Optimal switching under a hybrid diffusion model and applications to stock trading

Abstract This paper is concerned with the optimal switching problem under a hybrid diffusion (or, regime switching) model in an infinite horizon. The state of the system consists of a number of diffusions coupled by a finite-state continuous-time Markov chain. Based on the dynamic programming principle, the value function of our optimal switching problem is proved to be the unique viscosity solution to the associated system of variational inequalities. The optimal switching strategy, indicating when and where it is optimal to switch, is given in terms of the switching and continuation regions. In many applications, the underlying Markov chain has a large state space and exhibits two-time-scale structure. In this case, a singular perturbation approach is employed to reduce the computational complexity involved. It is shown that as the time-scale parameter e goes to zero, the value function of the original problem converges to that of a limit problem. The limit problem is much easier to solve, and its optimal switching solution leads to an approximate solution to the original problem. Finally, as an application of our theoretical results, an example concerning the stock trading problem in a regime switching market is provided. It is emphasized that, this paper is the first time to introduce the optimal switching as a general framework to study the stock trading problem, in view of their inherent connection. Both optimal trading rule and convergence result are numerically demonstrated in this example.