Optimal portfolio hedging with nonlinear derivatives and transaction costs

We consider the problem of dynamically hedging a fixed portfolio of assets in the presence of non-linear instruments and transaction costs, as well as constraints on feasible hedging positions. We assume an investor maximizing the expected utility of his terminal wealth over a finite holding period, and analyse the dynamic portfolio optimization problem when the trading interval is fixed. An approximate solution is obtained from a two-stage numerical procedure. The problem is first transformed into a nonlinear programming problem which utilizes simulated coefficient matrices. The nonlinear programming problem is then solved numerically using standard constrained optimization techniques. © 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers.