Download or read book Moneyness, Volatility, and the Cross-Section of Option Returns written by Kevin Aretz and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 69 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We study the effect of an asset's volatility on the expected returns of European options written on the asset. A simple stochastic discount factor model suggests that the effect differs depending on whether variations in volatility are due to variations in systematic or idiosyncratic volatility. While variations in idiosyncratic volatility only affect an option's elasticity, variations in systematic volatility also oppositely affect the underlying asset's risk. Since moneyness modulates these effects, systematic volatility positively (negatively) prices options with high (low) asset-to-strike price ratios, while idiosyncratic volatility is unambiguously priced. Single-stock call option data support our predictions.