Stochastic monotonicity and duality of $k$th order with application to put-call symmetry of powered options

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new concept of $k$th order stochastic monotonicity and duality, unifying insurance ruin probabilities and put-call symmetry in option pricing, with a focus on powered options.

Contribution

It develops an analytic framework for characterizing $k$th order duality of Markov processes via their generators, extending existing theories of put-call symmetry.

Findings

Unified $k$th order duality concept for insurance and finance

Full characterization of duality in terms of generators

New insights into put-call symmetries for powered options

Abstract

We introduce a notion of $k$th order stochastic monotonicity and duality that allows one to unify the notion used in insurance mathematics (sometimes refereed to as Siegmund's duality) for the study of ruin probability and the duality responsible for the so-called put - call symmetries in option pricing. Our general $k$th order duality can be financially interpreted as put - call symmetry for powered options. The main objective of the present paper is to develop an effective analytic approach to the analysis of duality leading to the full characterization of $k$th order duality of Markov processes in terms of their generators, which is new even for the well-studied case of put -call symmetries.