Gamma Hedging
Gamma Hedging
Gamma hedging is an advanced risk management strategy employed primarily by options market makers and other participants who sell options contracts. It's a dynamic hedging technique designed to maintain a delta-neutral position as the underlying asset’s price changes. This article will break down the concept in a beginner-friendly manner, focusing on its application within the context of cryptocurrency futures and options.
Understanding the Basics
Before diving into gamma hedging, it's crucial to grasp a few fundamental concepts:
- Delta: Delta measures the rate of change of an option's price with respect to a change in the underlying asset’s price. For example, a delta of 0.50 means that for every $1 increase in the underlying asset, the option price is expected to increase by $0.50.
- Gamma: Gamma measures the rate of change of delta with respect to a change in the underlying asset’s price. It essentially indicates how unstable the delta is. A higher gamma means the delta will change more rapidly.
- Vega: Vega measures the sensitivity of an option’s price to changes in implied volatility.
- Theta: Theta measures the rate of decay of an option’s value over time.
- Delta Neutrality: This state is achieved when the overall delta of a portfolio is zero. Theoretically, a delta-neutral portfolio should not be affected by small movements in the underlying asset’s price.
Why is Gamma Hedging Necessary?
When an options seller (like a market maker) sells an option, they are obligated to fulfill the contract if the option is exercised. To manage the risk associated with this obligation, they typically attempt to remain delta-neutral. However, delta is not static. As the underlying asset's price moves, the delta of the option changes. This is where gamma comes into play.
If an options seller doesn't adjust for changes in delta (by adjusting their hedge), they become exposed to directional risk. For example, if they sold a call option and the price of the underlying asset rises significantly, their delta will increase. Without re-hedging, they'll be exposed to losses if the price continues to rise.
How Gamma Hedging Works
Gamma hedging involves continuously adjusting the position in the underlying asset to keep the portfolio delta-neutral. Here's a simplified example:
1. **Initial Position:** A market maker sells a call option with a delta of 0.50. To be delta-neutral, they buy 50 shares of the underlying asset (assuming a contract size of 100 shares). 2. **Price Increase:** The price of the underlying asset increases. This causes the call option's delta to rise to 0.60. The market maker is now long 60 shares worth of delta (60-50 = 10). 3. **Re-Hedging:** To restore delta neutrality, the market maker buys an additional 10 shares of the underlying asset, bringing their total position to 60 shares. 4. **Price Decrease:** The price of the underlying asset decreases. This causes the call option's delta to fall to 0.40. The market maker is now short 20 shares worth of delta (40-60 = -20). 5. **Re-Hedging:** To restore delta neutrality, the market maker sells 20 shares of the underlying asset, bringing their total position to 40 shares.
This process of continuously buying and selling the underlying asset to offset changes in delta is gamma hedging. It's a dynamic strategy that requires frequent adjustments, especially as the asset gets closer to the strike price of the option.
Gamma Hedging in Cryptocurrency Futures
In the context of cryptocurrency, gamma hedging is particularly important due to the high volatility and 24/7 trading. Here's how it applies:
- Volatility Skew: Cryptocurrency options often exhibit a significant volatility skew, meaning implied volatility differs across strike prices. This influences gamma and requires careful consideration when hedging.
- Liquidity: Liquidity in cryptocurrency options markets can be lower than in traditional markets. This can make it more challenging to execute trades and maintain delta neutrality efficiently. Order books depth is crucial.
- Futures as Hedges: Cryptocurrency futures contracts are commonly used to hedge options positions. Market makers will often buy or sell futures contracts to adjust their delta exposure.
- Gamma Scalping: Some sophisticated traders attempt to profit from the constant re-hedging activity of market makers, a strategy known as gamma scalping.
Challenges and Considerations
- Transaction Costs: Frequent re-hedging generates transaction costs, which can erode profits.
- Imperfect Hedges: Futures contracts and other hedging instruments may not perfectly correlate with the underlying option, leading to residual risk.
- Model Risk: The accuracy of gamma calculations relies on the option pricing model used (e.g., Black-Scholes). Incorrect model assumptions can lead to ineffective hedging.
- Jump Risk: Sudden, large price movements (jumps) can overwhelm a gamma hedging strategy and lead to significant losses. Technical indicators can help anticipate potential jumps.
- Pin Risk: When the underlying asset price is very close to the strike price at expiration, the delta approaches 1 or -1, making hedging extremely sensitive and costly. This is known as pin risk.
Advanced Gamma Hedging Techniques
- Gamma Trading: Actively attempting to profit from anticipated changes in gamma, rather than simply neutralizing it.
- Variance Swaps: Using variance swaps to hedge the impact of changes in implied volatility.
- Portfolio Gamma: Calculating and managing the gamma of an entire portfolio of options, rather than individual positions. Correlation analysis is key.
- Dynamic Delta Hedging: Adjusting the hedge ratio based on predictive models and algorithmic trading.
- Using Multiple Strikes: Hedging with a combination of options at different strike prices to reduce gamma exposure. Put-Call Parity can be useful.
Related Strategies and Analysis
- Delta Neutral Strategies
- Volatility Trading
- Statistical Arbitrage
- Options Greeks
- Risk Management
- Position Sizing
- Candlestick Patterns
- Moving Averages
- Fibonacci Retracements
- Bollinger Bands
- Volume-Weighted Average Price (VWAP)
- On-Balance Volume (OBV)
- Relative Strength Index (RSI)
- Elliott Wave Theory
- Time and Sales Data
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