PRMIA PRM 8008 Question # 30 Topic 4 Discussion

Delta is non-linear with respect to prices for a number of securities such as bonds, options and other derivatives. It changes with changes in prices, and any hedge initially undertaken becomes quickly mismatched. Therefore delta hedges need to be managed quite actively and kept up-to-date. Therefore I is true.Primary risks comprise most of the risk in a position, and therefore portfolio managers are right to focus on them over secondary risks. Therefore II is true.The greater the hedge rebalance frequency, the lower is the hedge mismatch at any point in time, and therefore residual risks would be lower. However, rebalancing hedges requires rebalance trades to be done, and these involve transaction costs. Generally, a reasonable balance needs to be struck between the frequency of rebalances (a lower frequency increases residual risk, but this residual risk is not directionally biased) and the costs of rebalancing. III is correct.Vega risk is the risk arising due to changes in prices due to changes in volatility.  Options carry vega risk. Therefore any hedges against vega risks can only be obtained using other options positions.  (Vega risk may also be hedged using other volatility based products, eg an OTC volatility swap, or a VIX futures type product.)