Risk Neutral Valuation

With a simple approach accessible to a wide audience, this book aims for the heart of mathematical finance: the fundamental formula of arbitrage pricing theory. This method of pricing discounts everything and takes expected values under the equivalent martingale measure. The authors approach is simple and excludes unnecessary proofs of measure-theoretic probability, instead, it favors techniques and examples of proven interest to financial practitioners.

Risk Neutral Pricing and Financial Mathematics: A Primer provides a foundation to financial mathematics for those whose undergraduate quantitative preparation does not extend beyond calculus, statistics, and linear math. It covers a broad range of foundation topics related to financial modeling, including probability, discrete and continuous time and space valuation, stochastic processes, equivalent martingales, option pricing, and term structure models, along with related valuation and hedging techniques. The joint effort of two authors with a combined 70 years of academic and practitioner experience, Risk Neutral Pricing and Financial Mathematics takes a reader from learning the basics of beginning probability, with a refresher on differential calculus, all the way to Doob-Meyer, Ito, Girsanov, and SDEs. It can also serve as a useful resource for actuaries preparing for Exams FM and MFE (Society of Actuaries) and Exams 2 and 3F (Casualty Actuarial Society). Includes more subjects than other books, including probability, discrete and continuous time and space valuation, stochastic processes, equivalent martingales, option pricing, term structure models, valuation, and hedging techniques Emphasizes introductory financial engineering, financial modeling, and financial mathematics Suited for corporate training programs and professional association certification programs

With a simple approach accessible to a wide audience, this book aims for the heart of mathematical finance: the fundamental formula of arbitrage pricing theory. This method of pricing discounts everything and takes expected values under the equivalent martingale measure. The authors approach is simple and excludes unnecessary proofs of measure-theoretic probability, instead, it favors techniques and examples of proven interest to financial practitioners.

Trading and Pricing Financial Derivatives is an introduction to the world of futures, options, and swaps. Investors who are interested in deepening their knowledge of derivatives of all kinds will find this book to be an invaluable resource. The book is also useful in a very applied course on derivative trading. The authors delve into the history of options pricing; simple strategies of options trading; binomial tree valuation; Black-Scholes option valuation; option sensitivities; risk management and interest rate swaps in this immensely informative yet easy to comprehend work. Using their vast working experience in the financial markets at international investment banks and hedge funds since the late 1990s and teaching derivatives and investment courses at the Master's level, Patrick Boyle and Jesse McDougall put forth their knowledge and expertise in clearly explained concepts. This book does not presuppose advanced mathematical knowledge, though it is presented for completeness for those that may benefit from it, and is designed for a general audience, suitable for beginners through to those with intermediate knowledge of the subject.

Neoclassical Finance provides a concise and powerful account of the underlying principles of modern finance, drawing on a generation of theoretical and empirical advances in the field. Stephen Ross developed the no arbitrage principle, tying asset pricing to the simple proposition that there are no free lunches in financial markets, and jointly with John Cox he developed the related concept of risk-neutral pricing. In this book Ross makes a strong case that these concepts are the fundamental pillars of modern finance and, in particular, of market efficiency. In an efficient market prices reflect the information possessed by the market and, as a consequence, trading schemes using commonly available information to beat the market are doomed to fail. By stark contrast, the currently popular stance offered by behavioral finance, fueled by a number of apparent anomalies in the financial markets, regards market prices as subject to the psychological whims of investors. But without any appeal to psychology, Ross shows that neoclassical theory provides a simple and rich explanation that resolves many of the anomalies on which behavioral finance has been fixated. Based on the inaugural Princeton Lectures in Finance, sponsored by the Bendheim Center for Finance of Princeton University, this elegant book represents a major contribution to the ongoing debate on market efficiency, and serves as a useful primer on the fundamentals of finance for both scholars and practitioners.