“To write a contingent claim and to trade it is literally to be situated in the middle of the event triggering it. Events take place; they don’t take time. Writing is the technology addressing the event outside of chronology and the market is the medium of contingency. They both recognize that time, although unavoidable, is unessential.” – Elie Ayache
October 19th 1987 was a day of huge change for the global finance industry. On this day the stock market crashed, the Nobel Prize winning Black-Scholes formula failed and volatility smiles were born, and on this day Elie Ayache began his career, on the trading floor of the French Futures and Options Exchange.
The author of groundbreaking books “The Blank Swan: The End of Probability” and “The Medium of Contingency: An Inverse View of the Market,” Ayache has emerged as a rare thinker focused on the market’s unique epistemology and on developing a special philosophy of contingent claims. His work is both visionary and extraordinarily timely, injecting new thinking into the intersection of economics, market practice, and fundamental philosophy. We are extremely honored to have him speaking in our series!
