English

Asymptotics of forward implied volatility

Pricing of Securities 2015-02-05 v4 Probability

Abstract

We prove here a general closed-form expansion formula for forward-start options and the forward implied volatility smile in a large class of models, including the Heston stochastic volatility and time-changed exponential L\'evy models. This expansion applies to both small and large maturities and is based solely on the properties of the forward characteristic function of the underlying process. The method is based on sharp large deviations techniques, and allows us to recover (in particular) many results for the spot implied volatility smile. In passing we (i) show that the forward-start date has to be rescaled in order to obtain non-trivial small-maturity asymptotics, (ii) prove that the forward-start date may influence the large-maturity behaviour of the forward smile, and (iii) provide some examples of models with finite quadratic variation where the small-maturity forward smile does not explode.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1212.0779,
  title  = {Asymptotics of forward implied volatility},
  author = {Antoine Jacquier and Patrick Roome},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1212.0779},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

37 pages, 13 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-21T22:48:37.124Z