FIN 3621 Options and Futures
FIN 3621 Options and Futures
Due to the remarkable growth in the use of financial derivative instruments, a basic understanding of derivative markets is essential not only to students and specialists in finance, but also to general business practitioners. The objective of this course is to provide students with a basic understanding of the pricing and hedging of options, futures and if time permits of swaps and other structured products. The course is designed around the central concepts of arbitrage, replication and hedging. While the economic reasoning behind these concepts will be strongly emphasized, some emphasis will also be placed on the practical aspects of the use of derivatives as well as the markets in which they are traded. This course would also prepare students for more advanced courses on derivatives.
The students will acquire a good understanding of the derivatives markets and the derivatives securities available for trading. More specifically the students will develop their understanding with respect to the following topics:
- The derivatives markets which are the regulated exchanges and the over-the-counter markets, their participants, their basic functioning and the idiosyncrasies of each.
- The structure and specifics of the basic derivative securities, futures, forwards, options and swaps.
- The principles behind the pricing of each of the derivative securities, namely no-arbitrage when replication is possible and the bounds and relationships that the no-arbitrage assumption imposes.
- Understand the applicability and limitations of the standard pricing techniques.
- The economic role of the derivative securities and the way they are being used in practice.
- The opportunities that derivative instruments provide and the dangers they hide.
During the acquisition of the above mentioned knowledge the students will acquire the following skills:
- Represent the payoff of a derivative product both diagrammatically and mathematically.
- Alter the exposure to an underlying asset using derivative securities and plot the final exposure.
- Construct and evaluate various strategies using derivatives.
- Price forwards and futures using the cost of carry model.
- Price options and other derivative securities using the one-period and multi-period binomial model.
- Price options using the Black-Scholes option pricing model.
- Hedge forwards and futures.
- Hedge options using the binomial model or the Black-Scholes model.
- The acquired theoretical and practical knowledge provided by the course should enable the student to understand and apply the basic principle behind the pricing and hedging of derivative instruments such as replication and arbitrage. In addition, the student would acquire the ability to appreciate the financial and economic opportunities that derivative instruments offer while also being able to critically assess their role and practical value in light of how these products are being used in practice.
- Introduction to derivatives markets and derivative instruments
- Basic strategies, insurance, hedging and speculation using options and futures
- Financial forwards and futures: pricing and hedging
- Commodity forwards and futures: pricing and cross-hedging
- Parity and other option price relations
- Binomial option pricing
- Black-Scholes option pricing
- Option Greeks and hedging
- Interest rate forwards and futures (if time allows)
The acquired theoretical and practical knowledge provided by the course should enable the student to understand and apply the basic principle behind the pricing and hedging of derivative instruments such as replication and arbitrage. In addition, the student would acquire the ability to appreciate the financial and economic opportunities that derivative instruments offer while also being able to critically assess their role and practical value in light of how these products are being used in practice.
Spreadsheets (Excel) will be used for certain practical applications and examples. It is recommended that students become familiar with their use.
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Higher Education Entrance Qualification.
This course is based on skills from other courses from the Bachelor of Finance program, such as Financial Markets, Financial Investment Analysis, and Mathematical/Statistical Analysis. Students taking this course as an elective must have equivalent skills.
| Assessments |
|---|
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Structured test Invigilation Weight: 100 Grouping: Individual Support materials:
Duration: 3 Hour(s) Exam code: FIN36212 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination every semester |
| Activity | Duration | Comment |
|---|---|---|
Teaching | 36 Hour(s) | |
Feedback activities and counselling | 9 Hour(s) | |
Student's own work with learning resources | 95 Hour(s) | Including preparation for the final examination. |
Group work / Assignments | 60 Hour(s) |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 7,5 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of at least 200 hours.