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Department of Finance and Tax

Option pricing with physics-informed neutral networks (PINNS)

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

We investigate the application of physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) to option pricing. PINNs are neural networks that are trained to numerically solve partial differential equations (PDEs) by obeying the dynamics induced by the PDE as well as the initial/terminal conditions of the PDE. They are mesh-free to an extent and compute the derivatives of the PDE through backward-propagation. We construct a PINN toy example to solve the Black-Scholes-Merton PDE for a vanilla European option. The numerical solutions from the PINN are compared against the true analytical solution – the Black-Scholes-Merton equation. The problem is also extended by incorporating a local volatility model. Here, we derive the PDE of a vanilla European option under the constant elasticity of variance (CEV) model. We then construct and train a PINN to solve the PDE and compare it to the true analytical solution of a special case of the CEV model, the square-root process.

Degree

thesis:*
Grantor
Department of Finance and Tax
Year dc:date.issued
2024

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Zamxaka, Nichume
Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
  • Rudd, Ralph

Subjects

dc:subject × 5

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Handle dc:identifier.uri
http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40675
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/40675

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
University of Cape Town
Base URL
open.uct.ac.za/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Zamxaka, Nichume. Option pricing with physics-informed neutral networks (PINNS). Department of Finance and Tax, 2024. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40675