Preface
The aim of this book is to present a clear exposition of key results on pricing, hedging, and speculation using derivative securities. The emphasis is on drawing out the practical uses of derivatives. The reader needs only to have undertaken an introductory course in finance, together with some basic statistics and simple algebra, including calculus. The mathematics and statistics have been kept to a minimum, with the emphasis on intuitive explanations and practical applications. For those requiring some revision of basic finance concepts, these can be found in a companion text by K. Cuthbertson and D. Nitzsche, Investments (2nd edition, John Wiley, 2008).
The material has been successfully used on non-specialist MBA degrees, 3rd-year undergraduate and MSc courses in derivatives, as well as with participants in executive education courses from banks, law firms and other financial institutions. The topics have been broken down into relatively short chapters so that it is easy for the instructor to set up their own lecture course based on the book and we also provide a substantial amount of complementary material.
Our emphasis on practical aspects has, for example, allowed us to discuss the use of derivatives by hedge funds, the use of strip and stack hedges by corporates, the use of put–call parity to market ‘guaranteed bonds’ and analysing how risky the stock market can be for long-term investors. In addition, there is an analysis of how collateralised debt obligations ...