ST213 Half Unit
Introduction to Pricing, Hedging and Optimization
This information is for the 2018/19 session.
Teacher responsible
Prof Konstantinos Kardaras COL 6.07
Availability
This course is compulsory on the BSc in Financial Mathematics and Statistics. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course is available with permission to General Course students.
Pre-requisites
MA203 Real Analysis. Must be taken with ST202 Probability, Distribution Theory and Inference.
Course content
This course introduces the concepts of valuation, hedging and portfolio selection in a discrete-time environment with full technicalities, and then treats continuous-time markets in a slightly more heuristic fashion. It covers the following topics:
• Martingale theory in discrete time.
• The binomial model; pricing and hedging. Trinomial model and incompleteness, arbitrage-free price intervals.
• General discrete-time models and the FTAP.
• Passage to continuous time Black & Scholes model; formal Ito calculus.
• Option-pricing with PDE methods, the Black & Scholes formula and Greeks; connections with risk-neutral measure, Feynman-Mac
• Portfolio optimisation (Merton's problem) in the standard Black & Scholes market
Teaching
20 hours of lectures and 10 hours of seminars in the LT.
Formative coursework
Students will be expected to produce 9 problem sets in the LT.
Indicative reading
Lecture notes will be provided.
Stochastic Calculus for Finance I: The Binomial Asset Pricing Model, by Steven Shreve, Springer
Assessment
Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours, reading time: 15 minutes) in the summer exam period.
Key facts
Department: Statistics
Total students 2017/18: Unavailable
Average class size 2017/18: Unavailable
Capped 2017/18: No
Value: Half Unit
PDAM skills
- Self-management
- Problem solving
- Communication
- Application of numeracy skills
- Specialist skills