In this paper we compare the predictive abilility of Stochastic Volatility (SV)models to that of volatility forecasts implied by option prices. We develop anSV model with implied volatility as an exogeneous var able in the varianceequation which facilitates the use of statistical tests for...

The volatility implied by observed market prices as a function of the strike and time to maturity form an Implied Volatility Surface (IVS). Practical applications require reducing the dimension and characterize its dynamics through a small number of factors. Such dimension reduction is...

Market option prices in last 20 years conrmed deviations from the Black and Scholes (BS) models assumptions, especially on the BS implied volatility. Implied binomial trees (IBT) models capture the variations of the implied volatility known as \volatility smile". They provide a discrete...

The volatility implied by observed market prices as a function of the strike and time to maturity form an Implied Volatility Surface (IV S). Practical applications require reducing the dimension and characterize its dynamics through a small number of factors. Such dimension reduction is...

A persistent anomaly in option pricing is the volatility skew. Many have attempted to explain it with stochastic volatility and/or jump diffusion models with mixed results. We propose a model that incorporates positive serial correlation in the stock price process and test it on empirical data...