Comparison of methods to estimate option implied risk-neutral densities

Wan-Ni Lai

Quantitative Finance, 2014, vol. 14, issue 10, 1839-1855

Abstract: This paper is a comparison study of non-parametric techniques used to estimate risk-neutral densities from option prices. Cross-sectional option prices are first generated using Monte Carlo simulation. Using these simulated options data, risk-neutral densities of the underlying asset are estimated using three different non-parametric methods. The performances of these non-parametric estimation methods are then evaluated by comparing the estimated densities with the theoretical density. Unlike previous comparison studies that use traded options data without knowing the true risk-neutral densities, this study uses simulated option data with known data-generating processes and their corresponding risk-neutral densities, hence giving a real evaluation of the non-parametric estimation methods. This study finds that the kernel regression method yields the best performance, followed by the spline interpolation method and the neural network models.

Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/14697688.2011.606823 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:quantf:v:14:y:2014:i:10:p:1839-1855

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RQUF20

DOI: 10.1080/14697688.2011.606823

Access Statistics for this article

Quantitative Finance is currently edited by Michael Dempster and Jim Gatheral

More articles in Quantitative Finance from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().