Discussion paper

DP19580 Pricing of Risk in Credit and Equity Index Options - A Role for Option Order Flow?

We find consistent evidence across ratings and regions that delta-hedged credit index options have large negative Sharpe ratios and much more so than their equity index counterparts. Risk-factors extracted from equity index options have only moderate explanatory power for the time-series and cross-sectional variation in credit option returns, while a single credit-specific factor explains much of the remaining variation. We link this factor to credit option order flow in a manner that is consistent with the predictions of a demand-based option pricing model, where order-flow risk is priced in equilibrium.

£6.00
Citation

Collin-Dufresne, P and A Trolle (2024), ‘DP19580 Pricing of Risk in Credit and Equity Index Options - A Role for Option Order Flow?‘, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 19580. CEPR Press, Paris & London. https://cepr.org/publications/dp19580