Options

Options

SEMINAR LENGTH

2 or 3 days, depending on objectives and content

SUBJECT FOCUS AND CONTENT 

  • Option basics: the language of options
  • Payoff diagrams and no-arbitrage boundary conditions
  • Option positions and combinations
  • Option valuation techniques
  • Option pricing sensitivities and risks
  • Understanding volatility and trading options
  • Selling option products to bank clients
  • Managing an option portfolio
  • Exotic options overview

TARGET AUDIENCE

The target audience comprises a wide variety of line professionals and support staff who need to broaden their knowledge of options. Participants should have a basic understanding of the workings of the money markets and foreign exchange markets.

PARTICIPANT OBJECTIVES

This workshop is designed to give participants a solid understanding of options, starting from basics to the intermediate-level complexities in managing an option portfolio.  The workshop focuses on customer uses of options, and participants will become comfortable explaining options and option-based strategies to others.  This workshop is not designed as an overly technical or academic program but rather as a practical guide for a variety of professionals that will need to talk either internally or externally about options.

This workshop will enable participants to:

  • Understand the terminology of the options market
  • Identify and effectively communicate option solutions and ideas to clients
  • Determine the net position when options are combined with other options and/or underlying risk positions
  • Identify the variables that influence option pricing and recognize the impact of changes in those factors
  • Understand the concept of volatility
  • Describe how a trader manages an option book and the associated risks
  • Describe the characteristics of some important exotic options

METHODOLOGY

In this workshop, the instructors act primarily as facilitators while participants learn about options and their applications through a series of active learning exercises.  These exercises build from option basics and incorporate a variety of learning methodologies including brief lectures, extensive spreadsheets, electronic cases, discussions and role plays.