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Which ATM option has the most vega

Question

Three at-the-money options on different underlyings share the same expiry TT; their strikes are 1010, 2020 and 3030. Under Black-Scholes assumptions (same volatility and rate), which one has the greatest vega?

Short answer

The strike-30 option. Black-Scholes vega is S φ(d1)TS\,\varphi(d_1)\sqrt{T}. At the money S=KS=K and d1d_1 is the same for all three, so vega scales linearly with the price level and is largest for the option with S=K=30S=K=30.

Adapted from QuantQuestions.io; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.

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