Package Features
Disclaimer:
This course has been designed for educational purposes only. Any examples used are in no way meant to be investment advice or recommendations. Options are leveraged financial products that entail risk. Always consult your financial advisor before taking any investment action.
Each module is a bridge to the practical world from the academic world. This course is presented from the perspective of a retail investor rather than an institutional investor as is common in most finance textbooks and within the CFA program. You will be presented with the academic foundations of concepts which are critical for developing your skill. You will then be given the practical application will which is critical to developing your experience.
** individual module purchase ONLY – does not include access to the other modules
Applied Options
Module Outline:
This course will lead you through a significant number of option strategies designed for Income, Volatility, Direction. Each strategy introduced will be described in terms of payoff diagrams, risk exposures, and usage scenarios. Several examples will also be introduced for each option strategy using market relevant examples. You will learn how to incorporate the level and term structure of skew into your decisions, how to use options to salvage a losing position, and portfolio level risk management with options by monitoring your net dollar-delta-beta.
The course begins with an introduction to options modelled after John Hull’s textbook “Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives” and learning concepts found in the CFA program (L1/L2/L3).
** this module ONLY – does not include access to the other modules
Portfolio Construction/Management
Module Outline:
This extended series, included in the Applied Series Bundle, is intended to introduce you to a variety of trades/positions across a number of asset classes using a number of different securities (equities, forex, options, futures). The series begins with setting up your system for market monitoring and scanning (screens for rates, treasuries, key forex rates, commodities, equities, etc) along with a statement of your investment philosophy and the rules by which you will manage your positions/portfolio.
Each week, a new trade setup will be introduced that you can replicate in your paper portfolio. It is important to experience how to trade a security/basket of securities, how moves in the underlying affect your portfolio value, volatility, and potential margin requirements.
A key exercise will involve taking some trades with a high degree of loss, then using risk management techniques to nullify the loss.
The best method to develop passion for finance and markets is to just jump right in. However, that can be dangerous with real money. This module allows you to paper trade your way to experience – the cheapest tuition of life. Make mistakes here, learn how to salvage a loss here, execute simple to complex trades here.
Examples of trades that will be explored:
- Sector/factor tilts
- Carry trades
- Income factories
- Curve trades
- Duration trades/positions
- Futures curve trades
- Hedging forex and active positions
- Portfolio risk management
- Synthetic cash
- Hedging
- Deleveraging
- Loss minimization/nullification
There are a number of sources through which you can manage a paper portfolio. I will be demonstrating system setup, trade execution, and portfolio risk management using Interactive Brokers – specifically Trader Workstation. You are free to use whatever system you have access to, you need not use IB.
** this module ONLY – does not include access to the other modules
