European call priced above its American twin
Question
A non-dividend-paying stock trades at . Two calls with strike and the same expiry are available: a European one at and an American one at . A bond paying at expiry costs . If an arbitrage exists, what up-front credit does it lock in (two decimals)? Answer if there is none.
Short answer
. An American call can never be worth less than its European counterpart, and with no dividends it is never optimal to exercise early. Sell the European call at , buy the American at , and hold the American to expiry so the payoffs cancel, keeping .
Adapted from QuantQuestions.io; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.
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Open the worked solutionLessons behind this question
- American Options and Early Exercise
- Option Mechanics: Calls, Puts, Moneyness, Intrinsic Value, and Exchange vs. OTC Markets
- Option Trading Strategies: Spreads, Combinations, and Payoff Engineering
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