General smile asymptotics with bounded maturity

Abstract

We provide explicit conditions on the distribution of risk-neutral log-returns which yield sharp asymptotic estimates on the implied volatility smile. We allow for a variety of asymptotic regimes, including both small maturity (with arbitrary strike) and extreme strike (with arbitrary bounded maturity), extending previous work of Benaim and Friz [Math. Finance 19 (2009), 1-12]. We present applications to popular models, including Carr-Wu finite moment logstable model, Merton's jump diffusion model and Heston's model.