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Use the riskless financial asset as numéraire, normalized to have initial value one and terminal value $R>0$. Write $S_0\in {\mathbb{R}}^s$ for the initial risky prices and $S_1$ for the finite, measurable terminal price random vector. Define the discounted gain vector $X=S_1/R-S_0$. A risky holding $h$ financed by the cash holding $-h\cdot S_0$ has zero initial cost and discounted terminal gain $h\cdot X$. An arbitrage is such a portfolio with $h\cdot X\ge 0$ almost surely and $\mathbb{P}(h\cdot X>0)>0$. Allowing nonpositive initial cost is equivalent: invest any initial surplus in the riskless financial asset to obtain a zero-cost arbitrage.

An equivalent martingale measure is a probability measure $Q$ with exactly the same null events as the physical probability measure $P$, under which discounted asset prices are integrable and satisfy ${\mathbb{E}}_Q[S_1/R]=S_0$. Equivalently, ${\mathbb{E}}_{Q}X=0$. Such a measure rules out arbitrage: every zero-cost portfolio has mean discounted gain zero, whereas a nonnegative gain positive with positive $P$-probability is also positive with positive $Q$-probability and has strictly positive $Q$-expectation.

For the converse, the probability space need not be finite, and the payoffs need not be integrable under $P$. Here is a direct Gaussian-damped martingale density construction. SetThe set $N$ is a linear subspace. Choosing a finite basis of $N$ shows that $X\in L$ almost surely: intersect the probability-one events on which each basis vector is orthogonal to $X$. If $h\in L\setminus \{0\}$, then $h\cdot X$ is not almost surely zero. Absence of arbitrage implies both $P(h\cdot X<0)>0$ and $P(h\cdot X>0)>0$, by applying the definition to $h$ and $-h$.

All the analytical steps in minimizing $F$ can be checked directly. On $|h|\le H$ the integrand is bounded by $e^{H^2/4}$, since $-|X{|}^2+H|X|\le H^2/4$. Its first two directional derivatives are bounded uniformly in $X$ by constants depending only on $H$ and the direction, because the functions $r^j{e}^{-r^2+(H+1)r}$ are bounded for $j=0,1,2$. The mean-value bound therefore proves continuity of $F$, and the Taylor theorem remainder bound, integrated over $P$, provesThus differentiation under the integral does not require an unproved physical moment assumption.

To prove coercivity, suppose $|h_k|\to \infty$ in $L$. A subsequence of $h_k/|h_k|$ converges to a unit vector $v\in L$. This elementary finite-dimensional compactness follows by successively taking convergent subsequences of the bounded coordinates. Since $P(v\cdot X<0)>0$, some event $A=\{v\cdot X\le -\epsilon ,|X|\le K\}$ has positive probability: the negative-gain event is the countable union of such events with $\epsilon =1/j$ and integer $K$. Eventually $(h_k/|h_k|)\cdot X\le -\epsilon /2$ on $A$, and henceIf coercivity failed, an unbounded sequence with bounded $F$ would have just such a contradictory subsequence. Consequently a minimizing sequence for $F$ is bounded and has a convergent subsequence; continuity makes its limit $h_{\ast }$ a minimizer. If $L=\{0\}$, simply take $h_{\ast }=0$. In every case the directional derivatives vanish at $h_{\ast }$. The vector ${\mathbb{E}}_P[X{e}^{-|X{|}^2-h_{\ast }\cdot X}]$ lies in $L$ and is orthogonal to $L$, so it is zero. Thereforeis a positive mean-one density defining an equivalent martingale measure. Integrability of $X$ under $Q$ follows from the same Gaussian bound with $j=1$. This establishes absence of arbitrage if and only if an equivalent martingale measure exists, without quoting a financial duality theorem or assuming a finite state space.

Now suppose the probability space is finite. Discard null states and enumerate its positive-probability atoms by $1,\dots ,m$. Every measurable terminal payoff is a vector in ${\mathbb{R}}^m$. Let $A$ be the $m\times (s+1)$ matrix whose columns are the discounted terminal payoffs of the traded financial assets, with first column $1$, and let $p=(1,S_0)$ be their initial price vector. A portfolio with holding vector $z$ replicates the discounted payoff $Az$, and an equivalent martingale measure is exactly a vector $q$ satisfyingThe first pricing equation includes ${\sum }_j{q}_j=1$. A complete market means $\mathrm{im}A={\mathbb{R}}^m$. If $q,q^{\prime }$ both price the financial assets, then $(q-q^{\prime })\cdot Az=0$ for every $z$. Completeness allows $Az$ to be each coordinate vector, so $q=q^{\prime }$.

Conversely, if the financial market is incomplete, there is a nonzero vector $v$ with $A^{T}v=0$. To see this without invoking a duality theorem, perform row elimination on the homogeneous system: its number of pivots is $\mathrm{rank}A<m$, leaving a free variable and hence a nonzero solution. The constant payoff column gives ${\sum }_j{v}_j=0$. Existence of an equivalent martingale measure was already proved, so choose one strictly positive vector $q$. Forboth $q+\epsilon v$ and $q-\epsilon v$ are distinct strictly positive probability vectors satisfying $A^T(q\pm \epsilon v)=p$. Thus uniqueness fails. On a finite arbitrage-free market, completeness is equivalent to uniqueness of the equivalent martingale measure.