Journal of Financial Risk Management
2013. Vol.2, No.4, 67-70
Published Online December 2013 in SciRes (http://www.scirp.org/journal/jfrm) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jfrm.2013.24011
Open Access 67
Pricing Double Barrier Parisian Option Using Finite Difference
Xuemei Gao
South Western University of Finance and Econom i cs, Chengdu, China
Email: gaoxuemei2000@sina.com
Received September 15th, 2013; revised October 15th, 2013; accepted October 23rd, 2013
Copyright © 2013 Xuemei Gao. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribu-
tion License, which permits unrestricted use, distri b ut io n, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original
work is properly cited.
In this paper, we price the valuation of double barrier Parisian options, under the Black-Scholes frame-
work. The approach is based on fundamental partial differential equations. We reduce the dimension of
partial differential equationsthen using finite difference scheme to solve the partial differential equations.
Keywords: Black-Scholes Model; Double Barrier; Parisian Options; Finite Difference Scheme
Introduction
It is well known that valuation of financial derivatives, such
as options, is one of the major topics in quantitative finance
research. A Parisian option is a special kind of barrier options
for which the knock-in or knock-out feature is only activated if
the underlying price remains continually in breach of the barrier
for a pre-specified time period. The valuation of Parisian op-
tions can be done by using several different methods: Monte
Carlo simulations (Baldi, Caramellino, & Iovino, 2000), lattices
(Avellaneda & Wu, 1999), Laplace transforms (Zhu & Chen,
2013) or partial differential equations. An approach based on
partial differential equations has been developed by (Wilmott,
1998; Haber, Schönbucher, & Wilmott, 1999). The options we
study in this paper are called double barrier Parisian options.
The paper (Chesney, Jeanblanc-Picqué, & Yor, 1997) intro-
duced the standard Parisian options with two barriers. Double
barrier Parisian options are options where the conditions im-
posed on the assets involve the time spent out of the range de-
fined by two barriers. Double barrier Parisian options have
already been priced by (Baldi, Caramellino, & Iovino, 2000)
using Monte Carlo simulations corrected by the means of sharp
large deviation estimates, by (Labart & Lelong, 2009) using
Laplace transforms. We use partial differential equations to
price double barrier Parisian options. There are two different
ways of measuring the time outside the barrier range. One ac-
cumulates the time spent in a row and resets the counting
whenever the stock price crosses the barrier(s). This type is
referred to as continuous double barrier Parisian options. The
other adds the time spent in the relevant excursions without
resuming the counting from 0 whenever the stock price cros-
ses the barrier(s). These options are named as cumulative
double barrier Parisian options. In practice, these two ways of
counting time raise different questions about the paths of
Brownian motion. In this work, we only focus on continuous
knock-out double barrier Parisian call options. We establish
the partial differential equation systems for the prices of dou-
ble barrier Parisian options, and reduce the dimension of par-
tial differential equations, then using finite difference scheme
to solve the equations.
The State Space and Boundary
Conditions Unavoidable
The pricing of double barrier Parisian options requires the
value of a state variable (clock)
J
, which dictates the time
underlying price outside the barrier range (Zhu & Chen, 2013).
When the underlying price is outside the barrier range, the
state variable S
J
starts to accumulate values at the same rate
as the passing time , and when the underlying is inside the
barrier range, t
J
is reset to zero and remains zero:
12
12
12
0, d0,
dd,
0<
J
JLSL
J
tS LorS L
LL



where
12
L
L is a preset lower(up) barrier of the underlying.
According to (Zhu & Chen, 2013), pricing domain can be
defined as:


2
1
:0 ,0,0
:, ,0
:0 ,,0
IStTJJ
IILS JtJTJJJ
IIISLJtJTJJJ
 

 
J
is the barrier time triggering parameter. When the
variable
J
reaches
J
the option becomes worthless. is
the expiration time. For simplicity we suppose that does
not jump from 1
T
S
L
to 2
L
and does not jump from 2
L
to
1
L
. The value of a double barrier Parisian option depends on
the underlying price , the current time t and the barrier
time S
J
, the volatility, risk-free interest rate and the expiry
time etc.. Under the Black-Scholes framework, the volatility
is a positive constant, r denotes the risk-free interest
ratethe parameter
is the dividend rate if the underlying is a
stock or the foreign interest rate in case of a currency. is
given by S
dd
tt
S rSt SW

 d
tt
where is a standard Brownian motion. Let
t
W
1,VSt,
2
VS,,tJ and
3,,VStJ denote the option prices in the
X. M. GAO
region , and respectively. By applying the Feyn-
man-Kac theorem (Simon, 2000),
III III
1,VSt should satisfy the
classical BS (Black-Scholes) equation

2
11 1
1
2
10
2
VV V
SrSrV
tS S


22

 .
In region where the underlying price rises above the bar-
rier 2
II
L
, in region where the underlying price moves
below the barrier III
1
L
, the barrier time
J
starts to accumulate.
As a result,
2, ,,VStJ
3,,VStJ are governed by a modi-
fied Black-Scholes Equation (Haber, Schönbucher & Wilmott,
1999) respectively,

2
22
2
10, 2,3
2i i
i
VV VV
SrSrVi
S S

 
 
 
ii
tJ


 .
We show below how the solutions are linked in these three
regions. At barrier we impose pathwise continuity of option
price, which means the option price does not jump at a barrier.
The continuity of the price across the barrier 2
L
demands
22
2
limm 0
SL L
V
1
li
S
t

,VS , ,St
1
. The continuity of the option price
across the barrier
L
demands
11
13
lim,lim, ,0
SL SL
VSt VSt

.
Appropriate boundary conditions are also needed. In most
general form, the option is specified as follows: If the knock out
option has not been triggered by expiration , then the option
has the price contingent payoff which might also depend on
T
J
at expiration; if the knock out option has been triggered during
the lifetime of the optionthe option pays off the option value at
point
,,JSt . The terminal condition in pricing domain
can be given by the payoff function of a European call of ma-
turity T and exercise price ,
I
K
 
,TSK

1
VS .
A knock out double barrier Parisian call option is lost if un-
derlying price made an excursion outside the barrier range
older than S
J
before , T

2
lim
JJ, ,0VStJ,

3
lim
JJ, ,0VStJ.
That it would take infinite amount of time for an infinitely
large underlying price to fall back to the barrier 2
L
, the option
must be worth nothing when becomes very large gives
S
2
lim, 0
StJ
 ,VS . A call option becomes worthless when
the underlying price approaches zero, gives
3
lim, ,0
SVStJ

.
The boundary condition at barrier is specified by the so called
“reset condition”,
22
21
li, ,lim,
SL
tJVSt

m
SL
VS
m
SL
VS
,
 
11
31
li, ,lim,
SL
tJVSt

.
PDE Systems for Pricing Double Barrier
Parisian Options
Under the Black-Scholes framework, the PDE (partial dif-
ferential equation) systems for the prices of double barrier Pari-
sian options with above boundary conditions have already been
established in (Haber, Schönbucher, & Wilmott, 1999):



 
11
22
22 2
11 1
1
2
1
13
12
0
2
,,
lim,lim, ,0
lim,lim,,0
BS
SL SL
SL SL
VSV V
rS rV
tS S
VSTJVSJ
VSt VSt
VSt VSt


 
 
 




 
22
22 2
22 22
2
2
2
2
21
0
2
,, 0
lim, ,0
lim, ,lim,
S
SL SL
VV SVV
rS rV
tJ SS
VStJ
VStJ
VStJ VSt


 

 



 
11
22 2
33 33
3
2
3
3
0
31
0
2
,, 0
lim, ,0
lim, ,lim,
S
SL SL
VV SVV
rS rV
tJ SS
VStJ
VStJ
VStJVSt

 

 
The above PDE systems are in 3-D and can implified to 2-D
PDE systems. 1 is already in 2-D. We need to deal with the
system governing 2, 3. To reduce dimensionality of a PDE
system usually requires the application of some sorts of trans-
formation techniques, such as the Fourier transform, the
Laplace transform, and so on. Without applying any transfor-
mation methodsthe pricing domain is a parallelepipedon,
and can be decomposed into infinite many cross-sections
(which will be referred to as “slides” hereafter)all of which are
of 45˚ to both of the plane, t = 0 and J = 0 (Zhu & Chen, 2013).
In the pricing domain , the positions of the regions are
reversed. It is clear that the option value 2, 3 at any given
point
VV V
III
II
V V
,,StJ can be uniquely determined as long as enough
information along the every slide passing through that static
point is known. In other wordsthe original 3-D problem can be
decomposed into a set of 2-D problems defined on each slide
if viewed from a 45˚ rotated coordinate system. Mathematically,
to obtain the PDE governing , , in the rotated coordinate
2
V3
V
system. We can use the directional derivative 2
2
2
V
l
,
3
3
2V
l
which represents the instantaneous rate of change of
the function 2
V, 3 at the point V
,tJ, in the direction of
(22,22 ), to replace the sum of the two partial deriva-
tives 22
VV
tJ
, 3
VV
tJ
 3
, respectively. Furthermore, let
22
2ll
, 33
2ll
. As a result, the governing equation
in the new coordinate system can be written as


2
22
2
10
2
,; , 2,3
ii i
i
i
ii
V
VVV
SrSrV
lS S
Sl ti

 

 

which is the BS equation. In the new coordinate system,
22 222
,;, ,VSlt VStll

, ,
serves as a parameter. The boundary conditions sets for

33 333
,;, ,VSlt VStll


t
22
,;VSlt
can be extracted from the corresponding boundary
Open Access
68
X. M. GAO
conditions that
2,,VStJ needs to satisfy (Zhu & Chen,
2013):

 
2
22
22
22
2212
lim, ;0
lim, ;0
lim, ;lim,
S
lJ
SLSL
VSlt
VSlt
VSlt VStl




The boundary conditions set for
33
,;VSlt
ditions can be extracted
fr thom the corresponding boundary conat
3,,VStJ
needs to satisfy:



3
11
33
0
33
331 3
0
lim, ;0
lim, ;lim,
S
lJ
SL SL
VS
lt
VSltVStl



Therefore, the2-D PDE systems that govern the price of double
lim, ;VSlt
barrier Parisian options can be now summarized as:


 
 
1
2
2
1VV V

22
11 1
1
2
1
11
12
0
2
,,
lim ,
lim ,
BS
SL
SL
Sr
SrV
tS S
VSTJVSJ
VSt t
VStt



 

(1)




2
2
22
22 2
2
2
2
2
22
222 2
10
2
,; 0
lim, ;0
lim, ;
S
SL
VV V
SrSrV
lS S
VSJt
VSlt
VSlt tl


 

 


(2)




1
2
22
33 3
3
2
3
3
33
0
331 3
10
2
,; 0
lim, ;0
lim, ;
S
SL
VV V
SrSrV
lS S
VSJt
VSlt
VSlt tl



 


(3)
for 0,tTJ



, 20,lJ


, 30,lJ


.
Algorithm
The numerical solutio(1)-(3) is implemented
us
are discretized as
n to Equations
ing a finite difference scheme in 2-D. Although explicit finite
difference schemes are similar to the binomial numerical me-
thod in spirit, they are more general and thus more flexible. The
method is time-efficient because it is extremely easy to pro-
gramand the programs run very quickly. It is suitable for many
types of contracts including most common path-dependent de-
rivatives and is trivially—with one extra line of code—exten-
ded to American-style early exercise.
In Equation (1), the price S and t S
,
bet, respectively. For stabili of the scheme, t has to
sen small enough. We denote ,ij
V by the erical ap-
proximation to the option value at iS, tjt

. We call
the discrete barrier
cho ty num
S
i (i.e., 1
iS L
), i (i.e., 2
S Li
)
and
j
(i.e.,
j
tTJ  ).



22
,1,,
1, 1,,
2
2
2
ij 1,
jiji j
ij ijij
i
LVVV
ir VV rV



i
,1 ,,
,
ij ijij
VVtLii
i
 .
In Equation (2), the price and are diretized asS2
lsc S
,
2
l
respectively. 2
l
has to be chosen small enough,
eter pa-
ram 0, ,2,tt Jt,t
 . We denote ,hj
V by the nu-
merical e option value at ShS
ationapproxim to th
,
22
ljl
. We call the discrete barrier h (i.e., 2
LhS
),
and
j
(i.e., 2
j
lJ
).



22
,1,,
1, 1,,
2
2
2
hjh jhjh j
hj hjhj
h
LVVV
hr VV rV




1,
In Equation (3), the price and are discretized as
,1 ,,
2
hj hjhj
VVlL

S1
l S
,
1
l
, respectively. 1
l
has be chsen small enough,
eter to opa-
ram 0, ,2,tt Jt,t
 . We denote ,kj
V by the nu-
merical e option value at SkS
ationapproxim to th
,
11
ljl
. We call the discre te ba rrier k (i.e., 2
L)kS , and
j
(i.e., 1
j
lJ
,



22
,1,,
1, 1,,
2
2
2
kjk jkjk j
kj kjkj
k
LVVV
kr VV rV




1,
The price is discretized using equ steps in and
no e prices of a double barrier Parisi call
w
,1 ,,
3
kj kjkj
VVlL
.
S
are th
al lnS
an out
t in S.
We pcom
ith 0100SK , 190L
, 2110L, 0.095r, 0
and 1T
obtained with our methodo method
with 0 samples. The programs of finite difference schemes
run very quickly. Comparison corrected Monte Carlo and finite
difference:
and Monte Carl
1000
MC Price FD Price
0.645
1.142
2.747
2.214
3.065
0.632
1.121
2.732
2.352
3.031
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