Calibrating the SABR Model to Noisy FX Data
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Calibrating the SABR Model to Noisy FX Data Kellogg College University of Oxford A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the MSc in Mathematical Finance Hilary 2018 Abstract We consider the problem of fitting the SABR model to an FX volatility smile. It is demonstrated that the model parameter β cannot be deter- mined from a log-log plot of σATM against F . It is also shown that, in an FX setting, the SABR model has a single state variable. A new method is proposed for fitting the SABR model to observed quotes. In contrast to the fitting techniques proposed in the literature, the new method allows all the SABR parameters to be retrieved and does not require prior beliefs about the market. The effect of noise on the new fitting technique is also investigated. Acknowledgements I would like to thank both of my supervisors Dr Daniel Jones and Guil- laume Bigonzi for their guidance and support throughout this project. They provided the direction for this work and offered invaluable insight and advice along the way. I also gratefully acknowledge the financial support from Bank Julius Baer and Co. Ltd. Finally I thank Dr Beate Solleder for her love and tireless support and for tolerating me during the time it has taken me to complete this project. 1 Introduction The work presented here is concerned with fitting the SABR stochastic volatility model to foreign exchange (FX) data. Specifically, we are interested in the implied volatility of an option, σ, as a function of the strike of the option, K. This relation- ship between σ and K is known as the volatility smile. For specified SABR model parameters, the volatility smile is given by the well known equation of Hagan et al. [1]. Here we focus on the inverse problem, i.e. given a volatility smile which was generated using the SABR model, how can we obtain the parameters of the underlying SABR model? In section 2 we introduce the quoting conventions used in the FX market and define the three options which are commonly used to describe the FX volatility smile. A method for calibrating a volatility smile to market quotes is also described. The SABR model is presented in section 3 and the equations which will be used throughout this work are stated. Section 4 reviews previous works related to fitting the SABR model to market data and section 5 gives details of the Monte Carlo method which was used to generate simulated market data. In this work we have focused on fitting simulated data since this removes any uncertainty regarding whether the SABR model accurately describes the market and what the true model parameters are. A key topic when fitting the SABR model to market data is the determination of the parameter β. In section 6 we explain why an approach to fitting β that is often described in the literature does not produce reliable results. Section 7 examines whether variance-covariance matching can be used to estimate the SABR parameters from time series of σATM and F . The relationship between the three main FX options quotes that would be predicted by the SABR model is investigated in section 8. These predictions are also compared to sample market data. An approximation for the correlation between the implied volatility at-the-money and the forward price is considered in section 9. This correlation is important because it allows vega exposure to be partially hedged with delta. A new method for fitting the SABR model to FX data is proposed in section 10 and the ability of this method to retrieve the parameters of the underlying SABR model is investigated. We begin with the case that the quotes are free from noise and then systematically introduce noise on each of the three main option quotes. Section 11 considers the case of pricing a digital option when the volatility smile is described using the SABR model. Conclusions are drawn in section 12, which also includes suggestions for further work. 1 2 Introduction to FX Market Conventions The foreign exchange (FX) market is one of the most liquid and competitive mar- kets in the world. Because many of the FX market conventions are unique to this market, this section provides a brief introduction to these conventions. In the FX market participants agree to exchange one currency for another on a specified day at a specified FX rate. An FX rate is the price of one currency expressed in terms of another currency. Consider the currency pair XXXYYY. The tag XXX represents the \foreign" currency, while YYY represents the \domestic" currency. The FX rate XXXYYY specifies the price of the foreign currency in terms of the domestic currency. For example; EURUSD specifies the price of one Euro in US dollars. This section begins with an explanation of the delta conventions which are used for quoting options in the FX market. Thereafter we introduce three commonly traded options structures: the at-the-money straddle, risk reversal and vega-weighted butterfly. These three structures are particularly important because they are often used to define the volatility smile in the FX market. The section concludes with a description of a method for calibrating a volatility smile to observed market prices. 2.1 Option Quotes in the FX Market Options in the FX market are not typically quoted in terms of strike, K, but as the delta of the option, assuming a Black-Scholes (BS) model. The delta of an option in the BS model is given by @V ∆ = @S R T f − rs ds = we t Φ(wd1); (1) where F (t;T ) σ2 ln( K ) + 2 (T − t) d1 = p (2) σ T − t and Φ is the normal cumulative distribution function. Here V is the value of the option and S is the current (spot) exchange rate. F (t; T ) is the forward price of the exchange rate at time t expiring at time T and w takes the value of w = 1 for a call f and w = −1 for a put option. rt is the risk free rate of the foreign currency at time t. Although FX options are quoted in terms of ∆, options are actually written with a specified strike. Therefore we need to be able to convert ∆ into the corresponding 2 strike. Re-arranging equation (1) leads to the following expression for K p j∆j σ2(T − t) K = F (t; T ) exp − wσ T − tΦ−1 + : (3) − R T rf ds e t s 2 In the context of this work, equation (3) is important because the SABR model gives the implied volatility as a function of K, rather than ∆. FX option quotes are further complicated by the use of different definitions of delta depending on the market convention of the currency pair being traded. For some currency pairs the market convention is to quote the premium in the foreign currency, e.g. a vanilla option on the USDJPY pair is quoted in USD. Since the premium is in foreign currency, the premium itself should be hedged. Therefore the market convention is to use the premium included delta, which is given by V ∆PI = ∆ − : (4) S Consider the case that we write a call option on the USDJPY pair. At expiry this gives the buyer the right to purchase USD at a price specified by the strike K, which is in JPY. To make our position (instantaneously) risk free with respect to S we should hold ∆ USD given by equation (1). However, as the option writer, we receive the option premium given by V=S, where V is the value of the option in JPY and V=S is the premium in USD. The premium included delta is the amount of USD that we need to hold in addition to the premium, which leads to equation (4). Finding the value of K which corresponds to a specified value of ∆PI is more involved because both ∆ and V depend on K. Castagna [2] proposed the following method based on Newton's method to calculate K: 1. Calculate an initial estimate of K using equation (3) 2. Calculate ∆PI for the current value of Ki using equation (4) 3. Estimate the derivative of ∆PI with respect to Ki by \bumping" Ki by a small amount (e.g. 1%) and re-evaluating ∆PI for this new value of K 4. Calculate Ki+1 as ∆PI − ∆¯ Ki+1 = Ki − (5) @∆PI @K where ∆¯ is the target value of ∆PI. 5. Iterate until jKi+1 − Kij < , where is a tolerance parameter. 3 2.2 At-the-money Straddle The most liquid FX option is the at-the-money (ATM) straddle. This structure consists of a call and put both struck at the \at-the-money" level. The definition of the ATM strike depends on market conventions. One choice is the zero delta ATM strike, which is defined as the strike that leads to the call and the put having the same delta (but with opposite sign). Another possible definition of the ATM strike is the ATM forward. Under this convention the ATM strike is set equal to the forward price of the underlying currency pair with the same expiry as the option. By no-arbitrage the forward price is given by − R T rf ds e t s F (t; T ) = St ; (6) − R T rdds e t s d where rt is the risk free rate of the domestic currency at time t. The final definition of the ATM strike is the at-the-money spot, where the ATM strike is defined to be S, the current spot rate of the underlying pair.