The role of time-varying jump risk premia in pricing stock index options

This paper examines out-of-sample option pricing performances for the affine jump diffusion (AJD) models by using the S&P 500 stock index and its associated option contracts. In particular, we investigate the role of time-varying jump risk premia in the AJD specifications. Our empirical analysis shows strong evidence in favor of time-varying jump risk premia in pricing cross-sectional options. We also find that, during a period of low volatility, the role of jump risk premia becomes less pronounced, making the differences across pricing performances of the AJD models not as substantial as during a period of high volatility. This finding can possibly explain poor pricing perfomances of the sophisticated AJD models in some previous studies whose sample periods can be characterized by low volatility. ► We examine out-of-sample option pricing performances for the affine jump diffusion (AJD) models. ► We use the S&P 500 stock index and its associated option contracts. ► Our empirical results support time-varying jump risk premia in pricing options. ► We find that the role of jump risk premia becomes less pronounced during a period of low volatility.