IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/empfin/v47y2018icp162-189.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Crash risk and risk neutral densities

Author

Listed:
  • Chen, Ren-Raw
  • Hsieh, Pei-lin
  • Huang, Jeffrey

Abstract

“Crash risk” has been one of the major focuses in the recent asset pricing literature. Motivated by the recent literature that suggests an increase in crash risk since Fall 2008 and the recent troubles in the Euro zone, we use EUR/USD FX options for January 2, 2008 to March 18, 2015 to study option-implied risk-neutral densities (RND). We find that RND, especially higher moments, has superior explanatory power in predicting and explaining crash risk and its risk premiums. Furthermore, the higher moments of RND co-move closely with macroeconomic variables. Consistently, we find RND moments outperform the implied volatility from the Black–Scholes model.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Ren-Raw & Hsieh, Pei-lin & Huang, Jeffrey, 2018. "Crash risk and risk neutral densities," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 162-189.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:empfin:v:47:y:2018:i:c:p:162-189
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jempfin.2018.03.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927539818300288
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jempfin.2018.03.006?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mark Britten‐Jones & Anthony Neuberger, 2000. "Option Prices, Implied Price Processes, and Stochastic Volatility," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(2), pages 839-866, April.
    2. Dennis, Patrick & Mayhew, Stewart, 2002. "Risk-Neutral Skewness: Evidence from Stock Options," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 37(3), pages 471-493, September.
    3. Bollerslev, Tim & Todorov, Viktor & Xu, Lai, 2015. "Tail risk premia and return predictability," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 113-134.
    4. Kitsul, Yuriy & Wright, Jonathan H., 2013. "The economics of options-implied inflation probability density functions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(3), pages 696-711.
    5. Peter Christoffersen & Stefano Mazzotta, 2005. "The Accuracy of Density Forecasts from Foreign Exchange Options," Journal of Financial Econometrics, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(4), pages 578-605.
    6. Tim Bollerslev & George Tauchen & Hao Zhou, 2009. "Expected Stock Returns and Variance Risk Premia," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(11), pages 4463-4492, November.
    7. Rama Cont & Jose da Fonseca, 2002. "Dynamics of implied volatility surfaces," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(1), pages 45-60.
    8. André Santos & João Guerra, 2015. "Implied Risk Neutral Densities From Option Prices: Hypergeometric, Spline, Lognormal, and Edgeworth Functions," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(7), pages 655-678, July.
    9. Bryan Kelly & Hao Jiang, 2014. "Editor's Choice Tail Risk and Asset Prices," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(10), pages 2841-2871.
    10. Jondeau, Eric & Rockinger, Michael, 2000. "Reading the smile: the message conveyed by methods which infer risk neutral densities," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 885-915, December.
    11. Castrén, Olli, 2004. "Do options-implied RND functions on G3 currencies move around the times of interventions on the JPY/USD exchange rate?," Working Paper Series 410, European Central Bank.
    12. Amin, Kaushik I, 1993. "Jump Diffusion Option Valuation in Discrete Time," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(5), pages 1833-1863, December.
    13. Martin Cincibuch, 2004. "Distributions implied by American currency futures options: A ghost's smile?," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(2), pages 147-178, February.
    14. Robert A. Jarrow & David Lando & Fan Yu, 2008. "Default Risk And Diversification: Theory And Empirical Implications," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Financial Derivatives Pricing Selected Works of Robert Jarrow, chapter 19, pages 455-480, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    15. Alter, Adrian & Beyer, Andreas, 2014. "The dynamics of spillover effects during the European sovereign debt turmoil," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 134-153.
    16. Jorion, Philippe, 1995. "Predicting Volatility in the Foreign Exchange Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(2), pages 507-528, June.
    17. Ait-Sahalia, Yacine & Wang, Yubo & Yared, Francis, 2001. "Do option markets correctly price the probabilities of movement of the underlying asset?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 102(1), pages 67-110, May.
    18. Emmanuel Farhi & Xavier Gabaix, 2016. "Editor's Choice Rare Disasters and Exchange Rates," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(1), pages 1-52.
    19. Bakshi, Gurdip & Carr, Peter & Wu, Liuren, 2008. "Stochastic risk premiums, stochastic skewness in currency options, and stochastic discount factors in international economies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 132-156, January.
    20. Scott R. Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis, 2016. "Measuring Economic Policy Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1593-1636.
    21. Carr, Peter & Wu, Liuren, 2007. "Stochastic skew in currency options," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 213-247, October.
    22. Jackwerth, Jens Carsten & Rubinstein, Mark, 1996. "Recovering Probability Distributions from Option Prices," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(5), pages 1611-1632, December.
    23. Robert J. Barro, 2009. "Rare Disasters, Asset Prices, and Welfare Costs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(1), pages 243-264, March.
    24. Roman Kozhan & Anthony Neuberger & Paul Schneider, 2013. "The Skew Risk Premium in the Equity Index Market," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(9), pages 2174-2203.
    25. 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.
    26. Baba, Naohiko & Packer, Frank, 2009. "Interpreting deviations from covered interest parity during the financial market turmoil of 2007-08," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(11), pages 1953-1962, November.
    27. Jun Liu, 2005. "An Equilibrium Model of Rare-Event Premia and Its Implication for Option Smirks," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 18(1), pages 131-164.
    28. Datta, Deepa Dhume & Londono, Juan M. & Ross, Landon J., 2017. "Generating options-implied probability densities to understand oil market events," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 440-457.
    29. Breeden, Douglas T & Litzenberger, Robert H, 1978. "Prices of State-contingent Claims Implicit in Option Prices," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(4), pages 621-651, October.
    30. George J. Jiang & Yisong S. Tian, 2005. "The Model-Free Implied Volatility and Its Information Content," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 18(4), pages 1305-1342.
    31. Xu, Xinzhong & Taylor, Stephen J., 1994. "The Term Structure of Volatility Implied by Foreign Exchange Options," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 29(1), pages 57-74, March.
    32. Jose M. Campa & P.H. Kevin Chang & Robert L. Reider, 1997. "Implied Exchange Rate Distributions: Evidence from OTC Option Markets," NBER Working Papers 6179, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    33. Canina, Linda & Figlewski, Stephen, 1993. "The Informational Content of Implied Volatility," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 6(3), pages 659-681.
    34. Bakshi, Gurdip & Madan, Dilip, 2000. "Spanning and derivative-security valuation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 205-238, February.
    35. 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.
    36. Rubinstein, Mark, 1994. "Implied Binomial Trees," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(3), pages 771-818, July.
    37. Melick, William R. & Thomas, Charles P., 1997. "Recovering an Asset's Implied PDF from Option Prices: An Application to Crude Oil during the Gulf Crisis," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 32(1), pages 91-115, March.
    38. Peter Carr & Liuren Wu, 2009. "Variance Risk Premiums," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(3), pages 1311-1341, March.
    39. Dan Galai & Ben Z. Schreiber, 2013. "Bid–Ask Spreads and Implied Volatilities of Key Players in a FX Options Market," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(8), pages 774-794, August.
    40. Mark Rubinstein., 1994. "Implied Binomial Trees," Research Program in Finance Working Papers RPF-232, University of California at Berkeley.
    41. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:2:p:499-547 is not listed on IDEAS
    42. Castrén, Olli, 2005. "Estimating and analysing currency options implied risk-neutral density functions for the largest new EU member states," Working Paper Series 440, European Central Bank.
    43. Christensen, B. J. & Prabhala, N. R., 1998. "The relation between implied and realized volatility," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 125-150, November.
    44. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:1:p:407-446 is not listed on IDEAS
    45. Bing Han, 2008. "Investor Sentiment and Option Prices," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(1), pages 387-414, January.
    46. Birru, Justin & Figlewski, Stephen, 2012. "Anatomy of a meltdown: The risk neutral density for the S&P 500 in the fall of 2008," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 151-180.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jason Brown & Nida Çakır Melek & Johannes Matschke & Sai Sattiraju, 2023. "The Missing Tail Risk in Option Prices," Research Working Paper RWP 23-02, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
    2. Abderrahmen Aloulou & Younes Boujelbene, 2019. "Dynamic analysis of implied risk neutral density," International Journal of Monetary Economics and Finance, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 12(1), pages 39-58.
    3. Xu, Lingling & Huang, Xiaodi & Liu, Guanchun & Liu, Yuanyuan, 2023. "Tax authority enforcement and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PA).
    4. Ren‐Raw Chen & Pei‐Lin Hsieh & Jeffrey Huang & Xiaowei Li, 2023. "Predictive power of the implied volatility term structure in the fixed‐income market," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(3), pages 349-383, March.

    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. 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.
    2. Liu, Zhangxin (Frank) & Faff, Robert, 2017. "Hitting SKEW for SIX," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 449-464.
    3. Peter Christoffersen & Kris Jacobs & Gregory Vainberg, 2007. "Forward-Looking Betas," CREATES Research Papers 2007-39, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    4. 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.
    5. Bakshi, Gurdip & Madan, Dilip & Panayotov, George, 2010. "Returns of claims on the upside and the viability of U-shaped pricing kernels," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 130-154, July.
    6. Elyas Elyasiani & Luca Gambarelli & Silvia Muzzioli, 2015. "Towards a skewness index for the Italian stock market," Department of Economics 0064, University of Modena and Reggio E., Faculty of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    7. Leonidas S. Rompolis & Elias Tzavalis, 2017. "Retrieving risk neutral moments and expected quadratic variation from option prices," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 955-1002, May.
    8. Jin Zhang & Yi Xiang, 2008. "The implied volatility smirk," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(3), pages 263-284.
    9. Du Du & Dan Luo, 2019. "The Pricing of Jump Propagation: Evidence from Spot and Options Markets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(5), pages 2360-2387, May.
    10. Silvia Muzzioli, 2010. "Towards a volatility index for the Italian stock market," Centro Studi di Banca e Finanza (CEFIN) (Center for Studies in Banking and Finance) 10091, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia "Marco Biagi".
    11. Silvia Muzzioli, 2013. "The Information Content of Option-Based Forecasts of Volatility: Evidence from the Italian Stock Market," Quarterly Journal of Finance (QJF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 3(01), pages 1-46.
    12. Zhangxin (Frank) Liu & Michael J. O'Neill & Tom Smith, 2017. "State-preference pricing and volatility indices," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 57(3), pages 815-836, September.
    13. Della Corte, Pasquale & Sarno, Lucio & Tsiakas, Ilias, 2011. "Spot and forward volatility in foreign exchange," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(3), pages 496-513, June.
    14. Wilkens, Sascha & Roder, Klaus, 2006. "The informational content of option-implied distributions: Evidence from the Eurex index and interest rate futures options market," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 50-74, September.
    15. Sirio Aramonte & Mohammad R. Jahan-Parvar & Samuel Rosen & John W. Schindler, 2022. "Firm-Specific Risk-Neutral Distributions with Options and CDS," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(9), pages 7018-7033, September.
    16. Tim Bollerslev & Viktor Todorov, 2011. "Tails, Fears, and Risk Premia," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(6), pages 2165-2211, December.
    17. Almeida, Caio & Freire, Gustavo, 2022. "Pricing of index options in incomplete markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(1), pages 174-205.
    18. Lina M. Cortés & Javier Perote & Andrés Mora-Valencia, 2017. "Implicit probability distribution for WTI options: The Black Scholes vs. the semi-nonparametric approach," Documentos de Trabajo de Valor Público 15923, Universidad EAFIT.
    19. Li, Minqiang, 2008. "Price Deviations of S&P 500 Index Options from the Black-Scholes Formula Follow a Simple Pattern," MPRA Paper 11530, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Lu, Junwen & Qu, Zhongjun, 2021. "Sieve estimation of option-implied state price density," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 224(1), pages 88-112.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    European crisis; Subprime crisis; Tail risk; Risk neutral density; FX option;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading

    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:empfin:v:47:y:2018:i:c:p:162-189. 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/jempfin .

    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.