08 V2_20140104_英文notes_衍生.doc

金程教育WWW.GFEDU.NET 专业?领先?增值 PAGE30 / NUMPAGES65 专业来自百分百的投入 Chapter 8: Derivatives Knowledge Instruction Given their reputation as exotic, highly complex and specialized financial instruments, derivatives may be a somewhat intimidating topic. In reality, they have been in existence in simple forms for decades and the concept behind them is not difficult to understand. For Level I of the CFA program, the majority of the learning outcome statements concern definitions or descriptions of the various types of securities and strategies that are currently in the marketplace, such as options, futures and swaps Professor’s Note Remember that the CFA Level 1 exam is multiple choices. The calculations and diagrams that you will be required to know are fairly basic. Any time that you are asked to make a calculation concerning a derivative structure or trade, draw a diagram first. That way, you can visualize where the payments are going as well as the type of payments that will be made to each counterparty before following through with the calculation Derivatives Markets and Derivatives Contracts Summary for Test Definiton of derivatives The classification of derivatives The advantages and disadvantages of derivatives What is a Derivative Terminology Derivative: A derivative is a financial contract which derives its value from the performance of another entity such as an asset, index, or interest rate, called the underlying.Derivatives are one of the three main categories of financial instruments, the other two being equities (i.e. stocks) and debt (i.e. bonds and mortgages). Professor’s Note The financial instruments weve considered so far - stocks, bonds, commodities and currencies - are generally referred to as cash instruments (or sometimes, primary instruments). The value of cash instruments is determined directly by markets. By contrast, a HYPERLINK /terms/d/derivative.asp derivative derives its value from the value