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Pricing an Option Conditional on a Correlated Stochastic Discount Factor

Article Quant Q&A · Author: Wiles01

Summary

The document derives a conditional option value when a stock price is correlated with a stochastic discount factor built from an additional diffusion process. The discount factor’s log is expressed as a linear function of a Gaussian stochastic integral. Its covariance with the stock’s Brownian motion determines the effective correlation used to condition the stock’s terminal distribution.

After fixing the discount factor at a given value, the remaining stock uncertainty is represented by an independent normal variable. This yields a conditional lognormal stock price and a call-option-style formula for the expected maximum of the terminal stock price and the strike, multiplied by the fixed discount factor. The derivation assumes constant model parameters and correlated Brownian motions. It addresses the specified continuous-time model; it does not discuss calibration, numerical validation, or how to handle parameter or model uncertainty.

Key ideas

  • The integrated stochastic discount factor can be written as a Gaussian stochastic integral plus a deterministic term.
  • Conditioning on the discount factor fixes that integral and changes the conditional distribution of the stock price.
  • The stock’s remaining conditional variance depends on its correlation with the discount-factor process.
  • The conditional expectation is obtained from a lognormal option-pricing expression, scaled by the observed discount factor.

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Full text
# Option pricing with dependent risk factors


# Option pricing with dependent risk factors












I'm a bit stuck with the pricing of an option where the underlying stock is correlated to an additional process.

Setting: Assume that we have a probability space where under $Q$ the dynamics of the stock and an additional process are given by

$$ \begin{align} dS(t) &= S(t)(rdt+\sigma dW_1 (t)) \\[6pt] d\lambda(t) &= c\lambda(t)dt+\xi dW_2 (t) \end{align}$$

where: $$ W_2 (t)=\rho W_1 (t)+ \sqrt{1-\rho^2}Z(t) $$

$W_1 (t)$ and $Z(t)$ are independent Brownian motions.

The question is now how to determine the following conditional risk-neutral valuation:

$$ E^Q [e^{-\int_0^T\lambda(v)dv} \max(S(T),K) \ | \ e^{-\int_0^T\lambda(v)dv} =x] $$

The last expression can be rewritten as:

$$ x E^Q [\max(S(T),K) \ | \ e^{-\int_0^T\lambda(v)dv} =x] $$

but then I'm stuck how we can deal with the dependence between $S$ and $\lambda$.

Thanks a lot in advance for your help!

N.B: $\lambda$ is not the interest rate but just a stochastic discount factor.

## Answer by Gordon (score 5, accepted)

https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/36310

Note that \begin{align*} d\left(e^{-ct} \lambda_t \right) &= -ce^{-ct} \lambda_t dt + e^{-ct}d\lambda_t\\ &=\xi e^{-ct}dW_2(t). \end{align*} Then \begin{align*} \lambda_t = \lambda_0 e^{ct} + \xi\int_0^t e^{-c(u-t)} dW_2(u). \end{align*} Moreover, \begin{align*} \int_0^T \lambda_s ds &= \frac{\lambda_0}{c}\left(e^{cT}-1 \right) + \xi\int_0^T \int_0^s e^{-c(u-s)} dW_2(u)ds\\ &=\frac{\lambda_0}{c}\left(e^{cT}-1 \right) + \xi\int_0^T ds \int_u^T e^{-c(u-s)} ds\, dW_2(u)\\ &=\frac{\lambda_0}{c}\left(e^{cT}-1 \right) +\frac{\xi}{c}\int_0^T\left(e^{-c(u-T)}-1 \right)dW_2(u)\\ &\equiv \frac{\lambda_0}{c}\left(e^{cT}-1 \right) + \frac{\xi}{c} X_T, \end{align*} where \begin{align*} X_T = \int_0^T\left(e^{-c(u-T)}-1 \right)dW_2(u) \sim N\left(0,\ \frac{1}{2c}e^{2cT}-\frac{2}{c}e^{cT}+T+\frac{3}{2c} \right). \end{align*} Furthermore, note that \begin{align*} E\left(W_1(T) X_T \right) &= E\left(\int_0^T dW_1(u) \int_0^T\left(e^{-c(u-T)}-1 \right)dW_2(u) \right)\\ &=\rho \left(\frac{1}{c}e^{cT}-\frac{1}{c}-T \right). \end{align*} Then \begin{align*} corr(W_1(T), \, X_T) = \frac{\rho \left(\frac{1}{c}e^{cT}-\frac{1}{c}-T \right)}{\sqrt{T \left( \frac{1}{2c}e^{2cT}-\frac{2}{c}e^{cT}+T+\frac{3}{2c}\right)}}\equiv \rho_0. \end{align*} We can then assume that \begin{align*} W_1(T) = \frac{\rho_0\sqrt{T}}{\sqrt{\frac{1}{2c}e^{2cT}-\frac{2}{c}e^{cT}+T+\frac{3}{2c}}}X_T + \sqrt{T\left(1-\rho_0^2\right)}Z, \end{align*} where $Z$ is a standard normal random variable that is independent of $X_T$.

From \begin{align*} e^{-\int_0^T \lambda_sds} = x, \end{align*} we obtain that \begin{align*} X_T = -\frac{c}{\xi}\ln x - \frac{\lambda_0}{\xi}\left(e^{cT}-1 \right). \end{align*} Then \begin{align*} S(T) &= S(0) e^{(r-\frac{1}{2}\sigma^2)T + \sigma W_1(T)}\\ &=S(0) e^{\frac{-\sigma \rho_0\sqrt{T}}{\sqrt{\frac{1}{2c}e^{2cT}-\frac{2}{c}e^{cT}+T+\frac{3}{2c}}}\left(\frac{c}{\xi}\ln x + \frac{\lambda_0}{\xi}\left(e^{cT}-1 \right) \right)} e^{(r-\frac{1}{2}\sigma^2)T + \sigma \sqrt{1-\rho_0^2} \sqrt{T} Z}\\ &\equiv \tilde{S}(0) e^{-\frac{1}{2}\sigma^2 (1-\rho_0^2)T + \sigma \sqrt{1-\rho_0^2} \sqrt{T} Z}, \end{align*} where \begin{align*} \tilde{S}(0) = S(0) e^{\frac{-\sigma \rho_0\sqrt{T}}{\sqrt{\frac{1}{2c}e^{2cT}-\frac{2}{c}e^{cT}+T+\frac{3}{2c}}}\left(\frac{c}{\xi}\ln x + \frac{\lambda_0}{\xi}\left(e^{cT}-1 \right) \right)} e^{(r-\frac{1}{2}\sigma^2\rho_0^2)T}. \end{align*} Therefore, \begin{align*} &\ E\left(e^{-\int_0^T \lambda_s ds} \max(S(T), K) \,|\, e^{-\int_0^T \lambda_s ds} =x\right) \\ =&\ xE\left(K+\max(S(T)-K, 0) \,|\, e^{-\int_0^T \lambda_s ds} = x\right)\\ =&\ x\Big(K + \tilde{S}(0)\Phi(d_1)-K\Phi(d_2) \Big), \end{align*} where $\Phi$ is the cumulative distribution function of a standard normal random variable, \begin{align*} d_1 = \frac{\ln \frac{\tilde{S}(0)}{K} + \frac{1}{2}\sigma^2 (1-\rho_0^2)T}{\sigma \sqrt{(1-\rho_0^2)T}}, \end{align*} and \begin{align*} d_2 = d_1 - \sigma \sqrt{(1-\rho_0^2)T}. \end{align*}

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