We study discretizations of polynomial processes using finite state Markov processes satisfying suitable moment matching conditions. The states of these Markov processes together with their transition probabilities can be interpreted as Markov cubature rules. The polynomial property allows us to...

Chen and Shen (2003) argue that it is possible to improve the Least Squares Monte Carlo Method (LSMC) of Longstaff and Schwartz (2001) to value American options by removing the least squares regression module. This would make not only faster but also more accurate. We demonstrate, using a large...

Monte Carlo simulation or probability simulation is a technique used to understand the impact of risk and uncertainty in financial and other forecasting models. It is very useful when complex financial instruments need to be priced. Exotic options are listed on the JSE on its Can-Do platform....

In this paper we develop efficient Monte Carlo methods for estimating American option sensitivities. The problem can be re-formulated as how to perform sensitivity analysis for a stochastic optimization problem when it has model uncertainty. We introduce a generalized infinitesimal perturbation...

This paper presents a tailor-made discrete-time simulation model for valuing path-dependent options, such as lookback option, barrier option and Asian option. In the context of a real-life application that is interest to many students, we illustrate the option pricing by using Quasi Monte Carlo...

The implied volatility surface (IVS) is a fundamental building block in computational finance. We provide a survey of methodologies for constructing such surfaces. We also discuss various topics which can influence the successful construction of IVS in practice: arbitrage-free conditions in both...

A credit-linked note (CLN) on a tranche of the CDX index (partially) protects the holder against default losses in that tranche. The holder receives a specified redemption amount at note maturity. The note is priced using market spread quotes for a matching CDS on this tranche

Unlike tranches of synthetic CDOs, that depend only on the defaults of the underlying securities, tranches of cashflow CDOs also depend on the interest cash flows from the coupons of the securities. Whilst fast, accurate, (semi-)analytic methods exist for pricing synthetic CDO tranches (Hull and...

Local volatility models are widely used to manage many exotic options in a way consistent with available market prices of vanilla options. Once calibrated, a local volatility grid can be used in numerical methods such as PDE or Monte Carlo to price and hedge exotic options consistently with...