Construction and Evaluation of Basket Options using the Binomial Option Pricing Model

Sammanfattning: Hedge funds use a variety of different financial instruments in order to try to achieve over-average returns without taking on excessive risk - options being one of the most common of these instruments. Basket options is a type of option that is written on several underlying assets that can be used to hedge risky positions. This project has been working together with the hedge fund Proxy P to develop software to construct basket options and to analyze their use as a hedging strategy. Construction of basket options can be performed through the use of several different mathematical models. These models range from complex continuous models, such as Monte Carlo simulations, to simple discrete models, such as the binomial option pricing model. In this project, the binomial option pricing model was chosen as the main tool to determine some quantities of basket options. It can conveniently handle both European and American options, independently of whether these are put or call options. The quantities calculated, the option price and option Delta, are dependent on the volatility and the initial price of the underlying. When evaluating the basket option there are two key assumptions that need to be studied. These key assumptions are if the weights and the initial price of the underlying change with each time step, or if they are held constant. It was found that both the weights and the price of the underlying should change dynamically with each time step. Furthermore, in order to evaluate the performance of the basket options used as a hedge, the project used historical data and measured how the options neutralized negative movements in the underlying. This was done through the use of the option Delta and the hedge ratio. What could be concluded was that the put basket option can serve as a relatively inexpensive hedge and minimize the risk on the downside in a sufficient matter.