### Direct methodology for estimating the risk neutral probability density function

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Author: Rahikainen, Ilkka1
Organizations: 1University of Oulu, Oulu Business School, Department of Finance, Finance
Format: ebook
Version: published version
Access: open
Online Access: PDF Full Text (PDF, 6.9 MB)
Pages: 77
Persistent link: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-201404241289
Language: English
Published: Oulu : I. Rahikainen, 2014
Publish Date: 2014-04-28
Thesis type: Master's thesis
Tutor: Perttunen, Jukka
Reviewer: Perttunen, Jukka
Kahra, Hannu
Description:
The target of the study is to find out if the direct methodology could provide same information about the parameters of the risk neutral probability density function (RND) than the reference RND methodologies. The direct methodology is based on for defining the parameters of the RND from underlying asset by using futures contracts and only few at-the-money (ATM) and/or close at-the-money (ATM) options on asset. Of course for enabling the analysis of the feasibility of the direct methodology the reference RNDs must be estimated from the option data. Finally the results of estimating the parameters by the direct methodology are compared to the results of estimating the parameters by the selected reference methodologies for understanding if the direct methodology can be used for understanding the key parameters of the RND. The study is based on S&P 500 index option data from year 2008 for estimating the reference RNDs and for defining the reference moments from the reference RNDs. The S&P 500 futures contract data is necessary for finding the expectation value estimation for the direct methodology. Only few ATM and/or close ATM options from the S&P 500 index option data are necessary for getting the standard deviation estimation for the direct methodology. Both parametric and non-parametric methods were implemented for defining reference RNDs. The reference RND estimation results are presented so that the reference RND estimation methodologies can be compared to each other. The moments of the reference RNDs were calculated from the RND estimation results so that the moments of the direct methodology can be compared to the moments of the reference methodologies. The futures contracts are used in the direct methodology for getting the expectation value estimation of the RND. Only few ATM and/or close ATM options are used in the direct methodology for getting the standard deviation estimation of the RND. The implied volatility is calculated from option prices using ATM and/or close ATM options only. Based on implied volatility the standard deviation can be calculated directly using time scaling equations. Skewness and kurtosis can be calculated from the estimated expectation value and the estimated standard deviation by using the assumption of the lognormal distribution. Based on the results the direct methodology is acceptable for getting the expectation value estimation using the futures contract value directly instead of the expectation value, which is calculated from the RND of full option data, if and only if the time to maturity is relative short. The standard deviation estimation can be calculated from few ATM and/or at close ATM options instead of calculating the RND from full option data only if the time to maturity is relative short. Skewness and kurtosis were calculated from the expectation value estimation and the standard deviation estimation by using the assumption of the lognormal distribution. Skewness and kurtosis could not be estimated by using the assumption of the lognormal distribution because the lognormal distribution is not correct generic assumption for the RND distributions.
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Copyright information: © Ilkka Rahikainen, 2014. This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.