8006 Exam Dumps : Exam I: Finance Theory Financial Instruments Financial Markets - 2015 Edition

A portfolio loses its delta neutrality if the delta of the portfolio changes but the underlying hedge is unchanged. The portfolio that will require the most rebalancing will be one whose delta changes by larger amounts in response to a given change in the price of the underlying. The sensitivity of the changes in delta in response to changes in the price of the underlying is measured by gamma. The higher the gamma, the more the portfolio will go out of delta neutrality given a change in the price of the underlying. Therefore Choice 'b' is the correct answer.

A portfolio with a low gamma will maintain its delta over a larger price range for the underlying, and is therefore likely to require less frequent rebalancing. The absolute level of the delta itself does not matter, what matters is the gamma. Vega is irrelevant to the delta hedging decision. Therefore the other choices are incorrect.

The effectiveness of the hedge is solely determined by the correlation between the position being hedged, and the position being used as the hedge. A hedge can be perfect when correlation is 1, and will be less than perfect when it is anything other than 1.The effectiveness of the optimal hedge is given by the formula √(1-ρ2), where ρ is the correlation between the two. Therefore Choice 'c' is the correct answer. Standard deviations affect the hedge ratio, not the effectiveness of the hedge.

Systematic risk refers to market risk that cannot be diversified away. Specific risk relates to the unique risk from the securities selected in the portfolio, and these can be diversified away by adding other securities to the portfolio. Diversifiable risk is risk that can be diversified away, ie the same as specific risk. Portfolio risk is the total risk of the portfolio that includes both specific and systematic risk.