The rewards and dangers of speculating in the modern financial markets have been to the fore in recent times with the collapse of banks and bankrupcies of public corporations as a direct result of ill-judged investment. At the same time, individuals are paid huge sums to use their mathematical skills to make well-judged investment decisions.

Here now is the first rigorous and accessible account of the mathematics behind the pricing, construction and hedging of derivative securities. Key concepts such as martingales, change of measure, and the Heath-Jarrow-Morton model are described with mathematical precision in a style tailored for market practitioners. Starting from discrete-time hedging on binary trees, continuous-time stock models (including the Black-Scholes) are developed. Uniquely, a complete and thorough understanding of interest rate models is encouraged, placing them firmly as a natural extension of basic stock models. Practicalities are stressed, including examples from stock, currency and interest rate markets, all accompanied by graphical illustrations with realistic data. A full glossary of probabilistic and financial terms is provided along with an index.

This unique, modern and up-to-date book will be an essential purchase for market practitioners, quantitative analysts, and derivatives traders, whether existing or trainees, in investment banks in the major financial centres throughout the world.

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