Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2007/ii/paper-4/28j/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 ii Paper 4 28J Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
In the Black-Scholes model, the stock follows geometric Brownian motion , with constant volatility, and a risk-free account earns constant rate . Frictionless continuous self-financing trading and no arbitrage lead to risk-neutral drift . With , risk-neutral lognormality givesThis is the Black-Scholes digital option formula, obtained by discounting , not the stock-weighted probability of an ordinary call. Differentiation gives the Delta hedgewhere are the standard normal distribution and density. At fixed , the density term decays faster than grows, so delta tends to zero. At , and diverges. Thus a narrowing, increasingly large delta spike forms around the strike. The terminal payoff is discontinuous: frequent large hedge adjustments near the strike, transaction costs, jumps, discrete trading, and small model or price errors make practical replication difficult. A fixed path avoiding the strike and the at-the-strike limit need not behave alike.
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