Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 ii Paper 4 28J Solution 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.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 29K b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
For , set andUnder the equivalent martingale measure, conditional log-normality givesThe risk-neutral pricing value of the digital call option is consequentlyAt this converges to the stated payoff away from , with the payoff convention specifying the boundary value.
The delta hedge holds the derivative of the claim value with respect to the current stock price. Sincethe number of risky-asset units for isThis is the Black-Scholes digital option formula. The hedge becomes singular close to maturity near the strike, reflecting the discontinuity of the payoff.