A duration-based hedge ratio is the conventional method to hedge against price changes of a fixed-income instrument. However, the relationship between bond prices and interest rates is nonlinear, creating a convexity effect. Moreover, term structure changes often are nonparallel in nature, which causes imperfect hedges for the duration-based hedging model. One solution to these problems is to dynamically change the duration-based hedge ratio; however, this procedure is costly and is not effective when jumps in prices occur. A superior solution is to develop a two-instrument hedge ratio that simultaneously hedges both duration and convexity effects. This paper first presents such a two-instrument hedge ratio and then we examine its effectiveness. The simulation results show that this duration-convexity hedge ratio is vastly superior to alternative hedge ratio methods for both simple and complex changes in the term structure. Copyright 1998 by MIT Press.
