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Pricing a call on a 130-or-70 one-year tree

Question

A stock is at $100 and in one year will be either $130 or $70, with real-world probabilities 0.80.8 and 0.20.2. Interest rates are zero. What is a one-year European call with strike $110 worth?

Short answer

$10. The risk-neutral up probability solves 130q+70(1−q)=100130q + 70(1-q) = 100, so q=0.5q = 0.5. The call pays 2020 in the up state, so it is worth 0.5×20=100.5 \times 20 = 10. The real-world 0.80.8 and 0.20.2 do not enter the price; replicating with 1/31/3 share and borrowing 70/370/3 gives the same 1010.

Adapted from Crack, Heard on the Street, Q2.53, p.31; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.

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