We develop a simple robust test for the presence of continuous and discontinuous (jump) components in the price of an asset underlying an option. Our test examines the prices of atthemoney and outofthemoney options as the option maturity approaches zero. We show that these prices converge to zero at speeds which depend upon whether the sample path of the underlying asset price process is purely continuous, purely discontinuous, or a mixture of both. By applying the test to S&P 500 index options data, we conclude that the sample path behavior of this index contains both a continuous component and a jump component. In particular, we find that while the presence of the jump component varies strongly over time, the presence of the continuous component is constantly felt. We investigate the implications of the evidence for parametric model specifications.
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Paper provided by EconWPA in its series Finance with number
0207019.
Length: 41 pages Date of creation: 01 Sep 2002 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpfi:0207019
Note: Type of Document - pdf; prepared on LaTex; to print on postscript; pages: 41 ; figures: included. prepared via dvipdfm Contact details of provider: Web page: http://129.3.20.41
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