GraduateTutor.com provides tutoring for Fordham University’s School of Business’ introductory options and futures course titled Options and Futures Markets. It is coded as FNGB7431. This course introduces the concepts of futures, options and derivative contracts and the applications of options, futures and derivatives. Students will gain an understanding of derivative products and will be armed with the analytical tools to make good investment/managerial decisions.
The Options and Futures Markets (FNGB7431) course is divided into two parts. One part covers the relatively simple forward and futures contracts, whose valuations are derived using simple no-arbitrage arguments. This part of the course emphasizes understanding the economic intuition behind derivative securities and does not require complicated mathematics. The second part of the course covers the more advanced (and more interesting) instruments – options and its variants. We will progress from the simplest Binomial option pricing formula to the well-known Black-Scholes option formula (Nobel prize in economics, 1997). Extensions to more complicated products such as American Options, Futures Options, etc., will also be considered. This part of the course emphasizes the model-based pricing methodologies.
This course has also been taught at Fordham University’s School of Business by Professor Dean Leistikow in Summer 2010 among others. The syllabus for Professor Dean Leistikow is a little different and is from the International Political Economy and Development side.
FNGB7431: Options and Futures Markets by Professor Yuewu Xu
The official textbook for The Options and Futures Markets (FNGB7431) is Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives by John C. Hull. In addition to the text book there will be notes and other related materials distributed in class and through the The Options and Futures Markets FNGB7431 Blackboard website. Students in this course will need access to MatLab & Simulink (student version) and a scientific calculator for class exercises as well as exams. The Bloomberg Terminals are available to students in the library too. Fordham students can create a Bloomberg account and use it to get market information required for the Options and Futures Markets class.
Recommended Reading for the Options and Futures Markets (FNGB7431) course
Other books and papers recommended for the Options and Futures Markets class which cover the development of option pricing theories are:
- Fischer Black and the Revolutionary Idea of Finance by Perry Mehrling, Wiley (June 24, 2005)
- When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management, by Roger Lowenstein, Random House, 2000
- Inventing Money: The Story of Long-Term Capital Management and the Legends Behind It, by Nicholas Dunbar, John Wiley & Sons, 200.
- Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Barrons and similar financial media
Other details for the Options and Futures Markets FNGB7431
The Options and Futures Markets class had 5 homework assignments during the course duration. It had one midterm exam covering the options theory covered during the first half of the exam and one final exam that covered the entire course. The Options and Futures Markets FNGB7431 class requires students to make a presentation in student groups on derivatives currently used. Home work assignments account for 20% of the grade, the mid term 35%, the final 35% and the presentation 10%. The exams are closed-book with access to a double sided hand-written sheet cheat of A4 size.
Course Topics for Options and Futures Markets FNGB7431
- Introduction to Options and Options Markets
- Basic Properties of Options
- Trading Strategies Involving Options
- The Binomial Model of Option Pricing
- Black-Scholes Option Pricing Model
- The Greeks Letters: Management of Market Risks
- Binomial Model in Practice
- Applications of Options
- Introduction to Forward and Futures Markets
- Hedging using Futures and Forwards Contracts
- Pricing of Futures Contracts; Index, Currency and Commodity Futures