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Path-dependent option
A type of exotic option whose payoff essentially depends on the price pattern followed by the underlying over the life of the option.
(1) Path-dependent options include the average option, the barrier option, the touch option, the cliquet option, the ladder option, the lookback option and the shout option.
(2) In contrast, the payoff of a vanilla option essentially depends on the price level of the underlying at the expiration of the option in the case of a European option, or at the exercise date chosen by the option holder in the case of an American option.