A derivative is a financial instrument whose price is derived from one or more underlying assets. Thus, in very simple words, the price and value of a derivative stem from its underlying assets. The underlying assets can be anything that have some value. In the first part of this article, …

In a previous post, we discussed the risks of Collateralized Loan Obligations, a type of complex credit derivatives.  Since then, the trend in securitizing loans is still upward. Nowadays, not only performing loans but also non-performing loans are being securitized and sold to investors. A non-performing loan is a loan …

In a previous post, we presented a theoretical framework for pricing convertible bonds and preferred shares.  We also provided an example of pricing a convertible bond in Excel. In this installment, we present an example of pricing a convertible bond in Python. Recall that a convertible bond (or preferred share) …

As negative interest rates started popping up around the world, quantitative analysts and traders have been asking a mundane but fundamental question: How to price trillions of dollars of financial instruments when their complex pricing models don’t work with negative numbers? Intuitively, we would say that negative interest rates will …

Investors in South Korea have lost money in a complex derivative linked to constant maturity swap.  In search for higher yields, they are also putting money into another complex financial instrument, convertible bonds. Bloomberg recently reported, Sales of convertibles, which pay low coupons and let investors convert into stock if …

Yonhap recently reported that South Korea’s investors appear to have lost money by investing in complex derivative products. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said 3,654 individual investors and 188 businesses were found to have bought 822.4 billion won (US$677.8 million) worth of so-called “derivatives-linked fund” options sold by banks as …

In previous posts, we provided examples of pricing European and American options in Excel. For pricing the European option, we utilized the Black-Scholes formula, and for pricing the American option we utilized the binomial approach. In this post, we are going to implement these methods in Python. Recall that, In …

In a previous post, we presented an example of Interest Rate Swap Pricing in Excel. In this post, we are going to provide an example of interest rate swap pricing in Python. We are going to use the USD Libor swap curve as at December 31 2018. Picture below shows …

Capital structure is an important determinant factor of a company’s credit risks. In this post, we are going to walk you through an example of calculating the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) using Excel. The weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is the rate that a company is expected …

Debt instruments are an important part of the capital market.  In this post, we are going to provide an example of pricing a fixed-rate bond. A fixed rate bond is a long term debt paper that carries a predetermined interest rate. The interest rate is known as coupon rate and …