Vertical Options Arithmetic

Discussion in 'Options' started by Quanto, Feb 23, 2024.

  1. Quanto

    Quanto

    Vertical Options Arithmetic

    Vertical options means that all legs have the same Expiry, ie. the same DTE.

    As is known, every option has these expiry values:
    MaxProfit
    MinProfit
    S0Profit (ie. PnL at expiry when underlying spot is unchanged)
    BreakEvenPoint
    plus of course the initial NetPremium value.

    Question: Can one add two options together
    to get a new option with the resulting correct values?
    Of course by using simple maths, not using Black-Scholes etc.

    Ie. is such an arithmetic possible with vertical options?
    Anybody studied this aspect of the vertical options,
    or can point to such a (research) work?

    Let's simplify things by omitting RiskFreeRate and DividendRate by setting them implicitly to 0.
    Then we have this definition of an options position:
    Type, DTE, Strike, Premium, Qty (Type is Call or Put).
    The task is to add two such options together.
    The resulting option can use arbitrary parameter values (like strike etc.),
    but the above said expiry result values have to be correct.
     
    Last edited: Feb 23, 2024
  2. Robert Morse

    Robert Morse Sponsor

    I'd like to say no, but I'll need a specific example.

     
    stepandfetchit likes this.
  3. BMK

    BMK

    vertical_options.png



    euler.png
     
    Quanto likes this.
  4. Quanto

    Quanto

    I came to the conclusion that it's not possible to do if the other requirement is to be able to compute the PnL for any Sx at expiration, b/c all one can get after such an arithmetic is a function that generates a single line (or a real curve), but this is unsufficient (and is incorrect) to describe the combined PnL for any possible Sx.... B/c a Call or Put has 2 payoff lines in its PnL diagram (the bold blue lines below for expiry)...
    One rather has to store all legs and work on all of these legs to get the combined PnL for any Sx, as is the status-quo...

    Call_payoff_diagram.png
    See also (slide link):
    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1053092/000089109213009798/e56459fwp.htm

    Update:
    BUT... could one not simply use a convention for the other line (the horizontal blue line above)?... Nay, forget it! :) B/c it does not necessarily remain horizontal after adding 2 or more options together.... It gets splitted into multiple lines: the more different strikes the more such line segments... Ie. a single function cannot cover them all... So, forget it!... Case closed...
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2024