Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

> We can see that a higher mean and a higher standard deviation result in higher option value.

This is a pretty unconvincing argument, because increasing the standard deviation increases the expected value of a lognormal distribution, even without any weird option payoffs being involved.




Increased volatility of the underlying always increases option prices.

Moreover, a higher standard deviation decreases the compounded returns of a log normal distribution, not decreases it. This is called volatility drag, and is closesly related to the AM-GM inequality: the geometric and arithmetic means of a series are only equal if all terms are identical. If this is not true, an arithmetic average will always be greater.




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: