Consider a multi-period model with asset prices Sˉt=(St0,…,Std),t∈{0,…,T}, modelled on a probability space (Ω,F,P) and adapted to a filtration (Ft)t∈{0,…,T}. Assume that F0 is P-trivial, i.e. P[A]∈{0,1} for all A∈F0, and assume that S0 is a P-a.s. strictly positive numéraire, i.e. St0>0P-a.s. for all t∈{0,…,T}. Further, let Xt=(Xt1,…,Xtd) denote the discounted price process defined by Xti:=Sti/St0,t∈{0,…,T},i∈{1,…,d}.
(a) What does it mean to say that a self-financing strategy θˉ is an arbitrage?
(b) State the fundamental theorem of asset pricing.
(c) Let Q be a probability measure on (Ω,F) which is equivalent to P and for which EQ[∣Xt∣]<∞ for all t. Show that the following are equivalent:
(i) Q is a martingale measure.
(ii) If θˉ=(θ0,θ) is self-financing and θ is bounded, i.e. maxt=1,…,T∣θt∣⩽c<∞ for a suitable c>0, then the value process V of θˉ is a Q-martingale.
(iii) If θˉ=(θ0,θ) is self-financing and θ is bounded, then the value process V of θˉ satisfies
EQ[VT]=V0
[Hint: To show that (iii) implies (i) you might find it useful to consider self-financing strategies θˉ=(θ0,θ) with θ of the form
θs:={1A0 if s=t otherwise
for any A∈Ft−1 and any t∈{1,…,T}.]
(d) Prove that if there exists a martingale measure Q satisfying the conditions in (c) then there is no arbitrage.