The impact of the leverage effect on the implied volatility smile: evidence for the German option market

It is a widely known theoretical derivation, that the firm’s leverage is negatively related to volatility of stock returns, although the empirical evidence is still outstanding. To empirically evaluate the leverage we first complement previous simulation studies by deriving theoretical predictions of leverage changes on the volatility smile. Even more important, we empirically test these predictions with an event study using intra-day Eurex option data and a unique data set of 138 ad-hoc news. For our theoretically derived predictions we observe that changes in leverage of DAX companies from 1999 to 2014 cause significant changes to the implied volatility smile.