Implied volatility estimation of bitcoin options and the stylized facts of option pricing

Abstract The recently developed Bitcoin futures and options contracts in cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges mark the beginning of a new era in Bitcoin price risk hedging. The need for these tools dates back to the market crash of 1987, when investors needed better ways to protect their portfolios...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Noshaba Zulfiqar, Saqib Gulzar
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2021-09-01
Series:Financial Innovation
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s40854-021-00280-y
_version_ 1818910049093812224
author Noshaba Zulfiqar
Saqib Gulzar
author_facet Noshaba Zulfiqar
Saqib Gulzar
author_sort Noshaba Zulfiqar
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The recently developed Bitcoin futures and options contracts in cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges mark the beginning of a new era in Bitcoin price risk hedging. The need for these tools dates back to the market crash of 1987, when investors needed better ways to protect their portfolios through option insurance. These tools provide greater flexibility to trade and hedge volatile swings in Bitcoin prices effectively. The violation of constant volatility and the log-normality assumption of the Black–Scholes option pricing model led to the discovery of the volatility smile, smirk, or skew in options markets. These stylized facts; that is, the volatility smile and implied volatilities implied by the option prices, are well documented in the option literature for almost all financial markets. These are expected to be true for Bitcoin options as well. The data sets for the study are based on short-dated Bitcoin options (14-day maturity) of two time periods traded on Deribit Bitcoin Futures and Options Exchange, a Netherlands-based cryptocurrency derivative exchange. The estimated results are compared with benchmark Black–Scholes implied volatility values for accuracy and efficiency analysis. This study has two aims: (1) to provide insights into the volatility smile in Bitcoin options and (2) to estimate the implied volatility of Bitcoin options through numerical approximation techniques, specifically the Newton Raphson and Bisection methods. The experimental results show that Bitcoin options belong to the commodity class of assets based on the presence of a volatility forward skew in Bitcoin option data. Moreover, the Newton Raphson and Bisection methods are effective in estimating the implied volatility of Bitcoin options. However, the Newton Raphson forecasting technique converges faster than does the Bisection method.
first_indexed 2024-12-19T22:36:37Z
format Article
id doaj.art-4b0e00c2018043bba93d89089f8aa942
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2199-4730
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-19T22:36:37Z
publishDate 2021-09-01
publisher SpringerOpen
record_format Article
series Financial Innovation
spelling doaj.art-4b0e00c2018043bba93d89089f8aa9422022-12-21T20:03:11ZengSpringerOpenFinancial Innovation2199-47302021-09-017113010.1186/s40854-021-00280-yImplied volatility estimation of bitcoin options and the stylized facts of option pricingNoshaba Zulfiqar0Saqib Gulzar1COMSATS University Islamabad - Wah CampusCOMSATS University Islamabad - Wah CampusAbstract The recently developed Bitcoin futures and options contracts in cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges mark the beginning of a new era in Bitcoin price risk hedging. The need for these tools dates back to the market crash of 1987, when investors needed better ways to protect their portfolios through option insurance. These tools provide greater flexibility to trade and hedge volatile swings in Bitcoin prices effectively. The violation of constant volatility and the log-normality assumption of the Black–Scholes option pricing model led to the discovery of the volatility smile, smirk, or skew in options markets. These stylized facts; that is, the volatility smile and implied volatilities implied by the option prices, are well documented in the option literature for almost all financial markets. These are expected to be true for Bitcoin options as well. The data sets for the study are based on short-dated Bitcoin options (14-day maturity) of two time periods traded on Deribit Bitcoin Futures and Options Exchange, a Netherlands-based cryptocurrency derivative exchange. The estimated results are compared with benchmark Black–Scholes implied volatility values for accuracy and efficiency analysis. This study has two aims: (1) to provide insights into the volatility smile in Bitcoin options and (2) to estimate the implied volatility of Bitcoin options through numerical approximation techniques, specifically the Newton Raphson and Bisection methods. The experimental results show that Bitcoin options belong to the commodity class of assets based on the presence of a volatility forward skew in Bitcoin option data. Moreover, the Newton Raphson and Bisection methods are effective in estimating the implied volatility of Bitcoin options. However, the Newton Raphson forecasting technique converges faster than does the Bisection method.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40854-021-00280-yBitcoin optionsDeribitBitcoin smileImplied volatility estimationNumerical estimation
spellingShingle Noshaba Zulfiqar
Saqib Gulzar
Implied volatility estimation of bitcoin options and the stylized facts of option pricing
Financial Innovation
Bitcoin options
Deribit
Bitcoin smile
Implied volatility estimation
Numerical estimation
title Implied volatility estimation of bitcoin options and the stylized facts of option pricing
title_full Implied volatility estimation of bitcoin options and the stylized facts of option pricing
title_fullStr Implied volatility estimation of bitcoin options and the stylized facts of option pricing
title_full_unstemmed Implied volatility estimation of bitcoin options and the stylized facts of option pricing
title_short Implied volatility estimation of bitcoin options and the stylized facts of option pricing
title_sort implied volatility estimation of bitcoin options and the stylized facts of option pricing
topic Bitcoin options
Deribit
Bitcoin smile
Implied volatility estimation
Numerical estimation
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s40854-021-00280-y
work_keys_str_mv AT noshabazulfiqar impliedvolatilityestimationofbitcoinoptionsandthestylizedfactsofoptionpricing
AT saqibgulzar impliedvolatilityestimationofbitcoinoptionsandthestylizedfactsofoptionpricing