# Tag Info

20

If you need a primer covering various domains of math then Dan Stefanica's text will do the job. The text covers multivariable calculus, lagrange multipliers, black scholes PDF, greeks & hedging, newton's method, bootstrapping, taylor series, numerical integration, and risk neutral valuation. It also includes a mathematical appendix. If you want an ...

16

Clark, This is one of the popular questions we have on our community when someone new to the field come in and ask where they should start. We point them all to the list we have gathered which is now one of the most comprehensive list for quant finance http://www.quantnet.com/master-reading-list-for-quants/

13

I doubt you will find one book that covers everything you need, but here are a few that I continually come back to whenever I have some questions on the mathematics. Analysis of Financial Time Series by Ruey Tsay An Introduction to High-Frequency Finance by Dacorogna et al Probability and Statistics by DeGroot and Schervish Statistical Inference by Casella ...

11

I've read N. Taleb. Dynamic hedging for exactly the same reason and found it quite helpful. You can find a preview at Google Books to examine the content - the greatest thing about this book that N. Taleb tries to show how things work in pracice not just how to derive another formula (what is a subjsect for other great books on quantitative finance).

10

My two favorites books on microstructure are: Barry Johnson's Algorithmic Trading and DMA - very good on technological aspects and for an overview of needed implementations; L and Laruelle's Market Microstructure in Practice - for common knowledge and understanding of market microstructure and its mechanisms. On the theoretical (economical) aspect, you ...

9

If you asked me for a single book as a starting point I'd probably go for: Frequently Asked Questions in Quantitative Finance by Paul Wilmott

9

I've not yet read it, but Lehalle's recent book is bound to be a goldmine of good micro-structure bits and pieces. Market Microstructure in Practice EDIT: I'm reading the book now, so far it's quite good.

6

Farmers (usually referred to as hedgers) typically buy Futures, not options. The CBOE does not transact in agricultural commodities The CME, and other exchanges, transact in agricultural commodities. These exchanges grew, for the most part, directly from the trading interactions of farmers(hedgers/producers) and middle-men(speculators), in the area where ...

6

Check out Volatility Trading by Euan Sinclair. There are previews available on both Amazon and Google Books.

6

First, my notation. $K$ is the strike price, $S$ is the stock price, $r$ is the continuously compounded risk-free rate, $T$ is time at expiration, $t$ is time at issue, $\sigma$ is volatility, $\delta$ is continuously compounded dividend rate. The Black-Scholes formula for a European call is $C = Se^{-\delta (T-t)} N(d_1) - Ke^{-r(T-t)} N(d_2)$ \$d_1 = ...

5

Classical book on market microstructure is: Trading and Exchanges: Market Microstructure for Practitioners by Larry Harris. It's a bit outdated (2002) and missing few recent market developments like dark pools etc. but the way it currently is it's already highly recommended reading. Personally I'm waiting for the next edition of the same book, and surely ...

5

I'd say to read Prof. Shreve's well-known two-volume textbook Stochastic Calculus for Finance I and II.

5

Natenberg's Options Volatility and Pricing is an excellent resource, and goes into pretty solid detail about why you should be trading volatility rather than direction.

4

John C. Hull's "Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives" is the mostly widely recognized introductory book for derivatives valuation.

4

I like Statistics and Data Analysis for Financial Engineering by David Ruppert (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1441977864/ref=oss_product)

4

One that I found via google that seems promising (for beginners though) is. Numerical methods in finance and Economics

4

Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives Analysis of Financial Time Series Inside the Black Box: The Simple Truth About Quantitative Trading Trading and Exchanges: Market Microstructure for Practitioners

4

I have honestly not come across a good book (or good enough review to make me buy the book) on Fund Transfer Pricing. While it is not my career focus, I had to familiarize myself a bit with the topic because of certain requirements involving funding trading operations and the performance of funding specific operations. Personally I would recommend the ...

4

All the topics you've mentioned are wonderful and shouldn't be eschewed by reading some finance-oriented review book. I recommend these instead. Linear algebra: Hoffman and Kunze and Halmos Set theory: Halmos Measure theory: Rudin and Tao

4

In general, quantitative finance requires mathematics, finance, and numerical programming. The mix of the three and the areas of focus within the three will depend on the particular area you intend to work in. For example, option pricing, risk, and asset management are all related but derivative modeling would draw more on stochastic processes and ...

3

There is a lot of papers on the subject that tend to stay more up to date than the books (since there's new papers coming out all of the time)... of course no 1 paper will give you the depth of concepts you can take from a book like Harris' but, after reading that book, they can be very helpful for updating the concepts. :) arxiv is IMHO the best source ...

3

Jim Gatherals Book deals with the models you mention and gives an intuitive understanding about calibration and issues that arise. Mostly basic stuff, but very useful if you're just starting out. Also very understandable without an extensive math background.

3

The companion website to the book here has a PDF download ("Monte Carlo Permutation Evaluation of Trading Systems") on pages 18-20 of which there is C++ code for the permutation routine. Code for White's Reality Check test is available from the ttrTests package for R.

3

I like Zapatero & Cvitanic, "Introduction to the Economics and Mathematics of Financial Markets";Steele, "Stochastic Calculus and Financial Applications" and also Mikosh, "Elementary Stochastic Calculus with Fincial View". Shreeve is always a good choice too. If you are working with physicists, SCHMIDT, "QUANTITATIVE FINANCE FOR PHYSICISTS: AN ...

3

All books recommended in previous posts are splendid :-) I would like to add one more book for continuous time financial mathematics: Arbitrage Theory in Continuous Time by Tomas Bjork.

3

My type is "An introduction to the mathematics of financial derivatives" by Salih N. Neftci. Though it's definitely harder to digest than Hull.

3

I like the following book (though have only very briefly skimmed it): Optimization methods in finance

3

This may be too basic a book for what you're hungering for. In preparation for the Financial Engineering actuarial exam, I'm studying from Derivative Markets by McDonald. It's very technical, but gives a great introduction to the mathematics behind pricing options and even goes into depth on Brownian motion. Check it out here: http://amzn.to/g3QOES.

3

Another good book is Option Market Making by Allen Jan Baird.

3

I would recommend the books from Steven Shreve. Here is a link to some one of his older online pdf's (1997 but nevertheless true) so you can check if that fits the bill. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.137.6951&rep=rep1&type=pdf

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