Definition
Rainbow option is a derivative exposed to two or more sources of uncertainty, as opposed to a simple option that is exposed to one source of uncertainty, such as the price of underlying asset.
Rainbow Option
What is ‘Rainbow Option’
A single option linked to two or more underlying assets. In order for the option to pay off, all the underlying assets must move in the intended direction.
Explaining ‘Rainbow Option’
The underlying securities can have different characteristics, such as expiry date and strike price, but all must move in the way the option holder has bet they will.
Here’s a sports-betting analogy that demonstrates a rainbow option: suppose you’re at a baseball tournament with three fields backing one another. One game is halfway through, a second is just starting and a third starts in an hour. A type of bet that’s analogous to a rainbow option is one that earns you a profit if you pick all three winners, but gets you nothing if any one team you pick is a loser.
Further Reading
- Upper and Lower Bounds on Rainbow Option Prices under Uncertainty – en.cnki.com.cn [PDF]
- Continuous rainbow options on commodity outputs: what is the real value of switching facilities? – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
- Valuing a multi-product mining project by compound rainbow option analysis – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
- A pricing model of fuzzy rainbow options – ieeexplore.ieee.org [PDF]
- A Study on the Rainbow Option Pricing Model with Transaction Costs [J] – en.cnki.com.cn [PDF]
- Fractional white noise calculus and applications to finance – www.worldscientific.com [PDF]
- Sequential real rainbow options – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
- Valuing an Early‐Stage Biotechnology Investment as a Rainbow Option – onlinelibrary.wiley.com [PDF]
