Futures and Options Markets: An Introduction

As the world economy has shifted toward globalization, the importance of futures and options markets has grown dramatically; in turn, these markets have evolved to better serve the increasingly global economy. However, even with the trading volume expanding every year, futures and options contracts and markets remain poorly understood. Carter's text introduces readers to this dynamic, exciting subject in an accessible and lively way. Using a perspective grounded in economics rather than complex mathematics, he presents an integrated explanation of the market institutions, theory, and empirical evidence. The text begins with the fundamentals of commodity futures and, unlike other texts, continues on to extensively discuss financial futures and options markets, including currencies and equity indexes. Geared to the novice reader, mathematics and formulas are kept to a minimum, while numerous real-world examples explain how practitioners use futures and options markets. Whether interested in business, economics, or agricultural and applied economics, readers will appreciate futures and options markets as a thriving laboratory for discovering economic theory in action.

Futures and Options Markets: An Introduction provides the reader with an economic understanding of the development and operation of futures and options markets. Starting with the fundamentals of agricultural futures, the text advances the reader through the exciting development of financial futures and options, including currencies and equity indexes. Utilizing real-world examples, this text brings the markets to life by explaining how and why these markets function and how they are used to manage market risk.

Some features include:

• Separate chapters on fundamental and technical analysis
• Real-world examples, providing practical applications of the complicated theory of how futures and options markets perform
• Market efficiency section explaining the debate and provides empirical evidence from economic research
• Internet sites found throughout various chapters help the reader keep current with the markets
• Discussion problems and questions reinforcing concepts learned in each chapter
• A balanced coverage of material on both commodity and financial markets