How is the arbitrage-free price of a European put option calculated using state prices?
Conditions
- The market is a one-period finite-state model.
- The state price vector is known.
- The option is European and expires at the end of the period.
- The underlying asset's state-contingent payoffs and the strike price are known.
Reasoning, step by step
- Calculate the put payoff in each state using .
- Write the put payoff as a column vector.
- Decompose the payoff vector into a linear combination of the Arrow-Debreu basis vectors.
- Multiply each state payoff by the corresponding state price.
- Sum these products to get the arbitrage-free price of the put.
Example
For a put with strike on an asset paying 1.20 in state 1 and 0.90 in state 2, the payoff vector is . With state prices and , the price is .
Common misconceptions
- Assuming the put payoff is negative when the underlying asset is below the strike price; the payoff is always , which is non-negative.
- Confusing the state prices with risk-neutral probabilities when pricing; the direct state-price weighting uses , while the risk-neutral approach uses and discounts the expected payoff.
Watch the explanation
Connected concepts
Explore next
Related questions
The solution for the state price vector is unique because the coefficient matrix of the resulting linear pricing system has a nonzero determinant. A nonzero determinant guarantees that the system of linear equations has exactly one unique solution for the unknown state prices.
Conditions: The market model has three states and three traded assets.; The pricing system is a 3x3 linear system.; The coefficient matrix of the system is nonsingular (determinant is nonzero).
To derive the linear pricing equations, you impose the no-arbitrage condition that the current price of each traded asset must equal the sum of its state-contingent payoffs weighted by the corresponding state prices. This produces one linear equation per traded asset, with the state prices acting as the unknowns.
Conditions: One-period model with a finite set of states.; Prices of all traded assets are known today.; State-contingent payoffs for each asset are known.; The unknowns are the state prices (Arrow-Debreu security prices).
You convert a state price vector into risk-neutral probabilities by multiplying each state price by the gross risk-free factor , where is the per-period risk-free interest rate. This scaling transforms the monetary prices of Arrow-Debreu securities into a valid probability distribution that sums to 1.
Conditions: The state prices are already determined.; is the known per-period risk-free interest rate.; The market is a one-period finite-state model.
The state price vector for this specific three-state market model is . This vector is found by solving the linear system of pricing equations derived from the given asset payoffs and their common current price of 100.
Conditions: One-period securities market model.; Three possible scenarios (states).; Risk-free bank account with 10% interest (payoff 110 in all states).; Current price of each security is 100.; Security X payoffs: 220, 55, 0.; Security Y payoffs: 0, 0, 250.
The bank account contributes 110 in every state because it is a risk-free asset that pays 10% interest per year. Investing 100 today guarantees a return of 110 at time one, regardless of which of the three possible scenarios occurs.
Conditions: The bank account is risk-free.; The bank account pays 10% interest per year.; The initial investment (current price) is 100.; The model is a one-period setting with multiple states.
Answers are generated from source material and independently checked. Consult the original video or creator if something is unclear.