American Futures Put: 2-Step Binomial Tree & Early Exercise Check
Simplest round numbers: , up or down 20% each step
Setup: futures price , strike ; each step moves up 20% or down 20%, two steps of half a year each; continuously compounded risk-free rate .
Single-step parameters:
Per-step discount factor
Futures price tree:
Step 1:
Step 2: , ,
Payoffs at expiry (; = put value at each node, not portfolio value):
, , .
Step 1 backward induction & American early-exercise check:
- Up node (): value of holding ; exercise payoff . → Do not exercise ().
- Down node (): value of holding ; exercise payoff .
→ Early exercise is optimal! ( beats the $19.51 from holding, an extra $0.49).
- Root node (): value of holding ; immediate exercise payoff . → Put price = $10.70.
Comparison: the European version is worth only , so the early-exercise privilege is worth $0.24. Original Hull problem with full solution: see Hull Exercises & Solutions, Lecture 9.