Apr 2020-Mar 2021

Math-Fi seminar on 5 Nov.

2020.11.05 Thu up
  • Date: 5 Nov. (Thu.)
  • Place: On the Web
  • Time: 18:00 -19:30
  • Speaker: Johannes Ruf (London School of Economics and Political Science)
  • Title: Hedging with linear regressions and neural networks
  • Abstract: 
We study the use of neural networks as nonparametric estimation tools for the hedging of options. To this end, we design a network, named HedgeNet, that directly outputs a hedging strategy given relevant features as input. This network is trained to minimise the hedging error instead of  the pricing error. Applied to end-of-day and tick prices of S&P 500 and Euro Stoxx 50 options, the network is able to reduce the mean squared hedging error of the Black-Scholes benchmark significantly. We illustrate, however, that a similar benefit arises by a simple linear regression model that incorporates the leverage effect. Finally, we argue that outperformance of neural networks previously reported in the literature is most likely due to a lack of data hygiene. In particular, data leakage is sometimes unnecessarily introduced by a faulty training/test data split, possibly along with an additional ‘tagging’ of data.
(Joint work with Weiguan Wang)
 

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