Options, Futures and Other Derivatives (6th Edition) | John C. Hull

Options, Futures and Other Derivatives (6th Edition) | John C. Hull | The best!

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Options, Futures a...

	Options, Futures and Other Derivatives (6th Edition) John C. Hull Prentice Hall, 2005 - 816 pages average customer review:based on 68 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Designed to bridge the gap between theory and practice, this successful book is regarded as "the bible" in trading rooms throughout the world. The books covers both derivatives markets and risk management, including credit risk and credit derivatives; forward, futures, and swaps; insurance, weather, and energy derivatives; and more. For options traders, options analysts, risk managers, swaps traders, financial engineers, and corporate treasurers.

Great intro

I started not knowing a "put" from a "call," but I needed to know a fair bit about how financial engineers (coming from a family of PEs, I'm still not used to that term) use math. This has been the introduction I wanted - not the advanced stuff, but enough to help me understand that material.

Methodical pacing leads the reader gradually through the basics, from just what a derivative is on through the brief story of how futures markets work - in short, they abstract buying and selling into buying and selling the right to buy and sell. I tend towards the concrete, so many of these transactions seemed a bit airy to me. Oh, I can follow the reasoning well enough, but I just never saw where the satisfaction of the thing solid and completed comes in. As it turns out, it doesn't. Once you've really got that in the pit of your stomach, then Hull's presentation follows smoothly.

He gradually derives models of increasing complexity. Diligent reader with a little calculus or a lot of trust will follow along easily. Later chapters draw on more advanced concepts in probabilistic modeling, but present the reader with only the aspects needed for the discussion at hand - a mercy, considering the size of the specialized vocabulary involved in the rest of the explanation.

This book ends when the foundation has been built. More advanced needs must be met with other sources - not a problem with this text, just a matter of its chosen scope. I needed that foundation, however, so I recommend this book to anyone with reasonaable math skills and a need to know the material.

-- wiredweird, reviewing the 6th edition

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The best!

The best introductory/intermediate textbook for students of finance. Not overwhelming to read, but, of course, you still need to know some math.

Excellent book for beginners in financial engineering

I started a course in Financial Engineering last year and this book has given me all the grounding I need.

Pros:

* Very in-depth treatment of derivative basics, e.g. call, puts, swaps, forwards, futures.
* Many, many examples to complement the material.
* Many good practice problems to help further your understanding.
* Covers binomial, Monte Carlo and Black Scholes pricing of options very well
* Industry standard textbook - all the professionals use it.

I can't think of many negatives for the book. So if you're a student of finance, go get this book!

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Not (quite) a place to start

If you are a total beginner, like I was 6 months ago, then you might want to tear your hair out when reading this book. I found the description of interest rates quite confusing. I would suggest you start with The Wall Street Journal Complete Money and Investing Guidebook (The Wall Street Journal Guidebooks) and then move to All About Derivatives (All About) and Investment Science. From then on it's quite a good book, but the mathematics is very cavalier (and would you trust someone who tells you that Pi is 3.14162?). Now that I have read a lot of these primers, I actually like Hull's book and find that his treatment of the Ito calculus, while lightweight is a good place to start before going on to a solid foundation.
I can't say anything about the numerical methods because it's not my field yet.

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