In: Finance
explain the no arbitrage argument for option pricing, in particular the concept of riskless hedge
Under the law of no arbitrage, price of a derivative must equal the replicating portfolio's price. We know that a riskless hedged can be created by buying delta shares of stock and simultaneously selling call option on that stock and ending up with a riskless position. The position is riskless as it does not depend on the outcome, the value or payoff in future is guaranteed or fixed or certain. Therefore, the expected rates of return of all securities must be the riskless rate when investors are risk-neutral.
A riskless arbitrage opportunity is one that, without any initial investment, generates nonnegative returns under all circumstances and positive returns under some. In an efficient market, such opportunities do not exist (for long). Hence, we can use the concept of no aribtrage riskless hedging to price a derivative.