Paper 2, Section II, J

Stochastic Financial Models
Part II, 2012

(i) Give the definition of Brownian motion.

(ii) The price StS_{t} of an asset evolving in continuous time is represented as

St=S0exp(σWt+μt)S_{t}=S_{0} \exp \left(\sigma W_{t}+\mu t\right)

where (Wt)t0\left(W_{t}\right)_{t \geqslant 0} is a standard Brownian motion and σ\sigma and μ\mu are constants. If riskless investment in a bank account returns a continuously compounded rate of interest rr, derive the Black-Scholes formula for the time-0 price of a European call option on asset SS with strike price KK and expiry TT. [Standard results from the course may be used without proof but must be stated clearly.]

(iii) In the same financial market, a certain contingent claim CC pays (ST)n\left(S_{T}\right)^{n} at time TT, where n1n \geqslant 1. Find the closed-form expression for the time- 0 value of this contingent claim.

Show that for every s>0s>0 and n1n \geqslant 1,

sn=n(n1)0skn2(sk)dk.s^{n}=n(n-1) \int_{0}^{s} k^{n-2}(s-k) d k .

Using this identity, how would you replicate (at least approximately) the contingent claim CC with a portfolio consisting only of European calls?