IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfinec/v94y2009i2p171-191.html

Option markets and implied volatility: Past versus present

Author

Listed:
  • Mixon, Scott

Abstract

Traders in the nineteenth century appear to have priced options the same way that twenty-first-century traders price options. Empirical regularities relating implied volatility to realized volatility, stock prices, and other implied volatilities (including the volatility skew) are qualitatively the same in both eras. Modern pricing models and centralized exchanges have not fundamentally altered pricing behavior, but they have generated increased trading volume and a much closer conformity in the level of observed and model prices. The major change in pricing is the sharp decline in implied volatility relative to realized volatility, evident immediately upon the opening of the CBOE.

Suggested Citation

  • Mixon, Scott, 2009. "Option markets and implied volatility: Past versus present," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 171-191, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:94:y:2009:i:2:p:171-191
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304-405X(09)00123-8
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Parkinson, Michael, 1980. "The Extreme Value Method for Estimating the Variance of the Rate of Return," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(1), pages 61-65, January.
    2. Menachem Brenner & Rafi Eldor & Shmuel Hauser, 2001. "The Price of Options Illiquidity," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(2), pages 789-805, April.
    3. Kairys, Joseph P, Jr & Valerio, Nicholas, III, 1997. "The Market for Equity Options in the 1870s," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(4), pages 1707-1723, September.
    4. Mixon, Scott, 2008. "The Crisis of 1873: Perspectives from Multiple Asset Classes," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 68(3), pages 722-757, September.
    5. Black, Fischer & Scholes, Myron S, 1972. "The Valuation of Option Contracts and a Test of Market Efficiency," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 27(2), pages 399-417, May.
    6. Merville, Larry J. & Pieptea, Dan R., 1989. "Stock-price volatility, mean-reverting diffusion, and noise," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 193-214, September.
    7. Bates, David S., 2008. "The market for crash risk," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 2291-2321, July.
    8. Davidson, Russell & MacKinnon, James G., 1993. "Estimation and Inference in Econometrics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195060119.
    9. Schmalensee, Richard & Trippi, Robert R, 1978. "Common Stock Volatility Expectations Implied by Option Premia," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 33(1), pages 129-147, March.
    10. Rubinstein, Mark, 1985. "Nonparametric Tests of Alternative Option Pricing Models Using All Reported Trades and Quotes on the 30 Most Active CBOE Option Classes from August 23, 1976 through August 31, 1978," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 40(2), pages 455-480, June.
    11. T. Clifton Green & Stephen Figlewski, 1999. "Market Risk and Model Risk for a Financial Institution Writing Options," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(4), pages 1465-1499, August.
    12. Robert C. Merton, 2005. "Theory of rational option pricing," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Sudipto Bhattacharya & George M Constantinides (ed.), Theory Of Valuation, chapter 8, pages 229-288, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    13. Mackenzie, Donald, 2006. "Is Economics Performative? Option Theory and the Construction of Derivatives Markets," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(1), pages 29-55, March.
    14. MacKinnon, James G. & White, Halbert, 1985. "Some heteroskedasticity-consistent covariance matrix estimators with improved finite sample properties," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 305-325, September.
    15. Gurdip Bakshi & Nikunj Kapadia & Dilip Madan, 2003. "Stock Return Characteristics, Skew Laws, and the Differential Pricing of Individual Equity Options," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 16(1), pages 101-143.
    16. Sam Thomas, 2002. "The saga of the first stock index futures contract: benchmarks, models, and learning," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, pages 767-811.
    17. Whitney Newey & Kenneth West, 2014. "A simple, positive semi-definite, heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation consistent covariance matrix," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 33(1), pages 125-132.
    18. Paolo Mauro & Nathan Sussman & Yishay Yafeh, 2002. "Emerging Market Spreads: Then versus Now," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(2), pages 695-733.
    19. Harrison, Paul, 1998. "Similarities in the Distribution of Stock Market Price Changes between the Eighteenth and Twentieth Centuries," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 71(1), pages 55-79, January.
    20. Fama, Eugene F & MacBeth, James D, 1973. "Risk, Return, and Equilibrium: Empirical Tests," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 607-636, May-June.
    21. Thomas, Sam, 2002. "The Saga of the First Stock Index Futures Contract: Benchmarks, Models, and Learning," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 34(3), pages 767-808, August.
    22. Sheikh, Aamir M, 1993. "The Behavior of Volatility Expectations and Their Effects on Expected Returns," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66(1), pages 93-116, January.
    23. Dennis, Patrick & Mayhew, Stewart & Stivers, Chris, 2006. "Stock Returns, Implied Volatility Innovations, and the Asymmetric Volatility Phenomenon," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 41(2), pages 381-406, June.
    24. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:2:p:711-753 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. Latane, Henry A & Rendleman, Richard J, Jr, 1976. "Standard Deviations of Stock Price Ratios Implied in Option Prices," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 31(2), pages 369-381, May.
    26. Chiras, Donald P. & Manaster, Steven, 1978. "The information content of option prices and a test of market efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(2-3), pages 213-234.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David S. Bates, 1995. "Testing Option Pricing Models," NBER Working Papers 5129, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Lim, Terence & Lo, Andrew W. & Merton, Robert C. & Scholes, Myron S., 2006. "The Derivatives Sourcebook," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 1(5–6), pages 365-572, April.
    3. Ncube, Mthuli, 1996. "Modelling implied volatility with OLS and panel data models," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 71-84, January.
    4. Ghysels, E. & Harvey, A. & Renault, E., 1995. "Stochastic Volatility," Papers 95.400, Toulouse - GREMAQ.
    5. Chuang, Wen-I & Huang, Teng-Ching & Lin, Bing-Huei, 2013. "Predicting volatility using the Markov-switching multifractal model: Evidence from S&P 100 index and equity options," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 168-187.
    6. Smith, Paul & Gronewoller, Paul & Rose, Lawrence C., 1998. "Pricing efficiency on the New Zealand Futures and Options Exchange," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 49-62, January.
    7. Rohini Grover & Susan Thomas, 2012. "Liquidity Considerations in Estimating Implied Volatility," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(8), pages 714-741, August.
    8. Owain Ap Gwilym & Mike Buckle, 1999. "Volatility forecasting in the framework of the option expiry cycle," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 73-94.
    9. Han, Bin, 2004. "Limits of Arbitrage, Sentiment and Pricing Kernal: Evidences from Index Options," Working Paper Series 2004-2, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    10. Debaditya Mohanti & P. K. Priyan, 2014. "An Empirical Test of Market Efficiency of Indian Index Options Market Using the Black–Scholes Model and Dynamic Hedging Strategy," Paradigm, , vol. 18(2), pages 221-237, December.
    11. Christoffersen, Peter & Jacobs, Kris & Chang, Bo Young, 2013. "Forecasting with Option-Implied Information," Handbook of Economic Forecasting, in: G. Elliott & C. Granger & A. Timmermann (ed.), Handbook of Economic Forecasting, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 581-656, Elsevier.
    12. Veld, C.H., 1991. "Warrant pricing : A review of theoretical and empirical research," Other publications TiSEM ac252bad-d1c0-45d6-832a-f, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    13. Szakmary, Andrew & Ors, Evren & Kyoung Kim, Jin & Davidson, Wallace III, 2003. "The predictive power of implied volatility: Evidence from 35 futures markets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(11), pages 2151-2175, November.
    14. Steven Li & Qianqian Yang, 2009. "The relationship between implied and realized volatility: evidence from the Australian stock index option market," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 405-419, May.
    15. Fackler, Paul L. & King, Robert P., 1987. "The Evaluation of Probability Distributions with Special Emphasis on Price Distributions Derived from Option Premiums," Regional Research Projects > 1987: S-180 Annual Meeting, March 22-25, 1987, San Antonio, Texas 272343, Regional Research Projects > S-180: An Economic Analysis of Risk Management Strategies for Agricultural Production Firms.
    16. William Pedersen, 1998. "Capturing all the information in foreign currency option prices: solving for one versus two implied variables," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(12), pages 1679-1683.
    17. Kevin Aretz & Ming-Tsung Lin & Ser-Huang Poon, 2023. "Moneyness, Underlying Asset Volatility, and the Cross-Section of Option Returns," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 27(1), pages 289-323.
    18. Ramachandran, Lakshmi Shankar & Tayal, Jitendra, 2021. "Mispricing, short-sale constraints, and the cross-section of option returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(1), pages 297-321.
    19. Haehean Park & Baeho Kim & Hyeongsop Shim, 2019. "A smiling bear in the equity options market and the cross‐section of stock returns," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(11), pages 1360-1382, November.
    20. Viteva, Svetlana & Veld-Merkoulova, Yulia V. & Campbell, Kevin, 2014. "The forecasting accuracy of implied volatility from ECX carbon options," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 475-484.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:94:y:2009:i:2:p:171-191. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505576 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.