Call options and probabilistic intuition - dependence on time
As before, we change one variable - in this case it's time to expiration , while holding others fixed, and see how the call price changes. We've assumed that at each
, the stock price distribution is triangular, symmetric and centered at
. This time on top of that assumption we add the following.
Assumption 2. The standard deviation of the stock price distribution is proportional to .
This standard deviation is a measure of riskiness and unpredictability of the stock price. The farther into the future, the more difficult it is to predict.
Areas of influence of the initial stock price

Figure 1. Areas of influence for two times
As a result of our assumptions, we can visualize areas of influence for two times in Figure 1. Points
Finding ranges of initial stock prices that can lead to ITM areas


In Figure 2 we find initial price ranges that may contribute to the ITM areas. For example, for time
Fast time decay of OTM option


If an OTM option continues to be OTM as expiration approaches, the likelihood of it becoming ITM quickly declines and the call price erodes to zero. This is illustrated in Figure 3 (from Mathematica), where time is measured in years, so the chart traces the call price as time to expiration declines from half a year to zero. The practical recommendation is to sell the option before it dies on you, if the odds of the stock moving higher are low.
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