Question:

A trader is considering purchasing several Arrow-Debreu securities which all have the same maturity time, but provide a payoff of $1 at all possible states of the maturity time. The trader thinks that this is a very clever investment plan, and is possibly an arbitrage opportunity because it ensures there is always a payoff of $1. Here we investigate the trader's investment plan using a two-step binomial pricing model. Assume that the return on an investment over one time-step is constant R and the risk-neutral probability of the upstate is . Does the trader have a 'very clever' investment plan and is it an arbitrage opportunity? Explain why or why not. In your answer, discuss whether or not your conclusions would change if we considered a general N-step binomial pricing model. A trader is considering purchasing several Arrow-Debreu securities which all have the same maturity time, but provide a payoff of $1 at all possible states of the maturity time. The trader thinks that this is a very clever investment plan, and is possibly an arbitrage opportunity because it ensures there is always a payoff of $1. Here we investigate the trader's investment plan using a two-step binomial pricing model. Assume that the return on an investment over one time-step is constant R and the risk-neutral probability of the upstate is . Does the trader have a 'very clever' investment plan and is it an arbitrage opportunity? Explain why or why not. In your answer, discuss whether or not your conclusions would change if we considered a general N-step binomial pricing model