Financial Derivatives

This book provides a systematic introduction to the pricing and valuation of:

Forward Contracts

The book is written for first-time readers, especially finance undergraduate students. Explanations focus on the essential concepts, avoiding deep theoretical discussions. Each chapter follows a consistent structure:

1. Financial terminology is clearly defined.
2. Pricing and valuation concepts are explained concisely.
3. Practical examples illustrate the concepts to encourage active learning.

Diagrams and illustrations support the conceptual explanations and help interpret the calculations and data. The writing style is designed to be clear to ensure that concepts can be quickly understood. The book follows a step-by-step approach to make pricing and valuation understandable for readers without prior exposure to financial derivatives.

The primary audience is undergraduate students majoring in finance or financial services. However, the book is also intended for readers who may not have studied financial derivatives during their education and who want to benefit from a structured introduction to the subject. This broader group includes students and professionals from areas such as accounting, education, economics, engineering, general business administration, health sciences, law (including tax law), mathematics and political science. For instance, lawyers or accountants involved in derivatives contract review or regulatory compliance can benefit from an understanding of the financial structure of derivatives.

The book assumes that readers know basic algebra, some finance concepts like present value, future value or compounding and discounting using interest rates. An introductory textbook or course in financial mathematics provides sufficient background to follow the explanations and examples. Where relevant, financial mathematics concepts are briefly refreshed within the chapters.

The book is recommended as preparatory reading before joining a finance undergraduate class. During a course, several concepts will be covered in greater depth using comprehensive textbooks. Later, readers will be able to work on advanced details, alternative pricing approaches, exceptions, and special cases. Footnotes in the text indicate primary sources and recommended textbooks for further reading.