September 13th, 2005, 7:50 am
lets imagine we have a european call option whose claim is a (linear) function of by how much one equity index outperforms another. For instance say we buy a call on the eurostoxx -- dax spread (esx-dax) at strike 0%, maturity T. If we assume a 'no smile' world to price this option would not be too difficult (if we knew the imp vols and correlation between esx and dax), however my question is a practical one: Is it possible to synthetically replicate the payout using the futures and options markets on the equity indices?thanks tom