Abstract
We provide a bound for the error committed when using a Fourier method to price European options, when the underlying follows an exponential Levy dynamic. The price of the option is described by a partial integro-differential equation (PIDE). Applying a Fourier transformation to the PIDE yields an ordinary differential equation (ODE) that can be solved analytically in terms of the characteristic exponent of the Levy process. Then, a numerical inverse Fourier transform allows us to obtain the option price. We present a bound for the error and use this bound to set the parameters for the numerical method. We analyze the properties of the bound and demonstrate the minimization of the bound to select parameters for a numerical Fourier transformation method in order to solve the option price efficiently.