Pricing without no-arbitrage condition in discrete time

Abstract

In a discrete time setting, we study the central problem of giving a fair price to some financial product. This problem has been mostly treated using martingale measures and no-arbitrage conditions. We propose a different approach based on convex duality instead of martingale measures duality: The prices are expressed using Fenchel conjugate and bi-conjugate without using any no-arbitrage condition. The super-hedging problem resolution leads endogenously to a weak no-arbitrage condition called Absence of Instantaneous Profit (AIP) under which prices are finite. We study this condition in detail, propose several characterizations and compare it to the usual no-arbitrage condition NA.