Local martingale deflator

A local martingale deflator is a strictly positive process $Y$ such that multiplying each traded asset price by $Y$ produces a local martingale. It can support no-arbitrage arguments even when the deflated prices are not true martingales.

For a self-financing portfolio whose product with a strictly positive local deflator is a local martingale, nonnegative wealth makes that product a supermartingale. Starting from zero forces it to vanish almost surely at each time. Continuous paths then give simultaneous vanishing at every time on one probability-one event.

In a one-factor market whose filtration is the usual augmentation of the natural Brownian filtration, with nonzero spot volatility and local martingale deflator $Y$, the Brownian martingale representation theorem constructs a nonnegative replicating strategy for a bounded nonnegative contingent claim. The minimal initial cost among nonnegative self-financing portfolios is $\mathbb{E}[Y_T{\xi }_T]$.

In the completed natural Brownian filtration, suppose $d{S}_t/S_t={\mu }_{t}dt+{\sigma }_{t}d{W}_t$ with ${\sigma }_t\ne 0$, and let $d{\zeta }_t=-{\zeta }_t(r_{t}dt+{\kappa }_{t}d{W}_t)$, ${\kappa }_t=({\mu }_t-r_t)/{\sigma }_t$. For an affordable nonnegative terminal claim $X$, represent the conditional-expectation martingale $N_t=\mathbb{E}[{\zeta }_{T}X\mid {\mathcal{F}}_t]$ as $d{N}_t=h_{t}d{W}_t$. Then $w_t=N_t/{\zeta }_t$ and the displayed dollar amount in the stock replicate $X$. The Itô product rule gives $d(\zeta w)=\zeta (\sigma \theta -\kappa w)dW$, proving the formula; share holdings are ${\theta }_t/S_t$.

In a one-factor diffusion market, the market price of risk is the excess drift per unit spot volatility. It is the coefficient in the Brownian motion part of a local martingale deflator, $d{Y}_t=-Y_t(r_{t}dt+{\lambda }_{t}d{W}_t)$.

In a one-Brownian-factor arbitrage-free market, every traded derivative with nonzero diffusion exposure $s$ has the same excess-drift/exposure ratio. Otherwise holdings $s_2$ in the first and $-s_1$ in the second, financed in the bank account, cancel all diffusion risk while leaving a nonzero excess drift. At zero exposure, the correct statement is $m-rV=\theta s=0$, not division by zero. The short rate itself need not be a traded asset, so its physical drift does not alone fix this risk price.

A positive normalized continuous local martingale deflator requires a locally square-integrable Brownian diffusion coefficient. If the forced market price of risk is $-t^{-1/2}$, the coefficient has magnitude $Z_t/\sqrt{t}$. Since $Z_0>0$, continuity makes its squared integral diverge near zero. The bank account can nevertheless exist because $t^{-1/2}$ itself is integrable; finite integrated interest is weaker than square-integrability of the required risk compensation.