Applied Math Seminar
Winter Quarter 2002
3:15 - 4:15 p.m.
Sloan Mathematics Corner
Building 380, Room 380-C


Friday, February 8, 2002


Peter Carr
Courant Institute, New York University

Hedging with Options

Abstract:

The usual approach for hedging derivative securities involves continuously revising a position in the underlying asset. This strategy is called delta hedging and can fail in practice for several reasons. We will introduce a class of alternative hedging strategies, which address some of the deficiencies of delta hedging. The alternative strategies involve taking positions in both the underlying asset and in one or more standard options written on that asset. In contrast to standard delta hedging, the hedge portfolio is revised infrequently. For this reason, the alternative class of hedging strategies are termed semi-static. We illustrate the use of semi-static hedging for several types of path-dependent and path-independent securities.

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