Derivation of Black-Scholes-Merton PDE under Risk-Neutral Probability Measure

This Black-Scholes-Merton derivation is not the standard delta-hedging derivation. It is outlined here on the Wikipedia page for the Black-Scholes-Merton equation.

We first assume a risk-free interest rate of \(r\) (i.e. it is guaranteed that \(\$x\) today can be lent to receive \(\$ e^{r\tau}x\) in \(\tau\) days). Now suppose we have a stock \(S_t\) along with its derivative \(V = V(S_t, t)\). From the risk-neutral measure, we get (1) the SDE \(dS_t = r S_t dt + \sigma S_t dW_t\) and (2) that the process \(U_t := f(S_t, t) := e^{-rt}V(S_t, t)\) is a martingale. Applying Itô’s Lemma, we get an understanding of \(dU_t\):

\[dU_t = (\frac{\partial f}{\partial t} + rS_t\frac{\partial f}{\partial S_t} +\frac{\sigma^2 S_t^2}{2} \frac{\partial^2 f}{\partial S_t^2} ) dt + \sigma S_t \frac{\partial f}{\partial S_t} dW_t\]

Note that because \(U_t\) is a martingale under risk-neutral probability measure \(\implies U_t\) has no drift (see informal proof below). We give all relevant partials in the drift term below:

\[\frac{\partial f}{\partial t} = e^{-rt}[\frac{\partial V}{\partial t}-rV(S_t, t)], \quad \frac{\partial f}{\partial S_t} = e^{-rt} \frac{\partial V}{\partial S_t}, \quad \frac{\partial^2 f}{\partial S_t^2} = e^{-rt} \frac{\partial^2 V}{\partial S_t^2}\]

and so plugging them into the drift term and solving for zero we arrive with:

\[e^{-rt}[\frac{\partial V}{\partial t}-rV(S_t, t)] + rS_t e^{-rt} \frac{\partial V}{\partial S_t} + \frac{\sigma^2 S_t^2}{2} e^{-rt} \frac{\partial^2 V}{\partial S_t^2} = 0\]

Or after some simplification:

\[\boxed{\frac{\partial V}{\partial t} + rS_t \frac{\partial V}{\partial S_t} + \frac{\sigma^2 S_t^2}{2} \cdot \frac{\partial^2 V}{\partial S_t^2} = rV}\]

which is the Black-Scholes-Merton PDE.