Pricing and Hedging Financial Derivatives. A Guide for Practitioners

Essential insights on the various aspects of financial derivatives If you want to understand derivatives without getting bogged down by the mathematics surrounding their pricing and valuation, Financial Derivatives is the book for you. Through in-depth insights gleaned from years of financial experience, Robert Kolb and James Overdahl clearly explain what derivatives are and how you can prudently use them within the context of your underlying business activities. Financial Derivatives introduces you to the wide range of markets for financial derivatives. This invaluable guide offers a broad overview of the different types of derivatives-futures, options, swaps, and structured products-while focusing on the principles that determine market prices. This comprehensive resource also provides a thorough introduction to financial derivatives and their importance to risk management in a corporate setting. Filled with helpful tables and charts, Financial Derivatives offers a wealth of knowledge on futures, options, swaps, financial engineering, and structured products. Discusses what derivatives are and how you can prudently implement them within the context of your underlying business activities Provides thorough coverage of financial derivatives and their role in risk management Explores financial derivatives without getting bogged down by the mathematics surrounding their pricing and valuation This informative guide will help you unlock the incredible potential of financial derivatives.

Written by leading market risk academic, Professor Carol Alexander, Pricing, Hedging and Trading Financial Instruments forms part three of the Market Risk Analysis four volume set. This book is an in-depth, practical and accessible guide to the models that are used for pricing and the strategies that are used for hedging financial instruments, and to the markets in which they trade. It provides a comprehensive, rigorous and accessible introduction to bonds, swaps, futures and forwards and options, including variance swaps, volatility indices and their futures and options, to stochastic volatility models and to modelling the implied and local volatility surfaces. All together, the Market Risk Analysis four volume set illustrates virtually every concept or formula with a practical, numerical example or a longer, empirical case study. Across all four volumes there are approximately 300 numerical and empirical examples, 400 graphs and figures and 30 case studies many of which are contained in interactive Excel spreadsheets available from the the accompanying CD-ROM . Empirical examples and case studies specific to this volume include: Duration-Convexity approximation to bond portfolios, and portfolio immunization; Pricing floaters and vanilla, basis and variance swaps; Coupon stripping and yield curve fitting; Proxy hedging, and hedging international securities and energy futures portfolios; Pricing models for European exotics, including barriers, Asians, look-backs, choosers, capped, contingent, power, quanto, compo, exchange, ‘best-of’ and spread options; Libor model calibration; Dynamic models for implied volatility based on principal component analysis; Calibration of stochastic volatility models (Matlab code); Simulations from stochastic volatility and jump models; Duration, PV01 and volatility invariant cash flow mappings; Delta-gamma-theta-vega mappings for options portfolios; Volatility beta mapping to volatility indices.

Understand derivatives in a nonmathematical way Financial Derivatives, Third Edition gives readers a broad working knowledge of derivatives. For individuals who want to understand derivatives without getting bogged down in the mathematics surrounding their pricing and valuation Financial Derivatives, Third Edition is the perfect read. This comprehensive resource provides a thorough introduction to financial derivatives and their importance to risk management in a corporate setting.

A step-by-step approach to the mathematical financial theory and quantitative methods needed to implement and apply state-of-the-art valuation techniques Written as an accessible and appealing introduction to financial derivatives, Elementary Financial Derivatives: A Guide to Trading and Valuation with Applications provides the necessary techniques for teaching and learning complex valuation techniques. Filling the current gap in financial engineering literature, the book emphasizes an easy-to-understand approach to the methods and applications of complex concepts without focusing on the underlying statistical and mathematical theories. Organized into three comprehensive sections, the book discusses the essential topics of the derivatives market with sections on options, swaps, and financial engineering concepts applied primarily, but not exclusively, to the futures market. Providing a better understanding of how to assess risk exposure, the book also includes: A wide range of real-world applications and examples detailing the theoretical concepts discussed throughout Numerous homework problems, highlighted equations, and Microsoft® Office Excel® modules for valuation Pedagogical elements such as solved case studies, select answers to problems, and key terms and concepts to aid comprehension of the presented material A companion website that contains an Instructor’s Solutions Manual, sample lecture PowerPoint® slides, and related Excel files and data sets Elementary Financial Derivatives: A Guide to Trading and Valuation with Applications is an excellent introductory textbook for upper-undergraduate courses in financial derivatives, quantitative finance, mathematical finance, and financial engineering. The book is also a valuable resource for practitioners in quantitative finance, industry professionals who lack technical knowledge of pricing options, and readers preparing for the CFA exam. Jana Sacks, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Accounting and Finance at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York. A member of The American Finance Association, the National Association of Corporate Directors, and the International Atlantic Economic Society, Dr. Sack’s research interests include risk management, credit derivatives, pricing, hedging, and structured finance.

A practical guide to understanding how key economic and market statistics drive financial market trends The recent global financial crisis stressed the need for economists who understand how key economic and market statistics drive financial market trends and how to mitigate the risks for businesses that those trends affect. Trading Economics provides guidance for navigating key market figures in a convenient and practical format. Emphasizing the link between economic data and market movements, this book analyzes surveys, economic growth statistics, inflation, labor markets, international trade, monetary and fiscal indicators, and their relevance in financial markets. It bypasses complex terminology to offer a hands-on, accessible introduction to financial statistics and how to profit from them. Offers clear illustrations and an easy-to-read layout to teach you how to trade profitably in financial markets and minimizes risk for your business Written Trevor Williams and Victoria Turton, authoritative public figures with experience working on the New York Stock Exchange Includes a website featuring a blog and new surveys as they develop accompanies the book Complete with worked examples and updated information, Trading Economics is an essential, comprehensive guide to understanding every aspect of financial market trends and how to navigate them to your advantage.

A Valuable Guide to the Entire Process of Psychological Assessment Carefully working through all the phases of assessment, including integrating, conceptualizing, test selection, administering, scoring, and report writing, Conducting Psychological Assessment provides clinicians with a step-by-step methodology for conducting skilled individual assessments, from beginning to end. Unlike most guides to assessment, this book addresses the critical steps that follow administration, scoring, and interpretation—namely the integration of the data into a fully conceptualized report. Rich with case studies that illustrate every major point, this text provides a coherent structure for the entire process, taking into account the imperfection of both clinical intuition and specific psychological tests. Conducting Psychological Assessment presents practitioners with an accessible framework to help make the process of psychological assessment quicker, easier, and more efficient. It offers a model designed to ensure that assessors provide ethical and competent services and make useful contributions to the lives of the individuals they assess.

The recent financial crisis brought to light many of the misunderstandings and misuses of exotic derivatives. With market participants on both the buy and sell-side having been found guilty of not understanding the products they were dealing with, never before has there been a greater need for clarification and explanation. Exotic Options and Hybrids is a practical guide to structuring, pricing and hedging complex exotic options and hybrid derivatives that will serve readers through the recent crisis, the road to recovery, the next bull market and beyond. Written by experienced practitioners, it focuses on the three main parts of a derivative’s life: the structuring of a product, its pricing and its hedging. Divided into four parts, the book covers a multitude of structures, encompassing many of the most up-to-date and promising products from exotic equity derivatives and structured notes to hybrid derivatives and dynamic strategies. Based on a realistic setting from the heart of the business, inside a derivatives operation, the practical and intuitive discussions of these aspects make these exotic concepts truly accessible. Adoptions of real trades are examined in detail, and all of the numerous examples are carefully selected so as to highlight interesting and significant aspects of the business. The introduction of payoff structures is accompanied by scenario analysis, diagrams and lifelike sample term sheets. Readers learn how to spot where the risks lie to pave the way for sound valuation and hedging of such products. There are also questions and accompanying discussions dispersed in the text, each exploited to illustrate one or more concepts from the context in which they are set. The applications, the strengths and the limitations of various models are highlighted, in relevance to the products and their risks, rather than the model implementations. Models are de-mystified in separately dedicated sections, but their implications are alluded to throughout the book in an intuitive and non-mathematical manner. By discussing exotic options and hybrids in a practical, non-mathematical and highly intuitive setting, this book will blast through the misunderstanding of exotic derivatives, enabling practitioners to fully understand and correctly structure, price and hedge theses products effectively, and stand strong as the only book in its class to make these “exotic” concepts truly accessible.

Praise for Enterprise Risk Management and COSO: A Guide for Directors, Executives, and Practitioners «Enterprise Risk Management and COSO is a comprehensive reference book that presents core management of risk tools in a helpful and organized way. If you are an internal auditor who is interested in risk management, exploring this book is one of the best ways to gain an understanding of enterprise risk management issues.» —Naly de Carvalho, FSA Times «This book represents a unique guide on how to manage many of the critical components that constitute an organization's corporate defense program.» —Sean Lyons, Corporate Defense Management (CDM) professional «This book provides a comprehensive analysis of enterprise risk management and is invaluable to anyone working in the risk management arena. It provides excellent information regarding the COSO framework, control components, control environment, and quantitative risk assessment methodologies. It is a great piece of work.» —J. Richard Claywell, CPA, ABV, CVA, CM&AA, CFFA, CFD «As digital information continues its exponential growth and more systems become interconnected, the demand and need for proper risk management will continue to increase. I found the book to be very informative, eye-opening, and very pragmatic with an approach to risk management that will not only add value to all boards who are maturing and growing this capability, but also will provide them with competitive advantage in this important area of focus.» —David Olivencia, President, Hispanic IT Executive Council Optimally manage your company's risks, even in the worst of economic conditions. There has never been a stronger need for sound risk management than now. Today's organizations are expected to manage a variety of risks that were unthinkable a decade ago. Insightful and compelling, Enterprise Risk Management and COSO reveals how to: Successfully incorporate enterprise risk management into your organization's culture Foster an environment that rewards open discussion of risks rather than concealment of them Quantitatively model risks and effectiveness of internal controls Best discern where risk management resources should be dedicated to minimize occurrence of risk-based events Test predictive models through empirical data

An up-to-date look at the evolution of interest rate swaps and derivatives Interest Rate Swaps and Derivatives bridges the gap between the theory of these instruments and their actual use in day-to-day life. This comprehensive guide covers the main «rates» products, including swaps, options (cap/floors, swaptions), CMS products, and Bermudan callables. It also covers the main valuation techniques for the exotics/structured-notes area, which remains one of the most challenging parts of the market. Provides a balance of relevant theory and real-world trading instruments for rate swaps and swap derivatives Uses simple settings and illustrations to reveal key results Written by an experienced trader who has worked with swaps, options, and exotics With this book, author Amir Sadr shares his valuable insights with practitioners in the field of interest rate derivatives-from traders and marketers to those in operations.

A timely guide to understanding and implementing credit derivatives Credit derivatives are here to stay and will continue to play a role in finance in the future. But what will that role be? What issues and challenges should be addressed? And what lessons can be learned from the credit mess? Credit Risk Frontiers offers answers to these and other questions by presenting the latest research in this field and addressing important issues exposed by the financial crisis. It covers this subject from a real world perspective, tackling issues such as liquidity, poor data, and credit spreads, as well as the latest innovations in portfolio products and hedging and risk management techniques. Provides a coherent presentation of recent advances in the theory and practice of credit derivatives Takes into account the new products and risk requirements of a post financial crisis world Contains information regarding various aspects of the credit derivative market as well as cutting edge research regarding those aspects If you want to gain a better understanding of how credit derivatives can help your trading or investing endeavors, then Credit Risk Frontiers is a book you need to read.