Learning to Hedge Swaptions

Abstract

This paper investigates the deep hedging framework, based on reinforcement learning (RL), for the dynamic hedging of swaptions, contrasting its performance with traditional sensitivity-based rho-hedging. We design agents under three distinct objective functions (mean squared error, downside risk, and Conditional Value-at-Risk) to capture alternative risk preferences and evaluate how these objectives shape hedging styles. Relying on a three-factor arbitrage-free dynamic Nelson-Siegel model for our simulation experiments, our findings show that near-optimal hedging effectiveness is achieved when using two swaps as hedging instruments. Deep hedging strategies dynamically adapt the hedging portfolio's exposure to risk factors across states of the market. In our experiments, their out-performance over rho-hedging strategies persists even in the presence some of model misspecification. These results highlight RL's potential to deliver more efficient and resilient swaption hedging strategies.