Derivatives

Overview

Class Central Tips

This course covers standard derivative pricing models. Both discrete time and continuous time techniques are considered. The course also includes an introduction to numerical option pricing, in particular the Monte Carlo Method. After this course, students should have a good knowledge of financial markets, security pricing, arbitrage, interest rates, risk and return. Contents: 1) Definition and classification of financial assets 2) Discrete-time pricing models 3) Continuous-time pricing models 4) Fixed income products 5) Monte Carlo methods for derivative pricing

Syllabus

Financial assets

By the end of this week you will learn: fixing some notation; describe the pay-off structure of financial assets; evaluate possible usages of derivatives (hedging, speculation).

Discrete time models

By the end of this week, you will understand the replication of a payoff function, state prices and risk neutral probabilities. Additionally, you will learn how to compute option prices in discrete time models.

Continuous time models

By the end of this week, you will learn about stochastic processes and Itô's lemma, financial markets in continuous time, and option pricing in continuous time.