A study of parameter estimation of stochastic volatility model

The theory of stock option pricing has, recently, attracted attention of many researchers interested not only in finance but also in statistics and control theory. In this field, the problem of estimating stock return volatility is, above all, of great importance in calculating actual stock option value. In this paper, we assume that the stock market is represented by the stochastic volatility model which is the same as that of Hull and White. Then, we propose an approximation function of option value. It is a type of Black-Sholes option formula in which the first and the second order moments of logarithmic stock value are modified in a special form from the original model. Finally, an algorithm of estimating the parameters of the stochastic volatility model is given, and parameters are estimated by using Nikkei 225 index option data.