Key Market Concepts

This is an age of innovation. A time when industries are evolving quicker than most of us can comprehend. A time of technological change when deals and communications take place at the speed of light, when the strategies and system of tomorrow are needed today, and when survival is not just down to the knowledge you posses, but to knowing how to apply it.

in the finance industry these developments and changes are occurring quicker than in any other commercial sector. Market professionals are not only being faced with a blizzard of new financial instruments and concepts, they are also being expected to understand them and know how to use them to full effect.

Key Market Concepts is a practical reference tool for anyone in the finance industry, helping professionals stay on top of the game. It provides full explanations of 100 essential financial terms, providing you with detail of what each concept is, how it works, when it is likely to arise, and how best to use it.

Key Market Concept's accessible nature and comprehensive insights will shed light on the more bewildering financial terms in use today, and will ensure that you're not left behind in the race for tomorrow's profits.

• Time Value of Money
• Simple Interest and Compound Interest
• Equivalent Rate, Effective Rate and Continuously Compounded Rate
• Future Value (FV), Present Value (PV), Rate of Discount and Discount Factor
• Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal rate of Return (IRR)
• Annuity
• Zero-Coupon Yield and Yield Curve
• Zero-coupon Yield, the Spot Yield Curve and Bootstrapping
• The Par Yield Curve
• The Forward-forward Yield Curve
• The Money Markets
• Descount Rate and True Yield
• Value Dates, Interpolation and Extrrapolation
• Forward-Forwards, FRAs and Futures
• Forward-forward Interest Rate
• Forward Rate Agreement (FRA)
• STIR Futures Contract and Margin
• Basis Risk
• Spread
• Strip
• The Bond and Repo Markets
• Accrued Interest, Clean price and Dirty Price
• Money Market Basis and Bond Basis
• Yield to Maturity
• Current Yield and Simple Yield to Maturity
• Bond Futures, Conversion Factor and Cheapest-to-deliver (CTD)
• Cash-and-carry Arbitrage and Implied Repo Rate
• Zero-coupon Security and Strip
• Duration, Modified Duration, Price Value of a Basis Point (PVB) and Convexity
• Hedge Ratio
• Repo and Reverse Repo
• Haircut and Margin
• Sell/Buy-back and Buy/Sell-back
• Securities Lending/Borrowing
• The Swaps Market
• Interest Rate Swap (IRS)
• Asset Swap and Liability Swap
• Currency Swap
• Foreign Exchange
• Cross-rate
• Forward Outright and Forward Swap
• Short dates
• Forward-forward Exchange Rate
• Non-deliverable Forward (NDF)
• Options
• Calls and Puts
• The Black and Scholes Pricing Model
• Historic Volatility and Implied Volatility
• Binominal Pricing Model
• The Put /Call Parity
• Cap, Floor, Collar and Zero-cost Option
• Break Forward, Range Forward and Participation Forward
• Options Trading Strategies: Straddle, Strangle, Spread, Butterfly, Condor, Ratio Spread and Risk Reversal
• Barrier Options: Knock-out Option and Knock-in Option
• The 'Greeks': Delta, Gamma, Vega, Theta and Rho
• Risk Management
• Variance and Standard Deviation
• Correlation and Covariance
• Value at Risk (VAR)
• The Capital Adequacy Ratio
• Appendices
• Glossary
• Day/Year Conventions

Recommended to everybody that needs to understand the financial markets and their instruments. You need some financial theory beforehand, though.