Call price in the infinite-volatility limit
Question
What does the price of a European call converge to as the volatility tends to infinity?
Short answer
The current stock price (for a non-dividend stock). As , and , so . Intuitively the stock ends up near zero with probability close to one, so the strike is almost never paid, yet the stock's expectation is preserved; this hits the upper bound .
Adapted from Joshi, Denson & Downes, Quant Job Interview Questions and Answers, Q2.14, p.17; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.
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Open the worked solutionLessons behind this question
- The Black-Scholes PDE, Formula and Implied Volatility
- Indeterminate Forms and L'Hôpital's Rule
- Calculating Limits: Limit Laws and Algebraic Techniques
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