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Delta of an at-the-money call and its limit at expiry

Question

For a European call on a stock with no dividends, struck at the current spot price, roughly what is the option's delta? How does that delta move as the time to expiry shrinks toward zero?

Short answer

A little above 0.50.5, tending to exactly 0.50.5 as expiry nears. With S=KS=K, d1=(r+σ2/2)τ/σ>0d_1=(r+\sigma^2/2)\sqrt{\tau}/\sigma>0, so Δ=N(d1)\Delta=N(d_1) slightly exceeds one half. As τ→0\tau\to0, d1→0d_1\to0 and Δ→0.5\Delta\to0.5; for options away from the money delta instead heads to 00 or 11.

Adapted from Zhou, A Practical Guide to Quantitative Finance Interviews, sec. 6.2 The Greeks, 'Delta B', p.149; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.

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