Research Reports from the Department of Operations
Document Type
Report
Publication Date
5-1-1984
Abstract
In the first section of this article we consider an investor who holds a mutual fund on which index options trade. As a comparison, we also consider a portfolio consisting of shares of the fund, Black Scholes priced index options, and cash. This portfolio is constructed so that it has the same expected return as the fund but significantly less risk. Properties of the mutual fund and the portfolio are discussed. The second section examines a more realistic situation. In particular, we assume that an investor owns shares of a large diversified fund which is not perfectly correlated with the market index. In this case, by trading market index call options against the portfolio an imprecise hedge can be established. However, portfolio risk can still be reduced without sacrificing expectation. The factors influencing the size of the reductions are investigated. The final section of this article examines several theoretical and applied issues which help explain the results and provides cautionary notes to those investors who include index options in their investment opportunity set.
Keywords
Operations research, Mutual funds--Mathematical models, Portfolio management, Investment analysis, Options (Finance), Risk management--Mathematical models, Hedging (Finance), Stock price indexes
Publication Title
Technical Memorandums from the Department of Operations, School of Management, Case Western Reserve University
Issue
Technical memorandum no. 580
Rights
This work is in the public domain and may be freely downloaded for personal or academic use
Recommended Citation
Ritchken, Peter H.; Salkin, Harvey M.; and Getts, Gregory B., "The Role of Index Options as Investments" (1984). Research Reports from the Department of Operations. 488.
https://commons.case.edu/wsom-ops-reports/488