Converting yield volatility into price volatility
Question
For a bond paying annual coupons, show how to turn a volatility quoted for its yield into a volatility for its price.
Short answer
Multiply by modified duration: (or for a relative yield vol). With , a first-order expansion gives where . If yield changes have standard deviation , percentage price changes have standard deviation about .
Adapted from Joshi, Denson & Downes, Quant Job Interview Questions and Answers, Q4.5, p.148; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.
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