A Course in Derivative Securities

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XV

   PDF

2. Introduction to Option Pricing

   1. Asset Pricing Basics

      Pages 3-25

   2. Continuous-Time Models

      Pages 27-48

   3. Black-Scholes

      Pages 49-69

   4. Estimating and Modelling Volatility

      Pages 71-85

   5. Introduction to Monte Carlo and Binomial Models

      Pages 87-108

3. Advanced Option Pricing

   1. Foreign Exchange

      Pages 111-127

   2. Forward, Futures, and Exchange Options

      Pages 129-153

   3. Exotic Options

      Pages 155-196

   4. More on Monte Carlo and Binomial Valuation

      Pages 197-218

   5. Finite Difference Methods

      Pages 219-233

4. Fixed Income

   1. Fixed Income Concepts

      Pages 237-251

   2. Introduction to Fixed Income Derivatives

      Pages 253-264

   3. Valuing Derivatives in the Extended Vasicek Model

      Pages 265-294

   4. A Brief Survey of Term Structure Models

      Pages 295-317

5. Back Matter

   Pages 319-355

   PDF

This book is an outgrowth of notes compiled by the author while teaching courses for undergraduate and masters/MBA ?nance students at Washi- ton University in St. Louis and the Institut fur ¨ H¨ ohere Studien in Vienna. At onetime,acourseinOptionsandFutureswasconsideredanadvanced?nance elective, but now such a course is nearly mandatory for any ?nance major and is an elective chosen by many non-?nance majors as well. Moreover, students are exposed to derivative securities in courses on Investments, International Finance, Risk Management, Investment Banking, Fixed Income, etc. This - pansion of education in derivative securities mirrors the increased importance of derivative securities in corporate ?nance and investment management. MBA and undergraduate courses typically (and appropriately) focus on the use of derivatives for hedging and speculating. This is su?cient for many students. However, the seller of derivatives, in addition to needing to und- standbuy-sidedemands,isconfrontedwiththeneedtopriceandhedge.Mo- over,thebuyerofderivatives,dependingonthedegreeofcompetitionbetween sellers, may very likely bene?t from some knowledge of pricing as well. It is “pricing and hedging” that is the primary focus of this book. Through lea- ing the fundamentals of pricing and hedging, students also acquire a deeper understanding of the contracts themselves. Hopefully, this book will also be of use to practitioners and for students in Masters of Financial Engineering programs and, to some extent, Ph.D. students in ?nance.

• Asset Pricing
• Derivative Securities
• Futures
• Option Pricing
• Options
• Probability theory
• Volatility
• linear optimization
• quantitative finance

From the reviews of the first edition:

"Professor Back has written a superb book on advanced derivatives. The book provides wonderfully clear explanations without sacrificing mathematical accuracy. I highly recommend this book for everyone who wants to understand more about this fascinating and important area."
(Mark Broadie, Columbia University, New York)
"Professor Kerry Back's book fills a void in the derivative literature by providing an excellent and much needed book for a second course in derivatives. The clear presentation and the choice of VBA as the software tool makes this a perfect textbook for such a course. Using VBA via excel is an excellent choice as it exhibits an "open source" environment that is readily available for users."
(Eliezer Z. Prisman, York University, Toronto)

"This book deals with pricing and hedging financial derivatives. … Computational methods are introduced and the text contains the Excel VBA routines corresponding to the formulas and procedures described in the book. This is valuable since computer simulation can help readers understand the theory. … The book under review succeeds in presenting intuitively advanced derivative modelling … . In my opinion, it provides a useful bridge between introductory books and the more advanced literature." (Benjamin Jourdain, Mathematical Reviews, Issue 2006 h)

"This book contains a practical introduction to the mathematics of financial engineering. It can serve as an excellent bridge between the introductory books on derivative securities and those that provide advanced mathematical treatments. … the book presents a very wide spectrum of the problems and methods concerned with pricing and hedging derivatives in a quite accessible way. … it can be strongly recommended not only to be used as a course but also for those wishing to train themselves in this field." (Malgorzata Doman, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1085, 2006)

"Thestrength of this book is in its clarity in exposition of the complex … modern financial mathematics. The book is self-contained, and a student can learn the key elements of the main toolkits in financial engineering … . Further, the book provides useful exercises and VBA programs so that the students can simulate the results … . I recommend the book to an MBA program … . The book could also be used in some master programs in financial engineering and mathematical finance." (Thomas S. Y. Ho, SIAM Review, Vol. 48 (3), 2006)

• Department of Finance, Mays Business School, Texas A&M University, College Station, USA

  Kerry Back

Kerry Back holds the Jerry and Kay Cox Professorship of Business and the Thomas W. Leland Memorial Professorship of Finance at Texas A&M University. Before joining Texas A&M in 2005, he was a chaired professor at Washington University in St. Louis. His awards and honors include a Batterymarch Fellowship (1991-92), a best paper award at the Review of Financial Studies (1993) the Reid Teaching Award at Washington University in St. Louis (1997, 1998, 1999, 2001), and the Washington University Distinguished Faculty Award (1999). He is a past editor of the Review of Financial Studies and is currently co-editor of Finance and Stochastics and an associate editor of the Journal of Finance.

Policies and ethics