American options

Advanced American Options: Optimal Exercise and Profit

Here is something that should make every options trader stop and think. The “optimal” time to exercise an American option depends on who you are. The textbook answer assumes the holder is delta hedging. But if the holder were delta hedging, why would they buy the option in the first place? Chapter 63 of Wilmott’s book, based on a 1998 paper with Dr. Hyungsok Ahn, digs into this question and reaches a conclusion that is great news for option writers.

American Options: When to Exercise Early and Why It Matters

European options are simple: you wait until expiry, check if they are in the money, and either collect the payoff or walk away. American options give you more power and more headaches. You can exercise at any time before expiry, which sounds great but raises a hard question: when exactly should you do it? Chapter 9 of Wilmott’s book tackles this problem, and the ideas that come out of it show up again and again throughout the rest of quantitative finance.

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