series analysis of forward curves derived from commodity futures

We study forward curves formed from commodity futures prices listed on the Standard and Poor’s-Goldman Sachs Commodities Index (S&P GSCI) using recently developed tools in functional time series analysis. Functional tests for stationarity and serial correlation suggest that log-differenced forward curves may be generally considered as stationary and conditionally heteroscedastic sequences of functions. Several functional methods for forecasting forward curves that more accurately reflect the time to expiry of contracts are developed, and we found that these typically outperformed their multivariate counterparts, with the best among them using the method of predictive factors introduced by Kargin and Onatski (2008).     

Mispricing and trader positions in the S&P 500 index futures market

This study examines the effect of traders’ net positions on mispricing in the S&P 500 index futures market. We find that while positive mispricing is associated with hedgers’ net short and speculators’ net long positions, negative mispricing is related to hedgers’ net long and speculators’ net short positions. This relationship is stable for speculators across the pre- and post-2004 periods; however, it is dominant for hedgers particularly during the pre-2004 period. Contrary to the popular belief, our analysis finds no evidence that speculators are responsible for irrational movements in futures prices by enlarging the size of mispricing. Furthermore, a high magnitude of hedgers’ net positions signals the convergence of mispricing. We also found that according to a recent new disaggregation for trader positions, asset managers tend to delay the convergence of mispricing and hedge funds help shrink the size of mispricing. However, these relationships are not stronger than those implies by the hedger/speculator classification. These findings support the view that speculators’ positions are informative about the direction of index futures mispricing, while hedgers’ positions determine the convergence of mispricing.     

Conditional correlations and volatility spillovers between crude oil and stock index returns

This paper investigates the conditional correlations and volatility spillovers between the crude oil and financial markets, based on crude oil returns and stock index returns. Daily returns from 2 January 1998 to 4 November 2009 of the crude oil spot, forward and futures prices from the WTI and Brent markets, and the FTSE100, NYSE, Dow Jones and S&P500 stock index returns, are analysed using the CCC model of Bollerslev (1990), VARMA-GARCH model of Ling and McAleer (2003), VARMA-AGARCH model of McAleer, Hoti, and Chan (2008), and DCC model of Engle (2002). Based on the CCC model, the estimates of conditional correlations for returns across markets are very low, and some are not statistically significant, which means the conditional shocks are correlated only in the same market and not across markets. However, the DCC estimates of the conditional correlations are always significant. This result makes it clear that the assumption of constant conditional correlations is not supported empirically. Surprisingly, the empirical results from the VARMA-GARCH and VARMA-AGARCH models provide little evidence of volatility spillovers between the crude oil and financial markets. The evidence of asymmetric effects of negative and positive shocks of equal magnitude on the conditional variances suggests that VARMA-AGARCH is superior to VARMA-GARCH and CCC.