Deep-learning based numerical BSDE method for barrier options

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Deep-learning based numerical BSDE method for barrier options

Bing Yu
Xiaojing Xing
Agus Sudjianto
Published on 4/11/2019
Options
Derivatives
Machine learning
Deep learning

This paper presents a deep-learning-based numerical method for pricing barrier options by solving the associated backward stochastic differential equation (BSDE) with boundary conditions. The key innovation is transforming the Cauchy-Dirichlet problem (PDE with boundary conditions) into a standard Cauchy problem by incorporating the barrier boundary condition into the terminal payoff using a Brownian motion bridge. This approach avoids the need for penalty methods or reflected BSDEs used in prior work for American options. The method uses a neural network to approximate the Z_t process (related to the option delta) at each time step, with a merged network structure that takes both the underlying price and time to maturity as inputs. Extensive testing on 72 up-and-out call option cases with varying maturities, volatilities, and barriers shows that the method achieves high accuracy, with average relative errors below 0.6% when batch normalization is applied. The paper also investigates computational efficiency, finding that applying batch normalization only at the input layer yields similar accuracy to full-layer normalization but is approximately three times faster. The results demonstrate that the deep-learning BSDE approach can effectively handle barrier options, providing a flexible alternative to traditional numerical methods.

Highlights

  • 1Extends deep-learning BSDE method to solve PDEs with boundary conditions, specifically for barrier options.
  • 2Incorporates boundary conditions as terminal conditions using Brownian motion bridges, avoiding penalty methods.
  • 3Achieves accurate pricing across 72 test cases with average relative error below 0.6% using batch normalization.
  • 4Demonstrates computational efficiency improvements by applying batch normalization only at the input layer.

Methods

  • M
    Deep-learning-based numerical BSDE method with neural networks approximating Z_t (delta) at each time step.
  • M
    Brownian motion bridge technique to incorporate barrier boundary conditions into terminal payoff.
  • M
    Merged neural network structure with time-to-maturity as an additional input.
  • M
    Batch normalization to improve convergence in isolated cases.

Results

  • R
    Average absolute pricing error of 0.86 cents and relative error of 0.56% with input-layer batch normalization.
  • R
    Batch normalization at every layer reduces relative error from 1.21% to 0.57% on average.
  • R
    Isolated cases with high relative errors (up to 18%) are reduced to below 1% with batch normalization.
  • R
    Input-layer-only batch normalization is three times faster than full-layer normalization (75s vs 200s per case).
  • R
    Median relative error across all tests is approximately 0.4-0.5%.
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