Pricing of Index Options using Blacks Model

Abstract

Stock index futures sometimes suffer from #x2018;a negative cost-of-carry#x2019; bias, as future prices of stock index frequently trade less than their theoretical value that include carrying costs. Since commencement of Nifty future trading in India, Nifty future always traded below the theoretical prices. This distortion of future prices also spills over to option pricing and increase difference between actual price of Nifty options and the prices calculated using the famous Black-Scholes formula. Fisher Black tried to address the negative cost of carry effect by using forward prices in the option pricing model instead of spot prices. Black#x2019;s model is found useful for valuing options on physical commodities where discounted value of future price was found to be a better substitute of spot prices as an input to value options. In this study the theoretical prices of Nifty options using both Black Formula and Black-Scholes Formula were compared with actual prices in the market. It was observed that for valuing Nifty Options, Black Formula had given better result compared to Black-Scholes.