5. A “cash-or-nothing binary stock option" is a European-style option and pays some fixed amount of cash to the holder at maturity T > 0 if the stock price at time T > 0 is above a certain threshold K (also referred to as the strike price). Suppose a stock price is currently at $50. Assume that over each of the next two 3-month periods the stock price will either go up by 6% or go down by 5%. The risk-free rate is 5% p.a. with continuous compounding. Use a two-step binomial tree model to compute the arbitrage-free price of a cash-or-nothing option written on that stock which pays $1 if the stock price in three months is above K = $50.

(a) The table below gives information about European options with a maturity date of 6 months. Type Of option Strike Price Call 65 Call 58 Put 65 Premium 5 8 4 (i) Devise the payoff profile of the hedging strategy from the above for an investor betting on an increase in the stock price and calculate the payoff if the stock price increases to $66 after 6 months. (8 marks) (ii) Suppose that another investor expects a big stock price movement but is not sure of the direction. She however bets that the downward movement is more likely. Devise the corresponding trading strategy and calculate the payoff if the stock price is $55 after 6 months. (8 marks) (b) By analysing the pay off profiles of a protective put strategy and a straddle, discuss in what ways these strategies shield the investor from potential losses.

When the non-dividend paying stock price is $20, the strike price is $20, the risk-free rate is 5%, the volatility is 20% and the time to maturity is 3 months which of the following is the price of a European put option on the stock? N(.) denotes standard normal distribution values. O 20N(-0.1)-20N(-0.2) 20N(-0.2)-20N(-0.1) O 19.7N(-0.2)-20N(-0.1) O None of these O 19.7N(-0.1)-20N (-0.2)

D6) You use the Black Scholes model to price a Call option on a stock with discrete dividends. The dividends will be given in months 1, 5, and 9, each 3 USD. The current value of the stock is 105 USD, the strike price is 90 USD, the continuously compounded annual risk-free rate is 0.05, the volatility is 0.08, the time to maturity is 12 months. Calculate the price of the option.