This paper empirically studies whether mutual fund holdings in the underlying stock markets predict returns on equity options written on individual stocks. I find that fund holding concentrations in underlying stocks negatively predict the cross-section of corresponding option returns. The...

Traditional with-profits pension saving schemes have been criticized for their opacity, plagued by embedded options and guarantees, and have recently created enormous problems for the solvency of the life insurance and pension industry. This has fueled creativity in the industry's product...

This work introduces two new financial derivatives into the finance literature. The first is the Return Barrier Option, which has emerged recently as a popular contract in the OTC markets. This contract is similar to a barrier option, but the knock-out event depends on an asset's returns, rather...

We derive the theoretical relation between the term structure of implied variance and the expected excess returns of the underlying asset. Adopting three alternative approaches to compile the variables representing the information on the implied volatility index level and term structure, we show...

This article explores the role of the realized return distribution in the formation of the observed implied volatility smile using the framework of an adaptive expectations model. According to this framework investors update their expectations of future events, through which options are priced,...

We compile option-implied tail loss and gain measures based on a deep out-of-the- money option pricing formula derived by applying ‘extreme value theory', and then use these measures to investigate the information content of option-implied tail risk on the future returns of the underlying...

I show that the inventory risk faced by market-makers has a first-order effect on option prices. I introduce a simple approach that decomposes the price impact of trades into inventory risk and asymmetric information components. While both components are large for option trades, the inventory...

Little is known about the economic sources that may generate the abnormal returns observed in put index options. We show that the learning process followed by investors may be one such source. We develop an equilibrium model under partial information in which a rational Bayesian learner prices...

Little is known about the economic sources that may generate the abnormal returns observed in put index options. We show that the learning process followed by investors may be one such source. We develop an equilibrium model under partial information in which a rational Bayesian learner prices...

This paper improves continuous-time variance swap approximation formulas to derive exact returns on benchmark VIX option portfolios. The new methodology preserves the variance swap interpretation that decomposes returns into realized variance and option implied-variance.We apply this new...