The Economic Determinants of Interest Rate Option Smiles

Deuskar, Prachi; Gupta, Anurag; Subrahmanyam, Marti G.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.979005

Download This Paper

Open PDF in Browser

Add Paper to My Library

The Economic Determinants of Interest Rate Option Smiles

33 Pages Posted: 12 Apr 2007

See all articles by Prachi Deuskar

Anurag Gupta

Case Western Reserve University - Department of Banking & Finance

Marti G. Subrahmanyam

New York University (NYU) - Leonard N. Stern School of Business

There are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: March 2007

Abstract

We address three questions relating to the interest rate options market: What is the shape of the smile? What are the economic determinants of the shape of the smile? Do these determinants have predictive power for the future shape of the smile and vice versa? We investigate these issues using daily bid and ask prices of euro () interest rate caps/floors. We find a clear smile pattern in interest rate options. The shape of the smile varies over time and is affected in a dynamic manner by yield curve variables and the future uncertainty in the interest rate markets; it also has information about future aggregate default risk. Our findings are useful for the pricing, hedging and risk management of these derivatives.

Keywords: Volatility smiles, interest rate options, euro interest rate markets, Euribor market

JEL Classification: G10, G12, G13, G15

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Deuskar, Prachi and Gupta, Anurag and Subrahmanyam, Marti G., The Economic Determinants of Interest Rate Option Smiles (March 2007). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=979005 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.979005