Derivatives
Derivatives in short lessons: how forwards, futures, swaps and options are priced and valued, with the payoffs drawn out and the exam traps flagged.
My deck- 01
Derivative Instrument and Derivative Market FeaturesLocked: included in All Access
What a derivative is and the features every contract shares (underlying, counterparties, maturity, settlement, contract size), the split between firm commitments and contingent claims, why issuers and investors use derivatives, the main underlyings from equities to credit, and how over-the-counter and exchange-traded markets work, including central clearing through a CCP.
- What a derivative is and how a contract is builtLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Firm commitments, contingent claims and why derivatives are usedLocked: included in All Access12 min
- Derivative underlyings: equities, rates, currencies, commodities, creditLocked: included in All Access15 min
- OTC and exchange-traded derivative marketsLocked: included in All Access14 min
- Central clearing and central counterpartiesLocked: included in All Access12 min
- 02
Forward Commitment and Contingent Claim Features and InstrumentsLocked: included in All Access
The main derivative instruments and how they pay off: forwards, futures and swaps as firm commitments with linear payoffs, options and credit default swaps as contingent claims with one-sided payoffs, the value and profit of long and short calls and puts at expiration, and how a forward compares with a call or a short put on the same underlying.
- Forward contracts and firm commitmentsLocked: included in All Access11 min
- Futures contracts and daily settlementVideo · 6 minLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Swaps as a series of forwardsVideo · 6 minLocked: included in All Access11 min
- Options and call payoffsVideo · 6 minLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Put payoffs and the four option positionsVideo · 6 minLocked: included in All Access12 min
- Credit default swapsVideo · 5 minLocked: included in All Access11 min
- Forward commitments versus contingent claimsVideo · 5 minLocked: included in All Access12 min
- 03
Derivative Benefits, Risks, and Issuer and Investor UsesLocked: included in All Access
Why market participants use derivatives (risk transfer, new exposures, price discovery, operational and market efficiency), what can go wrong (implicit leverage, complexity, basis, liquidity, counterparty credit and systemic risk), and how issuers and investors differ in the way they use them, including hedge accounting.
- Benefit 1: transferring risk and creating new exposuresLocked: included in All Access12 min
- Benefits 2–4: price discovery, operational and market efficiencyLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Risks 1: implicit leverage and lack of transparencyLocked: included in All Access12 min
- Risks 2: basis, liquidity, counterparty credit and systemic riskLocked: included in All Access13 min
- How issuers use derivatives: hedging and hedge accountingLocked: included in All Access13 min
- How investors use derivatives, and issuers versus investorsLocked: included in All Access12 min
- 04
Arbitrage, Replication, and the Cost of Carry in Pricing DerivativesLocked: included in All Access
Why no-arbitrage pins a forward price to the spot price, how a forward can be rebuilt from the underlying plus borrowing or lending, and how the cost of carry (the risk-free rate, storage costs, dividends, coupons, convenience yield or a second currency's interest rate) decides whether the forward price sits above or below spot.
- Arbitrage and the law of one priceVideo · 5 minLocked: included in All Access11 min
- Replicating a forward commitmentVideo · 5 minLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Exploiting a mispriced forward, and the role of r and TLocked: included in All Access11 min
- The cost of carry: income and costs of owning the underlyingVideo · 6 minLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Commodities, convenience yield and carry by asset classVideo · 5 minLocked: included in All Access11 min
- FX forwards: carry as an interest rate differentialLocked: included in All Access12 min
- 05
Pricing and Valuation of Forward Contracts and for an Underlying with Varying MaturitiesLocked: included in All Access
How a forward's price is set once at inception while its value starts at zero, drifts with the spot price, time and interest rates, and ends as the settlement amount; how carry costs, income and two interest rates (for FX) change that valuation; and how zero rates, discount factors and implied forward rates are derived for interest rates, which have a term structure, and used to price forward rate agreements.
- Forward price versus forward value: inception and expirationLocked: included in All Access11 min
- Valuing a forward during its lifeVideo · 6 minLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Forwards on assets with costs and benefitsLocked: included in All Access12 min
- Pricing and valuing FX forwardsVideo · 6 minLocked: included in All Access12 min
- Term structure: zero rates and discount factorsLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Implied forward ratesVideo · 6 minLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Forward rate agreements (FRAs)Video · 6 minLocked: included in All Access13 min
- 06
Pricing and Valuation of Futures ContractsLocked: included in All Access
How futures are priced at inception exactly like forwards, how daily settlement through a margin account changes their value over time, how short-term interest rate futures are quoted and compared with FRAs, and why forward and futures prices can differ: interest rate correlation and volatility, the convexity bias, and the narrowing effect of central clearing.
- Pricing a futures contract at inceptionLocked: included in All Access11 min
- Mark-to-market: futures versus forwardsLocked: included in All Access14 min
- Short-term interest rate futures versus FRAsVideo · 5 minLocked: included in All Access12 min
- Why forward and futures prices can differLocked: included in All Access11 min
- Convexity bias and the effect of central clearingLocked: included in All Access13 min
- 07
Pricing and Valuation of Interest Rates and Other SwapsLocked: included in All Access
How an interest rate swap relates to a series of forward rate agreements, how its price (the par swap rate) is solved from zero rates and implied forward rates, why issuers and investors prefer swaps, and how a swap's value starts at zero and then moves with periodic settlements, the passage of time and changes in expected forward rates.
- Swaps versus a series of forward rate agreementsLocked: included in All Access12 min
- Pricing a swap: the par swap rateVideo · 5 minLocked: included in All Access14 min
- Why issuers and investors use swapsLocked: included in All Access12 min
- Swap price versus swap valueVideo · 5 minLocked: included in All Access13 min
- How swap values change: time, rates and credit exposureLocked: included in All Access13 min
- 08
Pricing and Valuation of OptionsLocked: included in All Access
How an option's price splits into exercise value and time value, what moneyness tells you, why no-arbitrage sets upper and lower bounds on European call and put prices, how replicating an option differs from replicating a forward, and how the underlying price, exercise price, time, interest rate, volatility and carry benefits or costs push option values up or down.
- Payoff at expiration and exercise value before itLocked: included in All Access12 min
- Moneyness: in, at and out of the moneyLocked: included in All Access10 min
- Time value and time value decayLocked: included in All Access11 min
- Arbitrage: forwards versus options, and option price boundsVideo · 6 minLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Replication: forwards versus optionsLocked: included in All Access11 min
- Factors that determine an option's valueVideo · 6 minLocked: included in All Access14 min
- 09
Option Replication Using Put–Call ParityLocked: included in All Access
Why a fiduciary call and a protective put must cost the same, how that put–call parity relationship prices one European option from the other and exposes arbitrage, how rearranging it builds synthetic calls, puts, shares, bonds and covered calls, how swapping the share for a forward gives put–call forward parity, and how the same logic describes equity as a call and risky debt as a bond minus a put on firm value.
- Fiduciary call, protective put and put–call parityVideo · 6 minLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Arbitrage when put–call parity failsLocked: included in All Access11 min
- Synthetic positions and option strategies from parityVideo · 6 minLocked: included in All Access12 min
- Put–call forward parityLocked: included in All Access12 min
- Put–call parity and the value of the firmLocked: included in All Access11 min
- 10
Valuing a Derivative Using a One-Period Binomial ModelLocked: included in All Access
How a one-period binomial model values a European option: let the underlying move up or down, combine the option with a hedge ratio of the underlying to build a riskless portfolio, discount at the risk-free rate, and see why the same answer comes from risk-neutral probabilities that ignore real-world probabilities and investor risk preferences.
- Why options need a price model: the one-period binomial setupLocked: included in All Access11 min
- The hedge ratio and the riskless portfolioVideo · 6 minLocked: included in All Access12 min
- From the riskless hedge to the option priceLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Risk neutrality and risk-neutral probabilitiesVideo · 5 minLocked: included in All Access12 min
- What does and does not move a binomial option valueLocked: included in All Access11 min