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How do US options traders “smirk” on China? Evidence from FXI options
Author(s) -
Li Jianhui,
Gehricke Sebastian A.,
Zhang Jin E.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of futures markets
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.88
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1096-9934
pISSN - 0270-7314
DOI - 10.1002/fut.22005
Subject(s) - volatility (finance) , economics , zhàng , china , econometrics , stock (firearms) , financial economics , liberian dollar , finance , geography , archaeology
In this paper, we study the implied volatility smirk (IVS) of options written on the FXI, the Financial Times Stock Exchange/Xinhua China 50 Index exchange‐traded fund (ETF). Using the methodology of Zhang and Xiang (2008, Quant Financ , 8, pp. 263–284), we document the empirical characteristics of the level, slope, and curvature of IVS of the FXI options. We find that, on average, IVS becomes steeper and more convex as time to maturity increases. The level and curvature are usually positive, and the slope is negative. We provide evidence that the information in the quantified IV factors has some predictive power for the future monthly FXI ETF returns.