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Option Pricing with Stochastic Rates and Incomplete Market Models

Article Quant Q&A · Author: Math Girl

Summary

The discussion asks whether Fourier transforms can recover the joint distribution of interest-rate and stock-price risks from call option prices when the rate follows a mean-reverting diffusion and the stock has rate-dependent drift. The central response is that the model has two sources of risk but only the stock and risk-free asset for hedging, making it incomplete. The risk-neutral measure is therefore not uniquely determined, so vanilla option prices alone cannot identify a unique joint density.

The answers outline alternatives under additional assumptions or market data. If the risk-neutral dynamics are specified, parameters can be calibrated and a joint distribution computed, potentially by solving a forward equation numerically. A bond can support forward-measure pricing and strike derivatives can recover the stock’s forward density, though not the joint density. Bond, forward, and futures prices can also provide information about covariance between the stock and discount factor. These approaches depend on model assumptions and added instruments; the document does not derive a Fourier inversion.

Key ideas

  • With multiple risk sources and insufficient hedging instruments, the model is incomplete and the risk-neutral measure is not unique.
  • Call prices alone cannot determine a unique joint density of stock and rate risks in that setting.
  • Specified risk-neutral dynamics can be calibrated, with numerical forward-equation methods used to estimate a joint distribution.
  • Strike derivatives under a forward measure recover the stock’s forward density, not the joint density.
  • Bond, forward, and futures prices can help infer covariance between stock value and discounting.

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Full text
# Using Fourier Transforms for stock option pricing with stochastic interest rates


# Using Fourier Transforms for stock option pricing with stochastic interest rates












Can Fourier transforms be used to derive the joint probability density function of stochastic interest rates and stock price Brownian motions of call options under stochastic interest rates?

So lets say we have for the interest rate the following process $$dr(t)=\lambda(\theta-r(t))dt+\sigma^{r}dW^{r}(t)$$

and for the stock process $$dS(t)=r(t)S(t)dt+\sigma^{S}S(t)dW^{S}(t)$$ A regular vanilla call option price is then given as $$\mathrm{Call}(t,K)=\mathbb{E}^{Q}\left[e^{-\int_{0}^{t}r(s) ds}(S(t)-K)^{+}\right]$$

Can the joint density $f(W^{r}(t),W^{S}(t))$ be derived from call option prices by use of the Fourier Transform?

## Answer by emcor (score 5)

https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/12863

You have there an incomplete market model, because the risky asset contains two sources of risk $W^S,W^r$ , which means that the option price cannot be hedged by a riskfree portfolio.

For such models, $Q$ has infinitely many solutions which means you cannot find the joint density in any way.

## Answer by user9403 (score 2)

https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/12869

There are a couple ways I can think to approximate this from market data, but none use Fourier transforms.

- Assuming that you have specified the processes under the risk neutral measure (since S is presumably under the risk neutral measure I am assuming that r is specified under the risk neutral measure) then you can calibrate the parameters to the market (for example, by minimizing the squared error over the unknown parameters). Given the parameters you can compute the (market implied) joint density, if not analytically than by solving the Focker-Plank equation numerically.

- Augment the market with a risk free bond. Then you can price the option under the forward measure. Taking the second derivative with respect to the strike recovers the forward density of the stock (See the discussion here for an example of how to do this). This doesn't recover the joint density but does allow pricing of any european option with the same expiry date.

- If you are after the risk-neutral covariance between the two process one can augment the market to include forward and future contracts. Let $f=\tilde{\mathbb{E}}[S_T]$ be the future price and $F=\frac{S_0}{B(0, T)}$ be the forward price where $B(0, T)=\tilde{\mathbb{E}}[e^{-\int_0 ^T r(s) ds}]=\tilde{\mathbb{E}}[D(0, T)]$ is the price of a zero-coupon default-free bond. Then clearly Cov(S, D)=$\tilde{\mathbb{E}}[S_T D(0, T)]-\tilde{\mathbb{E}}[S_T]\tilde{\mathbb{E}}[D(0, T)]=S_0-fB(0, T)$. This is greater than zero if and only if $S_0>fB(0, T)$ which is equivalent to $F>f$. So if the forward price is larger than the future price the correlation between S and D is positive, or equivalently, S and r are negatively correlated.

Shown in full with attribution under the source's licence. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 (Stack Exchange)

This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.