Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 44 3 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Take the nondegenerate case and an integer trading horizon . For exponential utility, maximize the negative of the exponential loss, equivalently minimize its expectation. Conditional on past information, a predictable choice hasComplete the square:Thus the minimum conditional multiplier is with . Backward induction starts with terminal loss and gives the minimal continuation loss . Independence of the next increment justifies the same conditional minimization for every history, not just deterministic trading plans. Hence exponential-utility trading with Gaussian increments givesThese are constant numbers of shares, not constant wealth fractions. Strategies with infinite exponential loss have expected utility and cannot improve this finite value. If , the usual formula is inapplicable: with trading has no effect, while a nonzero deterministic increment admits unbounded riskless gains and no finite maximizing position.