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Truncated Lognormal Expectation for Geometric Brownian Motion Returns

Article Quant Q&A · Author: Naucle

Summary

The document derives the expected stock growth factor over one time interval, restricted to cases where that factor falls below a threshold. Under geometric Brownian motion, the growth factor is lognormally distributed, so its truncated expectation can be expressed using the standard normal cumulative distribution function. The derivation rewrites the threshold event as a bound on a standard normal variable and evaluates the resulting integral by shifting the normal density.

An alternative route relates the truncated expectation to the threshold times the event probability minus the value of a put payoff, allowing use of a put pricing formula. A second answer gives the conditional expectation of a lognormal variable below a threshold and connects it to the partial expectation by dividing by the threshold event's probability. These expressions rely on the stated GBM assumptions and consistent variable definitions; the document does not discuss empirical estimation or departures from lognormal dynamics.

Key ideas

  • Under geometric Brownian motion, the stock growth factor over an interval is lognormally distributed.
  • The expected growth factor below a threshold can be evaluated with a shifted normal cumulative distribution function.
  • The truncated expectation can also be written using a put payoff expectation and the probability of falling below the threshold.
  • A conditional expectation below the threshold is the partial expectation divided by the probability of the threshold event.

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Full text
# How to compute the conditional expected value of a geometric brownian motion?


# How to compute the conditional expected value of a geometric brownian motion?












I'm working on a project, and I have to use the cumulative and conditional expected value of the variations of a stock following a Geometric Brownian Motion.

I know that the cumulative is as follows : $$ \mathbb{E}\left[ \mathbb{1}_{ \frac{S_{i+1}}{S_{i}} < z}\right] = \mathbb{P} \left[ \frac{S_{i+1}}{S_{i}} < z \right] = \Phi\left(\frac{\log(z) - (r- \frac{\sigma^2}{2})(t_{i+1}-t_i)}{\sigma \sqrt{t_{i+1}-t_i}}\right) $$

$\Phi$ being the standard normal distribution cumulative function.

But I couldn't find the expression of the conditional expected value : $$ \mathbb{E}\left[\frac{S_{i+1}}{S_i} 1_{\frac{S_{i+1}}{S_i}<z}\right] $$

## Answer by Gordon (score 2, accepted)

https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/17016

Note that \begin{align*} E\bigg(\frac{S_{i+1}}{S_i}\mathbb{I}_{\frac{S_{i+1}}{S_i} < z}\bigg) &=zE\bigg(\mathbb{I}_{\frac{S_{i+1}}{S_i} < z}\bigg)-E\bigg(\Big(z-\frac{S_{i+1}}{S_i}\Big)\mathbb{I}_{\frac{S_{i+1}}{S_i} < z}\bigg) \\ &=zP\bigg(\frac{S_{i+1}}{S_i}<z\bigg)-E\bigg(\Big(z-\frac{S_{i+1}}{S_i}\Big)^+\bigg). \end{align*} Then you can compute the expectation using the put option pricing formula.

Alternatively, note that \begin{align*} \frac{S_{i+1}}{S_i} &= e^{(r-\frac{\sigma^2}{2})(t_{i+1}-t_i) + \sigma (W_{t_{i+1}}-W_{t_i})}\\ &=e^{(r-\frac{\sigma^2}{2})(t_{i+1}-t_i) + \sigma \sqrt{t_{i+1}-t_i} \xi}, \end{align*} where $\xi$ is a standard normal random variable. Then $\frac{S_{i+1}}{S_i}<z$ is equivalent to \begin{align*} \xi <\frac{\ln z-(r-\frac{\sigma^2}{2})(t_{i+1}-t_i)}{\sigma \sqrt{t_{i+1}-t_i}}. \end{align*} Let \begin{align*} d_2 = -\frac{\ln z-(r-\frac{\sigma^2}{2})(t_{i+1}-t_i)}{\sigma \sqrt{t_{i+1}-t_i}}. \end{align*} We then have that \begin{align*} E\bigg(\frac{S_{i+1}}{S_i}\mathbb{I}_{\frac{S_{i+1}}{S_i} < z}\bigg) &= \int_{-\infty}^{-d_2}e^{(r-\frac{\sigma^2}{2})(t_{i+1}-t_i) + \sigma \sqrt{t_{i+1}-t_i} x}\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi}}e^{-\frac{x^2}{2}}dx\\ &=\int_{-\infty}^{-d_2}e^{r(t_{i+1}-t_i) }\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi}}e^{-\frac{\big(x - \sigma \sqrt{t_{i+1}-t_i}\big)^2}{2}}dx\\ &=\int_{-\infty}^{-d_2- \sigma \sqrt{t_{i+1}-t_i}}e^{r(t_{i+1}-t_i) }\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi}}e^{-\frac{x^2}{2}}dx\\ &=e^{r(t_{i+1}-t_i) }\Phi(-d_1), \end{align*} where \begin{align*} d_1 = d_2+ \sigma \sqrt{t_{i+1}-t_i}. \end{align*}

## Answer by pbr142 (score 1)

https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/17015

What you are looking for is the partial expectation of $\frac{S_{i+1}}{S_i}$. Since $\frac{S_{i+1}}{S_i}$ is lognormally distributed, you can use the following result:

For a lognormal random variable $X \sim LND(m,v^2)$, $$ E(X | X < z) = E[X] \Phi\left( \frac{\log(z)-m-v^2}{v} \right) $$ In your case, $m = (r-\frac{1}{2}\sigma^2) (t_{i+1}-t_{i})$, $v^2 = \sigma^2 (t_{i+1}-t_{i})$, and $E[X] = S_i e{(r+\frac{1}{2}\sigma^2) (t_{i+1}-t_{i})}$.

You can then use the fact that $\mathbb{E}[X|X<z] = \frac{\mathbb{E}[\mathbb{I}_{X<z} X]}{\mathbb{P}(X<z)}$ to get the desired expression.

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