Model-independent pricing with insider information: a skorokhod embedding approach

In this paper we consider the pricing and hedging of financial derivatives in a model-independent setting, for a trader with additional information, or beliefs, on the evolution of asset prices. In particular, we suppose that the trader wants to act in a way which is independent of any modelling assumptions, but that she observes market information in the form of the prices of vanilla call options on the asset. We also assume that both the payoff of the derivative, and the insider’s information or beliefs, which take the form of a set of impossible paths, are time-invariant. In this way we accommodate drawdown constraints, as well as information/beliefs on quadratic variation or on the levels hit by asset prices. Our setup allows us to adapt recent work of [12] to prove duality results and a monotonicity principle. This enables us to determine geometric properties of the optimal models. Moreover, for specific types of information, we provide simple conditions for the existence of consistent models for the informed agent. Finally, we provide an example where our framework allows us to compute the impact of the information on the agent’s pricing bounds.

Good-Deal Bounds for Option Prices under Value-at-Risk and Expected Shortfall Constraints

In this paper, we deal with the pricing of European options in an incomplete market. We use the common risk measures Value-at-Risk and Expected Shortfall to define good-deals on a financial market with log-normally distributed rate of returns. We show that the pricing bounds obtained from the Value-at-Risk admit a non-smooth behavior under parameter changes. Additionally, we find situations in which the seller’s bound for a call option is smaller than the buyer’s bound. We identify the missing convexity of the Value-at-Risk as main reason for this behavior. Due to the strong connection between good-deal bounds and the theory of risk measures, we further obtain new insights in the finiteness and the continuity of risk measures based on multiple eligible assets in our setting.