Welcome
to my course on financial derivatives. This is the second course in a
sequence of finance courses offered to students at Harvey Mudd
College. This course is designed to be an extension of Economics 104, my
introductory finance course, which is a prerequisite for this course.
To get a better idea of the topics that we are going to cover, look at the course calendar. The topics to be covered include a review of measures of risk and volatility, a discussion and analysis of put and call options, futures and forward contracts, futures and options, We give special emphasis to understanding and using the value and pricing models, and volatility models.
Mostly
we want to explore the exotic and fascinating world of financial
derivatives. We will begin by simply understanding how they work and for
what purpose they are used. Then we probe a little more deeply, after
discussing arbitrage and hedging possibilities, to develop rational
explanations of their pricing and valuation. We also want students to be
aware of the opportunities for hedging and reducing risk offered by
derivatives, and to think strategically about their use for these purposes. By
the end of the class, students should feel comfortable about this complex
financial environment.
Some of
you may choose to work in finance for hedge funds, as investment analysts, and
so forth. Every year we seem to place more students into this industry (why? because
they love quants!!). This course is carefully tailored to help prepare you
for job interviews and work in this field.
This
course requires that you have taken Economics 104, Financial Markets, or the
equivalent at another college. Generally, a student in this class must be
very familiar with the structure and operations of equity and bond markets
because this course covers the market for derivatives that are derived from
those fundamental markets. There is no review of those markets in this
class. It is assumed that you know this material already.
The
textbook assigned for this course is Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives,
by John C. Hull, 8th edition, ISBN 0132777428 or any edition if you can get it cheaper, although
you will have to sync the chapters to the 8th edition, which is not hard to do. Do not buy this book before we meet for the
first time.
Unlike
some of my other courses, because this course content is so advanced, I rely
upon Hull's textbook in this course. Bottom line here: you can’t cut corners, you have to buy and read this book.
Much of
our class information comes from some very detailed PowerPoint slides that I
will use in my lectures. We will also rely upon a lot of reading material
that is available free from the internet. When
the time comes we will simply find it (I provide the URLs), download it, print
it, and read it, all for free! The internet has
proven to be an increasingly reliable source of good material for courses like
this. These slides are posted on web page http://www2.hmc.edu/~evans/e136ls.htm.
We also have some interactive course assignments, most of which are based upon applications in Excel workbooks. Some of these we will do together in class, and some you will do after class hours. These assignments will be made available on the course assignments web page, http://www2.hmc.edu/~evans/e136ca.html . Postings to this page will be made as the class proceeds. I will tell you during lectures when it is time to do one of these assignments, but it is nonetheless a good idea to check the course assignments page from time to time. These homework assignments are typically not corrected and are not graded, but exam questions are sometimes based upon these assignments and in some cases I require you to bring the completed assignment to the examination to extract material for exam questions.
Your
grade for this course will be based upon your accumulated scores from three equally-weighted exams, including the final exam. It is easy
to make mistakes when grading exams. Your final grade will be based upon a
final distribution for the class after the final has been taken. The cutoff
points for different letter grades are not determined until I have evaluated
that final distribution. If you are concerned about your grade prior to the
final, do not ask me what score you will have to earn to meet your grade
target. I will not know because I will not have seen the final distribution. I
don’t (really can’t) give extra credit assignments to compensate for low exam
scores.
You
have the right to appeal a grade on an exam so long as the following procedure
is used:
To appeal a grade on an exam, you must submit to me the basis of your complaint (explaining why you should have been given a higher score) in writing on an 8 1/2" by 11" sheet of paper within a week of receiving back your graded exam. I will be willing to talk to you at length about your exam, but not about changing the score on your exam, unless you have first followed the procedure above. To this rule I make one exception: if I have improperly posted your grade because I made a mistake adding the score, you need only tell me.
Policy on Pass/No Pass: I automatically allow any student who wishes to
take the course on a P/NP basis to do so if the student is eligible. HOWEVER,
to receive a passing grade the student must have accumulated enough points
to receive the equivalent
C- or better! Prior to the final, do not ask me how many points
you must earn on the final to pass. I will not tell you because I will not
know. Your final grade will depend upon the final distribution after the
final has been taken. Also, if you are P/NP status, to earn a passing grade for
this class, regardless of your prior scores, you must pass the final exam. If you receive a score on the final exam
alone that I deem to be a failing grade, and you are registered as a P/NP
student, I will assign an F for the course. This policy does not apply to students taking the course for a
grade (because you are merely going to get a very low grade).
VIDEO AND AUDIO: You are not allowed to use video or audio recording equipment in my classroom without my express written permission (permission by email constitutes written permission). If you have some reason to do it, you might ask and I might allow it. There are two reasons for this: (1) all of my material including oral presentations is my copyrighted material and I have the right to control it, and more important, (2) unauthorized recordings can have a stifling affect upon free and open speech. What goes on in the classroom is between you and me, not you and me and everyone who watches YouTube.
I do
hold regular office hours, which will be announced in class but, given your
busy schedules, whatever hours I might choose might conflict with most of
yours. If you merely drop by there is a good chance you will find me. I do make
appointments - that way we can meet at a time convenient to both of us. The
best way to make an appointment is by email. If you ask after class and I don't
have my calendar with me, I might forget! My email address is
garyrevans@gmail.com or evans@g,hmc.edu
The detailed schedule for the course, including exams, is shown on the course calendar.