Credit Default Index Swap Options

Overview

A credit default index swap (CDIS) is a credit default swap (CDS) on a portfolio of defaultable entities, or more specifically, a portfolio of single-entity CDSs.  It can be seen as an extension of a CDS on a single entity to a portfolio of entities.  Like a single entity CDS a CDIS has a payoff leg and a premium leg that has a fixed coupon rate.  The basic difference is that in a single-entity CDS the notional is fixed during the life of the CDS and the protection buyer is compensated at most once, while in a CDIS the premium notional is variable.  Whenever a default in the portfolio occurs, the premium notional is reduced by the loss amount of the defaulted entity and at the same time the protection buyer gets compensated by the lost amount.  The most popular credit default index swaps are the so-called standardized credit default index swaps.  In these standardized contracts the reference credit pool is homogeneous, that is, all the reference entities have the same notional and the same recovery rate.  Typical examples of standardized CDISs are the CDX index and the ITRAXX index.  For more details on the credit default index swaps see the Credit Default Index Swaps (CDS Indices) FINCAD Math Reference document.

A credit default index swap option (CD index swap option, or CD index swaption, or CDS index option) is an option to buy or sell the underlying CDIS at a specified date.  A payer swaption gives the holder of the option the right to buy protection (pay premium) and a receiver swaption gives the holder of the option the right to sell protection (receive premium).

This basic definition of a CD index swaption is similar to that of an option on a single-entity CDS.

Unlike a CD index swap, which is a natural extension of a CDS on a single-entity to a CDS on a portfolio of entities, a CD index swaption is significantly different from a CDS option, an option on a single-entity CDS (For options on single-entity CDSs see the Credit Default Swap Options FINCAD Math Reference document).  In the case of an option on a single-entity, if the reference entity defaults before the option’s expiry, the option will be knocked out, which means that the option becomes worthless.  For an option on a CDIS, when a reference entity defaults before the option’s expiry, the loss will be paid by the protection seller to the protection buyer when the option is exercised.  Even if there is only one entity in the portfolio, a CD index swaption is still different from a single-entity CDS option:  if the entity defaults before expiry, the option’s seller will pay to the protection buyer the lost amount at expiry.  Clearly, a CD index swaption is always more valuable than a single-entity CDS option.

Another fundamental difference between a CD index swaption and a CD swaption is that the former has a fixed premium rate and a strike spread while the later has only a fixed premium rate.  The strike spread is used to calculate an upfront cash settlement amount of the underlying CDIS.  Only when the strike spread is the same as the fixed premium rate, is this upfront cash settlement amount equal to zero.

FINCAD provides tools to value CD index swaptions and derive implied volatilities given option prices.  The basic assumptions are that the underlying CD index swaps are standardized CD index swaps and the par CDS spread of the underlying CDIS follows a lognormal model (Black model), or more generally, a displacement diffusion model.

Formulas & Technical Details

Consider a CD index payer swaption. The swaption has a time to expiration  and the underlying credit default index swap becomes effective immediately after the option is exercised.  Suppose there are  remaining entities in the credit reference pool at the valuation time (= 0).  Let  be the notional and  the recovery rate of each entity.  Assume that all the reference entities have the same default probability curve.  Let  be the fixed annual premium rate and  the option’s strike spread.  Let  denote the time  value of the premium leg of the underlying CDIS with an annual coupon rate of 1 and  the time  value of the payoff leg.  Then given that there are exactly  defaults between the valuation time and the option’s expiration the payoff at the option’s expiry is:

Equation 1

where

 is the time  value of the underlying CDIS with an annual premium rate of 1 and valued with a probability curve bootstrapped from the strike spread  and

 is the accumulated loss of the reference pool up to time :

with  the accumulated loss of the pool up to the valuation date.

In the above Equation 1 the amount  represents the upfront cash settlement value for a payer  to enter into a CD index swap with a fixed coupon   If the option doesn’t have such an upfront payment, one can simply set  in the formula.  In this case, given that there are exactly  defaults between the valuation time and the option’s expiration, the payoff of the payer swaption is:

Equation 2

Note that in either Equation 1 or Equation 2, there are more terms in the payoff formula than in the payoff formula of a single-entity CDS option. This makes the calculation of the present value of a CD index swaption much more difficult than a single-entity CD swaption.  In the paper of Liu and Jaeckel [1], an approximation is used to simplify the calculation as is shown below:

where

 is the par CDIS rate at time  

 is the time  value of $1 at time  and

 are constants that can be determined from the underlying CDIS.  

If we further assume that the par CDIS spread  follows a lognormal distribution, as we do for a single-entity CD swaption, or more generally, a displacement diffusion model, we can calculate the present value of the payoff given in Equation 1.  To calculate the value of the CD index swaption we can simply multiply the present value of Equation 1 by the probability of exactly  defaults and then sum up the results over  

To calculate the probability of exactly  defaults the correlation of the reference credits must be considered.  To estimate correlation one method is to assume a one factor Gaussian copula model and use the base correlation of a synthetic CDO (for the one-factor model and the base correlation see the Synthetic CDO Valuation Using Quasi-Analytic Methods FINCAD Math Reference document).  Since the reference pool is homogeneous, the required probabilities can be calculated by counting the defaulted and survived entities.  For details and results of the calculation of default probabilities and option valuation, see the paper of Liu and Jaeckel [1].

 

*       Remark 1:  In the above it is assumed that the par CD index swap spread follows a displacement diffusion model.  This model says that the behavior of a CD index swap spread is like something between a lognormal model and a normal model:

 

Equation 3

where

 is a volatility parameter and

 is a displacement parameter.  When, a displacement diffusion model is simply a lognormal model.  When, it is a normal model. A general displacement diffusion model can fit the market data better, but the side effect is that the par CD index spread can become negative with a small but positive probability.

 

*       Remark 2:  In the above it is assumed that all entities in the pool have the same default probability curve.  If this is not the case, a par CDIS spread curve can be derived from the basket default probability curve and then a default probability curve can be bootstrapped from the par spread curve.  This probability curve can be used to value the CD index swaption.

 

The definitions and calculation formulas of the sensitivity statistics shown above are given below:

Definitions and formulas of risk statistics

DVOX

The DVOX of a CD index swaption is defined as the change in the fair value per X basis point upshift in the par CDS spread curve of each entity in the reference pool.  In more detail, let  be the fair value of the CD index swaption.  For each entity in the reference pool, add X basis points to its default curve and bootstrap it to build a new default curve.  Then revalue the CD index swaption to get a new fair value .  The DVOX is then calculated as follows:

 

Delta

The delta is defined with respect to the par CDIS spread:

 

where DVOX of CDIS at par is the DVOX of the underlying CDIS when the premium rate is the par premium rate of the swap.

 

Theta

The theta of a CD index swaption is the change in the fair value of the swaption per one day increase of the valuation date.  Let  be the fair value of the swaption.  Then:

 

BPV

The BPV (basis point value) on a risk free curve is the change in the fair value of the CD index swaption when the risk-free discount factor curve is shifted up one basis point.  To shift up a discount factor curve simply add one basis point to every point of the corresponding spot rate curve of the discount factor curve.

Vega

The vega of a CD index swaption is the change in the fair value per 1% change in volatility.  In more detail, let  be the fair value of the CD index swaption at the CDS spread volatility . Then:

 

Rho of recovery rate

The rho of recovery rate of a CD index swaption is the change in the fair value of the CD index swaption per 1% change in the recovery rate.  In more detail, let  be the fair value of the

CD index swaption at the recovery rate .  Then:

 

Rho of correlation

The rho of correlation of a CD index swaption is the change in the fair value of the CD index swaption per 1% change in the correlation. In more detail, let  be the fair value of the

CD index swaption at the correlation  Then:

 

FINCAD Functions

aaCDS_index_std_opt(d_v, d_exp_u, swpn, d_CDS, ref_npa, num_ref_ini, num_dflt, loss_cum, npa_CDS, cpn_fix, cpn_ex, freq_pr, acc, d_rul, dp_type, dp_bskt, intrp_tb, rate_recover, modl_para, hl, dfstd, intrp, calc_para, stat)

Calculates the fair value and risk statistics of a standardized credit default index swap option.

 

aaCDS_index_std_opt_iv(d_v, d_exp_u, swpn, d_CDS, ref_npa, num_ref_ini, num_dflt, loss_cum, npa_CDS, cpn_fix, cpn_ex, freq_pr, price_option, acc, d_rul, dp_type, dp_bskt, intrp_tb, rate_recover, corr_displace, hl, dfstd, intrp, calc_para)

Given an option price, a displacement parameter and a correlation calculates the implied volatility of a credit default index swaption.

Description of Inputs

Input Argument

Description

d_v

Valuation date

d_exp_u

Option expiry date

swpn

swaption type - switch,

1 = right to receive fixed (sell protection);

2 = right to pay fixed (buy protection)

d_CDS

It is the contract dates table of the underlying credit default index swap.  It can have 2 to 7 entries.  The first four entries hold in sequence the terminating date, effective date, odd first coupon date and next-to-terminating coupon date for premium payments.  The last three entries hold switch values in sequence the effective date adjustment, terminating date adjustment and date generation method for premium payments.  Only the terminating date is required.  The third and fourth entries default to 0 and the last three entries default to 1.  In this release the effective date is always assumed to be the option's expiry date d_exp_u and hence the value in the second entry is ignored.

ref_npa

Notional of a reference entity

num_ref_ini

Number of reference entities in the initial pool

num_dflt

Number of defaulted reference entities

loss_cum

Accumulated loss of the pool.  If it has a value of 0, it will be calculated from the number of defaulted entities.  Otherwise this number is used as the accumulated loss of the reference pool and the number of defaulted entities is ignored for this purpose.

npa_CDS

Premium notional.  This parameter can be user specified or calculated.  If it is positive, it will be recognized as a user-specified notional.  If it is 0, it will be calculated as the total notional of the initial reference pool.  A negative value is not allowed.

cpn_fix

Fixed premium coupon rate of the underlying credit default index swap.

cpn_ex

Strike spread

freq_pr

Premium payment frequency - a switch

acc

Accrual method of premium – a switch

d_rul

Business date convention for premium payments - a switch

dp_type

Curve type – a switch,

1 = a CDS spread curve,

2 = a default probability curve

dp_bskt

The default curve dp_bskt can be a single-entity default curve or a multi-entity default curve.  If it is a single-entity default curve, all entities in the reference pool are assumed to have the same default curve.  If it is a multi-entity default curve, the number of columns of CDS spreads or default probability values must equal the number of the outstanding (survived) reference entities.  For descriptions of an m-entity default curve see the following:

A default curve, either a default probability or a CDS spread curve, can be time-based (the first column >0 and <1000) or date-based (the first column >=1000).  If it is a default probability curve or a time-based CDS spread curve, the first column has time (in years) or dates.  If it is a date-based CDS spread curve, the first two columns have the effective and terminating dates of the CDS spreads.  The next m columns have default probabilities/CDS spreads, where m is the number of reference entities.  These columns must be ordered in the same way as in the reference data table.  Times and dates (the terminating dates for a CDS spread curve) must be increasing.  For a time-based curve, the time-accrual method can be put in the third entry of the table intrp_tb.  Probabilities must be nonnegative, <=1 and nondecreasing. CDS spreads must be nonnegative.  For a date-based default probability curve, the probabilities in the first row must be 0 and the first date must be the valuation date if there is one.  Excel users may pass term strings to represent time intervals.  Term strings must be in the format kB, kD, kW, kM, or kY where k is an integer and D, W, M and Y stands for calendar day, week, month and year respectively, e.g., 3M = 3 months.

intrp_tb

A default curve parameter table.  The array intrp_tb can have one to six entries. The first entry has the default probability curve interpolation method.  The second entry has the default probability curve bootstrapping method (see switch sw_1040 in aaCredit_dfltprob_DSSpred2).  It is used only if the default curve type is "par CDS spread curve" (dp_type =1). If this entry is missing and dp_type=1, the bootstrapping method will be set to method 1 (assuming constant default density).  The third entry stores the time accrual (day counting) method if the default curve is time-based.  If this entry is missing and the default curve is time-based, the time accrual method will be set to 30/360.  If the default curve is not time based, this entry will be ignored.  The fourth to sixth entries store the effective and terminating date adjustment methods and the date generation method of a CDS curve, respectively.  These entries are used only when dp_type = 1.  Their default values are 1.

rate_recover

Recovery rate - any number between 0 and 1.

modl_para

Model parameter table.  It can be a 2- or 3-entry table.  The first two entries are the volatility and the correlation parameters, respectively.  The third entry is optional.  It is the displacement parameter of the displacement diffusion model, i.e., the parameter of Equation 2.  Its default value is 1, which indicates that the CDS spread follows a lognormal distribution.

hl

Holiday list

dfstd

The discount factor curve may be input as a 2-column, multi-row table (col 1 = date, col 2 = discount factor), or as a single cell containing a rate.  If input as a single rate, there are three format choices: 

1.  a rate (1 row, 1 column); or

2.  a rate and a rate quotation basis (1 row, 2 columns); or

3.  a rate, a rate quotation basis, and an accrual method (1 row, 3 columns). 

If the basis or accrual are not provided, they are assumed to be annual, actual/365.  A 2-column flat-rate discount factor curve is constructed internally using the rate, basis, and accrual method.  The last date in the discount factor curve >= last "date" in the default curve and the terminating date of the swap.

intrp

Interpolation method of the discount factor curve

calc_para

A calculation parameter table. It can have 1 or 2 entries.  The first entry is a calculation method used in CDS valuation (see switch sw_624 in the function aaCDS).  The second entry is optional.  For the function aaCDS_index_std_opt it is the number of basis points used in DVOX calculation.  Note that negative values or very large positive values of the second entry can cause the function to fail.  For the function aaCDS_index_std_opt_iv, it is a level of accuracy.  There are four accuracy levels, corresponding to the convergence tolerance levels 0.0001, 0.000001, 0.0000001 and 0.00000001, respectively.  The optional second entry is defaulted to 1 when missing.

stat

Statistics: any subset of {1,2,…,12}

corr_displace

Correlation and displacement parameter table.  See the descriptions of the table modl_para.

price_option

An option price table.  It can have one to three entries.  The first entry is the price of the option.  The optional second and third entries are, respectively, the lower and upper bounds of the implied volatility to be searched.  They are not required, but their inclusion can help reduce the calculation time of the function.  Note also that for any set of parameters, there is a limited range of possible (and reasonable) prices. Inputting a price outside of this range will lead to an error being returned by the function.

price_option

An option price table.  It can have one to three entries.  The first entry is the price of the option.  The optional second and third entries are any estimates of the lower and upper bounds of the implied volatility that is to be searched, respectively. Including a proper bound or both bounds in the input list can significantly reduce the calculation time, but a solution found may not necessarily stay within the given bounds.  Note also that for any set of parameters, there is a limited range of possible (and reasonable) prices.  Inputting a price outside of this range will lead to an error or an inaccurate result being returned by the function.

 

Description of Outputs

The following table lists the output statistics:

aaCDS_index_std_opt

Output Statistics

Description

1

Fair value

2

Value of defaulted entities. This is the present value of the historical loss of the reference pool.

3

Forward par credit default index swap spread

4

Delta  with respect to the par credit default index swap spread

5

DVOX

6

Theta

7

Vega of volatility

8

BPV on risk-free curve

9

Rho of recovery rate

10

Rho of correlation

11

Value of the payoff leg of the underlying credit default index swap

12

Value of the premium leg of the underlying credit default index swap

aaCDS_index_std_opt_iv: its output is a table of two elements

implied volatility

number of internal function calls

 

Examples

Example 1

Consider a CD index swaption on a standardized CD index swap that is linked to a reference pool of 125 companies.  Each company in the pool has a notional of 1,000,000 and a recovery rate of 40%.  Up to the valuation date, no company has defaulted yet.  The option will expire on June 1, 2006.  The underlying CD index swap will become effective immediately after the option is exercised.  The fixed annual coupon rate of the default swap is 3%.  According to the contract of the CD index swaption, no upfront payment will be made to the protection seller of the swap when the option is exercised and hence the strike spread can be set to the fixed coupon rate.  The index has been traded in the market for a few years and its historical spread data shows that its par spread roughly follows a lognormal distribution with a volatility of 30%.  Moreover, synthetic CDOs based on the reference pool have been actively traded and the implied base correlation of the equity tranche has been around 0.5.  This correlation can be used as the correlation of the companies when the Gaussian copula model is used to model credit correlation.  These and further detailed information of the swaption that is required in its valuation is given in the following four tables.

aaCDS_index_std_opt

Argument

Description

Example Data

Switch

d_v

valuation date

1-Dec-2005

 

d_exp_u

option expiry date

1-Jun-2006

 

swpn

swaption type

2

right to pay fixed (buy protection)

d_CDS

CDIS contract dates

see below

 

ref_npa

notional of each entity

1000000

 

num_ref_ini

number of entities in the initial reference pool

125

 

num_dflt

number of defaulted entities

0

 

loss_cum

accumulated loss of the pool

0

 

npa_CDS

premium notional - to be calculated

0

 

cpn_fix

fixed coupon

0.03

 

cpn_ex

strike spread

0.03

 

freq_pr

premium payment frequency

3

quarterly

acc

accrual method of premium

2

actual/360

d_rul

business date convention for premium payments

2

next business day

dp_type

default curve type

1

par CDS spread curve

dp_bskt

default curve

see below

 

intrp_tb

default curve parameter table

see below

 

rate_recover

recovery rate

0.4

 

modl_para

model parameter table

see below

 

hl

holiday list

0

 

dfstd

discount factor curve

see below

 

intrp

Interpolation method of the discount factor curve

1

linear

calc_para

calculation parameter table

1

 

stat

stat list

{1,2,…,12}

 

 

CDIS contract dates (d_CDS)

Terminating date

Effective date

First coupon date

Next to last coupon date

Effective date adjustment

Terminating date adjustment

Date generation method

20-Dec-08

0

0

0

2

2

3

 

 

 

 

switch: do not adjust effective date

switch: do not adjust terminating date

switch: IMM

CDS spread curve of any name (dp_bskt)

time (in years)

CDS spread of credit

0.5

0.02

1

0.021

2

0.023

3

0.024

4

0.026

5

0.027

7

0.029

10

0.035

Default curve parameter table (intrp_tb)

Interpolation of default probability curve

Bootstrapping method

Accrual method

Effective date adjustment

Terminating date adjustment

Date generation method

1

1

4

2

2

3

Model parameter table (modl_para)

spread volatility

correlation of reference credits

0.3

0.5

Risk-free discount factor curve (dfstd)

Date

Discount Factor

1-Dec-2005

1

1-Jun-2006

0.971285862

1-Dec-2006

0.943396226

1-Dec-2007

0.88999644

1-Dec-2008

0.839619283

1-Dec-2010

0.747258173

1-Dec-2015

0.558394777

1-Dec-2020

0.417265061

To value the CD index swaption call the function aaCDS_index_std_opt to get the following results:

Results

Output Statistics

Description

Value

1

fair value

1050771

2

value of defaulted entities.

0

3

forward par CD index swap spread

0.024907

4

CD index swap spread delta

0.160032

5

DVOX

14755.16

6

theta

-6884.19

7

vega of volatility

13910.12

8

BPV on risk-free curve

-34.0727

9

rho of recovery rate

-1447.153

10

rho of correlation

6950.884

11

value of the payoff leg of the underlying CD index swap

6762618

12

value of the premium leg of the underlying CD index swap

-8145320

 

Example 2

Suppose in Example 1 three companies have defaulted before the valuation date and the actual loss from these defaults can be calculated from the notional and the recovery rate.  Suppose all other information of the CD index swaption is the same in Example 1.  Then, to value the swaption, we only need to change the value of the input parameter num_dflt to 3.  The following table shows the results of the function call to aaCDS_index_std_opt.

Results

Output Statistics

Description

Value

1

fair value

1878141

2

value of defaulted entities. This is the present value of the historical loss of the reference pool.

1748315

3

forward par CD index swap spread

0.024907

4

CD index swap spread delta

0.277445

5

DVOX

25212.48

6

theta

-8062.06

7

vega of volatility

13704.45

8

BPV on risk-free curve

-3.98774

9

rho of recovery rate

-19733.2

10

rho of correlation

2215.094

11

value of the payoff leg of the underlying CD index swap

6505270

12

value of the premium leg of the underlying CD index swap

-7835355

 

Example 3:  Implied Volatility

Suppose in example 1 the volatility is unknown, but the option is traded at the price of 1100000.  Given that all other input parameters are the same as in the example, to back out the volatility from the option’s price call the function aaCDS_index_std_opt_iv.  The following tables show the inputs of the function:

aaCDS_index_std_opt_iv

Argument

Description

Example Data

Switch

d_v

valuation date

1-Dec-2005

 

d_exp_u

option expiry date

1-Jun-2006

 

swpn

swaption type

2

right to pay fixed (buy protection)

d_CDS

CDS contract dates

see Example 1

 

ref_npa

notional of each entity

1000000

 

num_ref_ini

number of entities in the initial reference pool

125

 

num_dflt

number of defaulted entities

0

 

loss_cum

accumulated loss of the pool

0

 

npa_CDS

premium notional - to be calculated

0

 

price_option

option price table

see below

 

cpn_fix

fixed coupon

0.03

 

cpn_ex

strike spread

0.03

 

freq_pr

premium payment frequency

3

quarterly

acc

accrual method of premium

2

actual/360

d_rul

business day convention for premium payments

2

next business day

dp_type

default curve type

1

par CDS spread curve

dp_bskt

default curve

see Example 1

 

intrp_tb

default curve parameter table

see Example 1

 

rate_recover

recovery rate

0.4

 

corr_displace

correlation and displacement parameter table

see below

 

hl

holiday list

0

 

dfstd

discount factor curve

see Example 1

 

intrp

interpolation method of the discount factor curve

1

linear

calc_para

calculation parameter table

see below

 

Option Price Table

option price

lower bound of volatility

upper bound of volatility

1100000

0.1

0.5

Correlation and Displacement Parameter Table

correlation of reference credits

0.5

Calculation Parameter Table

calculation method

accuracy level

1

3

The output of the function call is given as follows:

implied volatility

number of internal function calls

0.334633

8

 

References

[1]          Liu Y. and Jaeckel, P., (July, 2005) ‘Options on Credit Default Index Swaps’, Wilmott Magazine, 92-97.

 

 

Disclaimer

 

With respect to this document, FinancialCAD Corporation (“FINCAD”) makes no warranty either express or implied, including, but not limited to, any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall FINCAD be liable to anyone for special, collateral, incidental, or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of the use of this document or the information contained in it. This document should not be relied on as a substitute for your own independent research or the advice of your professional financial, accounting or other advisors.

 

This information is subject to change without notice. FINCAD assumes no responsibility for any errors in this document or their consequences and reserves the right to make changes to this document without notice.

 

Copyright

 

Copyright © FinancialCAD Corporation 2008. All rights reserved.