Are Options on Index Futures Profitable for Risk Averse Investors? Empirical Evidence

56 Pages Posted: 30 Aug 2010 Last revised: 19 Jul 2023

See all articles by George M. Constantinides

George M. Constantinides

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Michal Czerwonko

McGill University

Jens Carsten Jackwerth

University of Konstanz - Department of Economics

Stylianos Perrakis

Concordia University, Quebec - John Molson School of Business

Multiple version iconThere are 3 versions of this paper

Date Written: August 2010

Abstract

American options on the S&P 500 index futures that violate the stochastic dominance bounds of Constantinides and Perrakis (2007) from 1983 to 2006 are identified as potentially profitable trades. Call bid prices more frequently violate their upper bound than put bid prices do, while violations of the lower bounds by ask prices are infrequent. In out of sample tests of stochastic dominance, the writing of options that violate the upper bound increases the expected utility of any risk averse investor holding the market and cash, net of transaction costs and bid ask spreads. The results are economically significant and robust.

Suggested Citation

Constantinides, George M. and Czerwonko, Michal and Jackwerth, Jens Carsten and Perrakis, Stylianos, Are Options on Index Futures Profitable for Risk Averse Investors? Empirical Evidence (August 2010). NBER Working Paper No. w16302, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1667335

George M. Constantinides (Contact Author)

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business ( email )

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Michal Czerwonko

McGill University ( email )

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Jens Carsten Jackwerth

University of Konstanz - Department of Economics ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://cms.uni-konstanz.de/wiwi/jackwerth/

Stylianos Perrakis

Concordia University, Quebec - John Molson School of Business ( email )

1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W.
Montreal, Quebec H3G 1M8
Canada

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