Backward Deep BSDE Methods and Applications to Nonlinear Problems

Abstract

We present a pathwise deep Backward Stochastic Differential Equation (BSDE) method for Forward Backward Stochastic Differential Equations with terminal conditions that time-steps the BSDE backwards and apply it to the differential rates problem as a prototypical nonlinear problem of independent financial interest. The nonlinear equation for the backward time-step is solved exactly or by a Taylor-based approximation. This is the first application of such a pathwise backward time-stepping deep BSDE approach for problems with nonlinear generators. We extend the method to the case when the initial value of the forward components X can be a parameter rather than fixed and similarly to also learn values at intermediate times. We present numerical results for a call combination and for a straddle, the latter comparing well to those obtained by Forsyth and Labahn with a specialized PDE solver.