DeFi Arbitrage in Hedged Liquidity Tokens

Abstract

Empirically, the prevailing market prices for liquidity tokens of the constant product market maker (CPMM) -- as offered in practice by companies such as Uniswap -- readily permit arbitrage opportunities by delta hedging the risk of the position. Herein, we investigate this arbitrage opportunity by treating the liquidity token as a derivative position in the prices of the underlying assets for the CPMM. In doing so, not dissimilar to the Black-Scholes result, we deduce risk-neutral pricing and hedging formulas for these liquidity tokens. Furthermore, with our novel pricing formula, we construct a method to calibrate a volatility to data which provides an updated (non-market) price which would not permit arbitrage if quoted by the CPMM. We conclude with a discussion of novel AMM designs which would bring the pricing of liquidity tokens into the modern financial era.

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Reproductions