Suppose one buys two very similar stocks and is curious about how much, after some time T, one of them will contribute to the overall asset, expecting, of course, that it should be around 1/2 of the sum. Here we examine this question within the classical Black and Scholes (BS) model, focusing on...

We consider the occurrence of record-breaking events in random walks with asymmetric jump distributions. The statistics of records in symmetric random walks was previously analyzed by Majumdar and Ziff and is well understood. Unlike the case of symmetric jump distributions, in the asymmetric...

We reconsider the problem of optimal time to sell a stock studied recently by Shiryaev, Xu and Zhou using path integral methods. This method allows us to confirm the results obtained by these authors and extend them to a parameter region inaccessible to the method used by Shiryaev et. al. We...

We introduce an innovative theoretical framework to model derivative transactions between defaultable entities based on the principle of arbitrage freedom. Our framework extends the traditional formulations based on Credit and Debit Valuation Adjustments (CVA and DVA). Depending on how the...

We suggest an empirical model of investment strategy returns which elucidates the importance of non-Gaussian features, such as time-varying volatility, asymmetry and fat tails, in explaining the level of expected returns. Estimating the model on the (former) Lehman Brothers Hedge Fund Index...

We invert the Black-Scholes formula. We consider the cases low strike, large strike, short maturity and large maturity. We give explicitly the ?rst 5 terms of the expansions. A method to compute all the terms by induction is also given. At the money, we have a closed form formula for implied...

The so-called level crossing analysis has been used to investigate the empirical data set. But there is a lack of interpretation for what is reflected by the level crossing results. The fractional Gaussian noise as a well-defined stochastic series could be a suitable benchmark to make the level...

The global financial system has become highly connected and complex. Has been proven in practice that existing models, measures and reports of financial risk fail to capture some important systemic dimensions. Only lately, advisory boards have been established in high level and regulations are...

The inverse first passage time problem asks whether, for a Brownian motion $B$ and a nonnegative random variable $\zeta$, there exists a time-varying barrier $b$ such that $\mathbb{P}\{B_sb(s),0\leq s\leq t\}=\mathbb{P}\{\zetat\}$. We study a "smoothed" version of this problem and ask whether...

In this paper we consider a new mathematical extension of the Black-Scholes model in which the stochastic time and stock share price evolution is described by two independent random processes. The parent process is Brownian, and the directing process is inverse to the totally skewed, strictly...