Minimax perfect stopping rules for selling an asset near its ultimate maximum

Abstract

We study the problem of selling an asset near its ultimate maximum in the minimax setting. The regret-based notion of a perfect stopping time is introduced. A perfect stopping time is uniquely characterized by its optimality properties and has the following form: one should sell the asset if its price deviates from the running maximum by a certain time-dependent quantity. The related selling rule improves any earlier one and cannot be improved by further delay. The results, which are applicable to a quite general price model, are illustrated by several examples.