Search results

This study seeks to examine the effectiveness of controlling the currency risk for international diversified mixed‐asset portfolios via two different hedge instruments, currency forwards and currency options. So far, currency forward has been the most common hedge tool, which will be compared here with currency options to control the foreign currency exposure risk. In this regard, several hedging strategies are evaluated and compared with one another.

Owing to the highly skewed return distributions of options, the application of the traditional mean‐variance framework for portfolio optimization is doubtful. To account for this problem, a mean lower partial moment model is employed. An in‐the‐sample as well as an out‐of‐the sample context is used. With in‐sample analyses, a block bootstrap test has been used to statistically test the existence of any significant performance improvement. Following that, to investigate the consistency of the results, the out‐of‐sample evaluation has been checked. In addition, currency trends are also taken into account to test the time‐trend dependence of currency movements and, therefore, the relative potential gains of risk‐controlling strategies.

Results show that European put‐in‐the‐money options have the potential to substitute the optimally forward‐hedged portfolios. Considering the composition of the portfolio in using in‐the‐money options and forwards shows that using any of these hedge tools brings a much more diversified selection of stock and bond markets than no hedging strategy. The optimal option weights imply that a put‐in‐the‐money option strategy is more active than at‐the‐money or out‐of‐the‐money put options, which implies the dependency of put strategies on the level of strike price. A very interesting point is that, just by dedicating a very small part of the investment in options, the same amount of currency risk exposure can be hedged as when one uses the optimal forward hedging. In the out‐of‐sample study, the optimally forward‐hedged strategy generally presents a much better performance than any types of put policies.

The research shows the risk and return implications of different currency hedging strategies. The finding could be of interest for asset managers of internationally diversified portfolios.

Considering the findings in the out‐of‐sample perspective, the optimally forward‐hedged minimum risk portfolio dominates all other strategies, while, in the depreciation of the local currency, this, together with the forward‐hedged tangency portfolio selection, would characterize the dominant portfolio strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate a profitable and original index options trading strategy.

The methodology is based on auto regressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) forecasting of the S&P 500 index and the strategy is tested on a large database of S&P 500 Composite index options and benchmarked to the generalized auto regressive conditional heteroscedastic (GARCH) model. The forecasts validate a set of criteria as follows: the first criterion checks if the forecasted index is greater or lower than the option strike price and the second criterion if the option premium is underpriced or overpriced. A buy or sell and hold strategy is finally implemented.

The paper demonstrates the valuable contribution of this option trading strategy when trading call and put index options. It especially demonstrates that the ARIMA forecasting method is a valid method for forecasting the S&P 500 Composite index and is superior to the GARCH model in the context of an application to index options trading.

The strategy was applied in the aftermath of the 2008 credit crisis over 60 months when the volatility index (VIX) was experiencing a downtrend. The strategy was successful with puts and calls traded on the USA market. The strategy may have a different outcome in a different economic and regional context.

Strategic option generation is a fundamental step in strategy formulation. Several lenses have been proposed to explain its foundations, including the microeconomics positioning school, and the resource and capabilities based view of the firm. These approaches are largely based on inductive and deductive logics, which are not the logics that provide strategic options that are potentially novel, profitable, and largely differentiated from competitive offerings. In this chapter, we propose a unifying framework of the cognitive foundations of strategic option generation. Building on five fundamental cognitive acts – imitation, framing, analogical reasoning, abductive reasoning, and mental simulation, this proposed model both synthesizes the extant literature and provides guidance about promising avenues for future theoretical and empirical research.

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) require the analysis and allocation of a broad spectrum of risks which are considered more complex than in traditional construction contracts. Traditional risk management techniques tend to ignore the manager's ability to recognize and exploit opportunities, which arise as uncertainties are resolved over time and which could potentially increase the project's value. Therefore it is necessary that the risk management process takes account of the managerial flexibility (e.g. real options). The objective of this paper is to explore the possibilities and rationale for implementing real options strategies in the risk management process.

The approach is based on a literature analysis aimed at identifying key risks and related mitigation strategies and on real option theory in order to model these strategies as managerial flexibilities that naturally exist or are built “artificially” in contractual conditions and clauses, guarantees, etc.

The paper develops an option-based risk management framework that associates to each risk the related mitigation strategies, which are expressed in terms of real options. The latter is expressed over the project phases conditioned to the natural evolution of risks over time.

This paper proposes a new “dynamic” risk management approach for PPP projects based on real options that improves the traditional risk management techniques by supporting the decision makers in finding a cost-effective combination of real options (or forms of flexibility) to embed in a PPP investment in order to optimally control risk and maximize investment value.

Using volatility cones as the estimate of actual volatility instead of GARCH models, the purpose of this paper is to explore whether volatility arbitrage strategy can provide positive profits and how the transaction costs existed in the real market affect the effectiveness of volatility arbitrage strategy.

A number of hedging approaches proposed to improve the hedging results and final returns of Black-Scholes model are analyzed and compared.

The general finding is that volatility arbitrage strategy can provide satisfactory returns based on the samples in Chinese market. Regarding transaction costs, the variable bandwidth delta and delta tolerance approach showed better results. Besides, choosing futures together with ETFs as hedging underlying can increase the VaR for better risk management.

This paper offers a new method for volatility arbitrage in Chinese financial market.

This paper researches the profitability of the volatility arbitrage strategy on ETF 50 options using volatility cones method for the first time. This method has advantage over the point-wise estimation such as GARCH model and stochastic volatility model.

Construction strategies for competitive bidding and operations are used to avoid the consequences of poor schedule performance such as delay penalties. Flexible strategies in the form of options can increase project value if uncertain conditions cannot be adequately forecast before operations begin. However, project management purposefully manipulates the project performance that drives the use of options and thereby the value added by options. Therefore project management quality may influence option values. Seeks to address this question.

This research investigates the interaction of project management and option value by operationalizing a common use of real options in construction and valuing the option with different levels of project management quality. A simple but realistic dynamic simulation model of a project is described and exercised to reveal some impacts of project management on option value.

The results support a hypothesis that increased project management quality decreases option value and that real options in managing construction projects can be explained with real options theory. The model structure suggests causal explanations that are consistent with real options theory.

The results suggest that practising managers can significantly increase project value by structuring managerial flexibility and thereby improving their evaluation, development, and use of flexibility. However, ignoring the multiple means of managing uncertainty that are often available can distort valuation. Results also suggest that researchers of strategic flexibility in projects should consider multiple forms of uncertainty in modeling options. Increasing the number of available options or the effectiveness of options in a multiple‐option environment can decrease individual option values.

Student-managed investment funds typically pursue “plain vanilla” objectives. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the value of adding option strategies to reduce the risk of equity positions around earnings announcements. The collar strategy is one such technique with the advantages of a low net cost and limited potential losses.

The authors provide recommendations for utilizing the collar strategy around earnings announcements. The authors also discuss how the value of this strategy is related to the literature on option pricing and earnings announcement returns.

Risk management strategies can enhance the pedagogical value of student-managed investment funds. The authors document how students have successfully utilized the collar strategy to immunize risk.

The collar strategy can enhance the pedagogical value of student-managed investment classes in several ways. First, students learn how to implement risk reduction strategies. Second, the proper implementation of these strategies requires students to learn the complex mechanisms associated with corporate earnings dissemination and analyst coverage. This also provides an opportunity to study earnings drift, which is a persistent and economically significant financial anomaly.

Your company may find itself traveling down several different paths at once to reach its goals. The secret of success lies in making sure the roads are compatible. At one time, selecting the right options was a matter of chance. Today, finding the winning combination is almost a science.

Leveraged exchange traded funds (ETFs) have become increasingly popular since their introduction in 2006. In recent years, options on leveraged ETFs have been promoted as a means of enhancing returns and reducing risk. The purpose of this paper is to examine the interchangeability of S & P 500 ETF options with leveraged S & P 500 ETF options and to what extent these options allow investors to manage their risk exposure.

With increasing liquidity for these fund’s options, simple option strategies such as covered calls and protective puts can be implemented. This study derives call-call and put-put parity between options on the underlying index and the associated leveraged ETFs. The paper examines comparative measures of return and risk on the underlying indices, along with covered call and protective put positions.

Using the formulations derived, this study shows options on non-leveraged ETFs or on the underlying index can be substituted for leveraged ETF options. Empirical results suggest substituting options on leveraged ETFs with options on the underlying index or index ETF give comparable results, but can differ as the realized leverage ratio over time differs from projected values.

This study is the first to the authors’ knowledge that investigates option strategies on leveraged and inverse ETFs of equity indices. It is also the first to derive call-call and put-put parity relations between options on ETFs and related leveraged and inverse ETFs. The results contribute to securities issuance, investment strategies, and option parity relations.