Product Description

In Volatility and Correlation 2^nd edition: The Perfect Hedger and the Fox, Rebonato looks at derivatives pricing from the angle of volatility and correlation. With both practical and theoretical applications, this is a thorough update of the highly successful Volatility & Correlation – with over 80% new or fully reworked material and is a must have both for practitioners and for students.

The new and updated material includes a critical examination of the ‘perfect-replication’ approach to derivatives pricing, with special attention given to exotic options; a thorough analysis of the role of quadratic variation in derivatives pricing and hedging; a discussion of the informational efficiency of markets in commonly-used calibration and hedging practices. Treatment of new models including Variance Gamma, displaced diffusion, stochastic volatility for interest-rate smiles and equity/FX options.

The book is split into four parts. Part I deals with a Black world without smiles, sets out the author’s ‘philosophical’ approach and covers deterministic volatility. Part II looks at smiles in equity and FX worlds. It begins with a review of relevant empirical information about smiles, and provides coverage of local-stochastic-volatility, general-stochastic-volatility, jump-diffusion and Variance-Gamma processes. Part II concludes with an important chapter that discusses if and to what extent one can dispense with an explicit specification of a model, and can directly prescribe the dynamics of the smile surface.

Part III focusses on interest rates when the volatility is deterministic. Part IV extends this setting in order to account for smiles in a financially motivated and computationally tractable manner. In this final part the author deals with CEV processes, with diffusive stochastic volatility and with Markov-chain processes.

Praise for the First Edition:

“In this book, Dr Rebonato brings his penetrating eye to bear on option pricing and hedging.… The book is a must-read for those who already know the basics of options and are looking for an edge in applying the more sophisticated approaches that have recently been developed.”
—Professor Ian Cooper, London Business School

“Volatility and correlation are at the very core of all option pricing and hedging. In this book, Riccardo Rebonato presents the subject in his characteristically elegant and simple fashion…A rare combination of intellectual insight and practical common sense.”
—Anthony Neuberger, London Business School

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #192852 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 864 pages

From the Back Cover
The new edition of Volatility and Correlation has been thoroughly updated and expanded with over 80% new or reworked material, reflecting the changes and developments that have taken place in the field. The new and updated material includes: empirical and theoretical analysis of the smile dynamics; examination of the perfect-replication model in relation to exotic options; treatment of additional important models, namely, Variance Gamma, displaced diffusion, CEV, stochastic volatility for interest-rate smiles and equity/FX options; questioning of the informational efficiency of markets in commonly-used calibration and hedging practices.

The book is split into four sections. Part I deals with a deterministic-volatility Black world (no smiles), and sets out the author's 'philosophical' approach to option pricing. Part II deals with smiles in the equity and FX worlds. Beginning with a review of relevant empirical information about smiles, this part provides coverage of local-stochastic-volatility, general-stochastic-volatility, jump-diffusion and Variance-Gamma processes. Part II concludes with an important chapter that discusses if and to what extent one can dispense with an explicit specification of a process-based model, and can directly prescribe the dynamics of the smile surface. Part III focuses on interest rates, and part IV extends the setting used for the deterministic-volatility LIBOR market model in order to account for interest-rate smiles in a financially-motivated and computationally-tractable manner. In this final part the author deals, in increasing levels of complexity, with CEV processes, with diffusive stochastic volatility and with Markov-chain processes.

Covering FX, equity and interest-rate products, Volatility and Correlation is a blend of theoretical and practical material and is designed for traders, risk managers, financial professionals and students.

‘The second edition is even more comprehensive than the first, and ideally suited to quantitatively oriented traders and risk managers. Rebonato has a knack for distilling the essence from a wide range of complex option pricing models.’ Darrell Duffie, Stanford University, USA

‘The author has greatly extended the first edition of this book, whose main merit remains its courage to deal with relevant issues for practitioners. Rather than concentrating on fictional problems stemming from the need to give financial ground to one’s favourite theories, the author moves from problems posed by the market. At times a colloquial stance is privileged over mathematical rigor and formalism, allowing a larger public to benefit from this book.’ Damiano Brigo, Head of Credit Models, Banca IMI, author of Interest Rate Models: Theory and Practice.

‘This book is about equity, FX and interest-rate option pricing at its best. It combines rigorous theory with practical knowledge of markets and models. Riccardo Rebonato uses his technical mastery to make the theory clear, and his wealth of experience to give insights into applications. Whatever your level of knowledge of these markets, you will learn from him.’ Ian Cooper, Professor of Finance, London Business School

‘In this book, Riccardo Rebonato discloses his invaluable expertise, shedding light over the gloomy path of modern model selection for pricing and hedging derivatives. Both practitioners and academics will benefit from his teachings and advice.’ Fabio Mercurio, Head of Financial Models, Banca IMI, Milan, Italy

About the Author
Riccardo Rebonato is Head of Group Market Risk for the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, and Head of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Quantitative Research Centre. He is also a Visiting Lecturer at Oxford University for the Mathematical Finance Diploma and MSc. He holds Doctorates in Nuclear Engineering and Science of Materials/Solid State Physics. He sits on the Board of Directors of ISDA and on the Board of Trustees of GARP.
Prior to joining the Royal Bank of Scotland, he was Head of Complex Derivatives Trading Europe and Head of Derivatives Research at Barclays Capital (BZW), where he worked for nine years.
Before that he was a Research Fellow in Physics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, UK. He is the author of three books, Modern Pricing of Interest-Rate Derivatives, Volatility and Correlation in Option Pricing and Interest-Rate Option Models. He has published several papers on finance in academic journals, and is on the editorial board of several journals. He is a regular speaker at conferences worldwide.

Customer Reviews

Love this book
I have read this text from cover to cover twice. It is much easier to understand its organization the second time around. The reviewer who complained that it feels disjointed perhaps simply didn't connect with the key messages running through the book. Having assumed (incorrectly) that the intro chapters were a bunch of fluff typical of these texts, I glossed over the intro the first time around. You'll benefit greatly if you scan the book, then go re-read the intro. It's all there put together painstakingly by an author who must have spent an inordinate amount of care and effort trying to make his points clear.

Another reviewer complains that it's verbose. Perhaps, but Rebonato really drives his points home by explaining the same thing from multiple angles and repeats himself at just the right points to keep you on the right track. I can see how somebody impatient can get annoyed by it, but if you are willing to invest time and read his prose - especially the intro chapters - carefully, the insight gained is definitely worth it. Not verbose at all in my view. Every paragraph has a purpose if you understand what he's trying to communicate.

It's an advanced text. Don't waste your time if you just learned what a call option it. There are more relevant texts for you out there. You should also have covered basics of stochastic calculus (see Neftci for one). For somebody who has traded vol and wanted to go deeper this book is pure gold. I love it as much as I love Taleb's Dynamic Hedging, albeit Taleb is much less formal and rigorous. What's common betw the two is the depth of original insight relevant to a trader not typically found in the sea of literature on derivs.

A must-have for some
If you are really into exotics, then this book will provide a lot. It is the most extensive book that I know and it is written by a trader for traders. It has some serious weaknesses though: its structure is somewhat chaotic and it seems as if the chapters have just been pasted together from different sources. On top of that, it is somewhat lengthy.

If you want to trade exotics, you have to read it anyway...

Amazing book
This is an extra-ordinary book by one of the best in the field. Very unique perspective on theory and practice of pricing and hedging. Wish it was bit less verbose though.