FIN 4250 - Financial Derivatives (3)

Type: In-Person Class Meeting

06:30 PM - 09:20 PM

Main Campus Campus | South Foundation Hall | Room 269

Introduces students to various derivative products such as futures, forwards, swaps and options. Commonly used financial derivatives and their use in various hedging and speculative objectives will be addressed along with various frameworks for pricing derivatives.
Prerequisite(s): FIN 3600 with a minimum grade of (C) and major standing.

I will post PowerPoint slides, assignments, solutions to assignments, and tests on Moodie. Please check it regularly for any announcements. Once an announcement is posted on Moodie, I will assume that all students are aware of it.

Course Purpose and Objectives

This course will introduce students to derivatives such as forwards, futures, swaps, and options. Students will learn the main features of the most commonly used financial derivatives and will understand how to use them to achieve various hedging and speculating objectives. Students will also be introduced to various frameworks for pricing derivatives, and study several applications of derivative-pricing techniques outside derivative markets.

Grading Policy: Course grade will be based on the following components:

I Midterm exam I Final exam 5 Assignments Class Participation Total

20%

20%

50% (10% each)

10%

100%

Your final course grade will be converted to the official Oakland University’s 32 point grading scale using the following cutoffs. No grades will be awarded for individual components.

Grading Scale

Considered “A”s

4.0 100%- 99

3.9 98-97

3.8 96-95

3.7 94-93

3.6 92-90

Considered  ”B”s

3.5 89 -87

3.4 86-85

3.3 84-83

3.2 82-80

Considered “C”s

3.1 79-79

3.0 78-78

2.9 77-77

2.8  76-76

2.7 75-75

2.6 74-74

2.5 73-73

2.4 72-72

2.3 71 - 71

2.2 70-70

Considered “D”s

2.0 68-68

2.1 69-69

1.9 67-67

1.8 66-66

1.7 65-65

1.6 64-64

1.5 63-63

1.4 62-62

1.3 61 - 61

1.2 60-59

1.1 58-57

1.0 56-55

Additional information about exams and assignments:

Exams and assignments are problem-oriented but will  also  include  some  theoretical questions to ensure students understand the conceptual material. The exams and quizzes are  non-comprehensive, although some material are pervasive to the course and may subsequently, or at least tangentially, be involved in each exam.

All Exams are closed book but a calculator may be used for all exams.

You will be allowed one page of note sheet (letter size paper, both sides for the exams. The note sheet must not contain any solved example or problem. Any violation would result in a zero grade for that particular exam. You may also bring a calculator manual, if you need one, to the examinations.

Since the exam dates are specified in advance, any unexcused absence will be graded as a failure. If there is a time conflict, please talk to the instructor and reschedule in advance.

There will be five assignments in total. You will get at least one week to work on the assignment. Preparing assignments in a group often leads to a better understanding of the material than when the assignments are submitted individually. For this reason, assignments may be submitted in groups of three or four students. If you choose to complete the assignments by hand, please do so neatly. You must show all necessary working to receive full credit. Finally, please ensure that you staple all your pages together before you turn in the assignment.

Important Dates:

March  1’1 February 22”d: March 291h: April 191h:

Midterm  Exam  (6:30PM- 8:30PM) Winter Recess (No Class)

No Class (Tentative)

Final Exam (7:00PM- 9:00PM)