Continuous time Markov chain (CTMC) approximation is an intuitive and powerful method for pricing options in general Markovian models. This paper analyzes how grid design affects the convergence behavior of barrier and European options in general diffusion models. Using the spectral method, we obtain sharp estimates for the convergence rate of option price for non-uniform grids. We propose to calculate an option's delta and gamma by taking central difference of option prices on the grid. For this simple method, we prove that, surprisingly, delta and gamma converge at the same rate as option price does. Our analysis allows us to develop principles that are sufficient and necessary for designing nonuniform grids that can achieve second order convergence for option price, delta and gamma. Based on these principles, we propose a novel class of non-uniform grids, which ensures that convergence is not only second order, but also smooth. This further allows extrapolation to be applied to achieve even higher convergence rate. Our grids enable the CTMC approximation method to price and hedge a large number of options with different strikes fast and accurately. Applicability of our results to jump models is discussed through numerical examples.

Mijatovic and Pistorius (Math. Finance, 2013) proposed an efficient Markov chain approximation method for pricing European and barrier options in general one-dimensional Markovian models. However, sharp convergence rates of this method for realistic financial payoffs, which are non-smooth, are rarely available. In this paper, we solve this problem for general one-dimensional diffusion models, which play a fundamental role in financial applications. For such models, the Markov chain approximation method is equivalent to the method of lines using the central difference. Our analysis is based on the spectral representation of the exact solution and the approximate solution. By establishing the convergence rate for the eigenvalues and the eigenfunctions, we obtain sharp convergence rates for the transition density and the price of options with non-smooth payoffs. In particular, we show that for call-/put-type payoffs, convergence is second order, while for digital-type payoffs, convergence is generally only first order. Furthermore, we provide theoretical justification for two well-known smoothing techniques that can restore second-order convergence for digital-type payoffs and explain oscillations observed in the convergence for options with non-smooth payoffs. As an extension, we also establish sharp convergence rates for European options for a rich class of Markovian jump models constructed from diffusions via subordination. The theoretical estimates are confirmed using numerical examples.

This book illustrates the application of the economic concept of stochastic dominance to option markets and presents an alternative option pricing paradigm to the prevailing no arbitrage simultaneous equilibrium in the frictionless underlying and option markets. This new methodology was developed primarily by the author, working independently or jointly with other co-authors, over the course of more than thirty years. Among others, it yields the fundamental Black-Scholes-Merton option value when markets are complete, presents a new approach to the pricing of rare event risk, and uncovers option mispricing that leads to tradeable strategies in the presence of transaction costs. In the latter case it shows how a utility-maximizing investor trading in the market and a riskless bond, subject to proportional transaction costs, can increase his/her expected utility by overlaying a zero-net-cost portfolio of options bought at their ask price and written at their bid price, irrespective of the specific form of the utility function. The book contains a unified presentation of these methods and results, making it a highly readable supplement for educators and sophisticated professionals working in the popular field of option pricing. It also features a foreword by George Constantinides, the Leo Melamed Professor of Finance at the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, USA, who was a co-author in several parts of the book.

Continuous time Markov Chain (CTMC) approximation techniques have received increasing attention in the option pricing literature, due to their ability to solve complex pricing problems, although existing approaches are mostly limited to one or two dimensions. This paper develops a general methodology for modeling and pricing financial derivatives which depend on systems of stochastic diffusion processes. This is accomplished with a general de-correlation procedure, which reduces the system of correlated diffusions to an uncorrelated system. This enables simple and efficient approximation of the driving processes by uni-variate CTMC approximations. Weak convergence of the approximation is demonstrated, with second order convergence in space. Numerical experiments demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the method for various European and early-exercise options in two and three dimensions.

In a market with transaction costs, generally, there is no nontrivial portfolio that dominates a contingent claim. Therefore, in such a market, preferences have to be introduced in order to evaluate the prices of options. The main goal of this article is to quantify this dependence on preferences in the specific example of a European call option. This is achieved by using the utility function approach of Hodges and Neuberger together with an asymptotic analysis of partial differential equations. We are led to a nonlinear Black-Scholes equation with an adjusted volatility which is a function of the second derivative of the price itself. In this model, our attitude towards risk is summarized in one free parameter a which appears in the nonlinear Black-Scholes equation : we provide an upper bound for the probability of missing the hedge in terms of a and the magnitude of the proportional transaction cost which shows the connections between this parameter a and the risk.