Implied Volatility - Solving The Inverse Pricing Model Function

Solving The Inverse Pricing Model Function

In general, a pricing model function, f, does not have a closed-form solution for its inverse, g. Instead, a root finding technique is used to solve the equation:

While there are many techniques for finding roots, two of the most commonly used are Newton's method and Brent's method. Because options prices can move very quickly, it is often important to use the most efficient method when calculating implied volatilities.

Newton's method provides rapid convergence; however, it requires the first partial derivative of the option's theoretical value with respect to volatility; i.e., which is also known as vega (see The Greeks). If the pricing model function yields a closed-form solution for vega, which is the case for Black–Scholes model, then Newton's method can be more efficient. However, for most practical pricing models, such as a binomial model, this is not the case and vega must be derived numerically. When forced to solve for vega numerically, it usually turns out that Brent's method is more efficient as a root-finding technique.

Read more about this topic:  Implied Volatility

Famous quotes containing the words solving the, solving, inverse, model and/or function:

    “Will women find themselves in the same position they have always been? Or do we see liberation as solving the conditions of women in our society?... If we continue to shy away from this problem we will not be able to solve it after independence. But if we can say that our first priority is the emancipation of women, we will become free as members of an oppressed community.”
    —Ruth Mompati (b. 1925)

    “You are right to demand that an artist engage his work consciously, but you confuse two different things: solving the problem and correctly posing the question.”
    —Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)

    “Yet time and space are but inverse measures of the force of the soul. The spirit sports with time.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    “...that absolutely everything beloved and cherished of the bourgeoisie, the conservative, the cowardly, and the impotent—the State, family life, secular art and science—was consciously or unconsciously hostile to the religious idea, to the Church, whose innate tendency and permanent aim was the dissolution of all existing worldly orders, and the reconstitution of society after the model of the ideal, the communistic City of God.”
    —Thomas Mann (1875–1955)

    “... the function of art is to do more than tell it like it is—it’s to imagine what is possible.”
    —bell hooks (b. c. 1955)