Local volatility 2026-10-06
A local volatility model uses a deterministic function of current time and spot as its diffusion volatility, . It can reproduce a surface of European call option prices through the Dupire equation.
Where , rearranging the Dupire equation gives . The strike curvature represents discounted density, while the adjusted maturity derivative gives the local diffusion contribution.
Differentiating the European call option price in strike gives, for ,
The strike derivative uses dominated convergence; the second uses the continuous density. Also,
Differentiate the supplied time-integral identity and the discount factor. Continuity of the density supplies the diffusion-term derivative. For the tail first moment, continuity in time follows from continuous stock paths, locally uniformly bounded second moments, and the absence of an atom at . Therefore
Hence the Dupire equation is
Its initial condition is ; natural strike boundaries are and as . These are consistent with the discounted stock martingale and integrable tails. Where , the same identity gives local volatility recovery from call prices:
The equation evolves in maturity and strike, unlike the backward option-value equation in calendar time and spot.
The Brownian martingale representation theorem argument in part (a) also replicates the bounded put payoff. The discounted stock is a true martingale, so the elementary terminal payoff identity yields put-call parity
Set . Then , , and . Thus
Linearity of the Dupire equation and give
The initial payoff is , and . Therefore calls and puts obey the same maturity-strike differential equation, with their respective initial and boundary data.