Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2018 / iii / Paper 211 / 1 / e / Solution

Write $(a,b,c)$ for holdings of cash, the stock and the European put option, and let $\gamma =-V_0$ be initial consumption. At the given price, $a=-10b-c-\gamma$, and the three terminal payoffs, in descending order of the stock price, areNonnegative terminal payoffs require $c+\gamma \le 2b$ and $c-\gamma \ge b$. Together with $\gamma \ge 0$, these imply $b\ge 2\gamma \ge 0$. If $b=0$ they force $\gamma =c=a=0$, which is not an arbitrage. If $b>0$, the highest-state payoff is at least $3b>0$, so every such choice is an arbitrage. Consequently the complete set isThe pure-investment arbitrages are exactly the choices $\gamma =0$:For example, $(a,b,c)=(-11,1,1)$ costs zero and pays $(4,1,0)$.