The pricing of low exercise price options

Abstract

This paper examines the pricing of Low Exercise Price Options (LEPOs) listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. The cost of carrying model is used to calculate theoretical prices which are then compared to the price at which actual trades occurred. The results indicate that LEPO trades, that are unaffected by dividends, may be underpriced relative to the underlying shares. A possible reason for this may be the difficulty associated with short‐selling shares in the Australian market.