Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-martingales-and-financial-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2008/b/6/ii/solution

The call spread in the hint has payoff
It is between zero and one and converges to as . In the Black-Scholes model with positive volatility and , the conditional terminal stock distribution has no atom at . The strict and non-strict indicator therefore have the same discounted expectation. The dominated convergence theorem in the risk-neutral pricing formula gives
Equivalently this is . The no-atom condition explains the endpoint subtlety: the displayed spread has value zero at , whereas the printed digital pays one there. At maturity the strike derivative can be one-sided or undefined, so the smooth pricing identity is understood before expiry.

New to topics? Read the docs here!