The Performance of implied volatility in forecasting future volatility : an analysis of three major equity indices from 2004 to 2010

In this thesis, we investigate whether implied volatility is an efficient estimator of future one-month volatility from an informational perspective and whether it outperforms historical volatility in this regard. We first compare the predictive powers of implied volatility, simple historical volatility, and exponential historical volatility, using monthly observations of the S&P 500, FTSE 100, and DAX equity and option markets from 2004 to 2010. Then, we introduce a GARCH(1,1) model and compare in-sample GARCHfitted volatility and implied volatility from 2004 to 2010, as well as out-ofsample GARCH-forecasted volatility and implied volatility from 2005 to 2010, using data on the S&P 500. We find that implied volatility is not only an efficient estimator of future volatility, but also that its information content is at least as good, if not much better, than that of historical volatility. Our results also suggest that implied volatility systematically subsumes the information included in historical volatility, even when a GJR-GARCH model is utilized.

Department dc:contributor.department

Sloan School of Management.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Ionesco, Vladimir M. (Vladimir Michae)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Eric Jacquier.

• Sloan School of Management.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/65805

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/65805