Quick approximation for an at-the-money call price
Question
A European call on a non-dividend stock is struck at the current price . Interest rates are near zero and the time to expiry is short. Give a simple approximation for the call value in terms of , and .
Short answer
. With and , are small, so , and .
Adapted from Zhou, A Practical Guide to Quantitative Finance Interviews, sec. 6.2 The Greeks, 'Delta D', p.151; 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
- Taylor and Maclaurin Series
- Derivation — From Binomial Trees to Black-Scholes in the Continuous Limit
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