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Crash Course in Bonds

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Crash Course in Bonds

Included in:  Fixed Income Markets Certification (FIMC©) ,

  •   97 Lessons
  •   8h 41m
  •   98,269 Students

A step-by-step crash course in bonds designed for those pursuing a career in fixed income research, investments, sales and trading or investment banking (debt capital markets).

$99 Add to Cart
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Why You Should Take This Course

We’ll be blunt: bond analysis is usually taught horribly. Our course completely demystifies fixed income analysis to give people from the outside a clear window to the inside.

If you’ve ever tried to learn about bonds – either through a textbook, a university class, or CFA training materials, you’ve most likely discovered that it quickly gets painful. We’ll be blunt: bond analysis is usually taught horribly. Beyond super-basic concepts of bond pricing and interest rate valuation, concepts like convexity, modified duration and forward curves are introduced with no connection to how they relate to real-world investment strategies.

We made this bonds course with one overall objective in mind: to make something truly different than what’s out there now. Something that completely demystifies fixed income analysis and gives people a clear window to the inside.

We feel certain we've accomplished this. We take you step-by-step through the core concepts you need, and completely cut out concepts you’ll never use. The result is an intuitive look at the use of bonds in fixed income research, sales and trading and investment banking.

This course is used to train new hires at:

What You Will Learn

  • Fixed income market overview
  • Bond math basics
  • Yield calculations and conventions
  • Money Market math
  • Interest rate risk
  • Real world bond pricing nuances
  • Callable bonds
  • The yield curve
  • Nominal spread & Z-spread
  • OAS
  • Spot rates
  • Realized compound yield
  • Holding period yield
  • Forward rates
  • Credit analysis
  • Debt Capital Markets

BONUS:

We'll show you how market practitioners use Bloomberg on the job.

Course Samples

Get the Bond Math & Analysis Certification

Trainees are eligible to take the Crash Course in Bonds Certification Exam for 24 months from the date of enrollment. Those who complete the exam and score above 80% will receive the certification. The exam is a challenging online examination covering the most difficult concepts covered in the Crash Course in Bonds and Debt.

Course Highlights

Used on the Street

This is the same comprehensive course our corporate clients use to prepare their analysts and associates.

1.5x, 2x Video Speed

Save loads of time by bumping up playback speed to breeze through lessons at your own pace.

Taught by Bankers

Our instructors are former I-bankers who give lessons real-world context by connecting it to their experience on the desk.

Instructor Support

Have a question on course content? Communicate directly with instructors by asking questions throughout the course.

Course TOC

1. What is fixed income? Video, 2:30
2. Course Downloads Files
3. Size of the bond market Video, 2:41
4. Bond market geographic breakdown Video, 3:21
5. Basic bond terms Video, 4:28
6. Basic bond math Video, 5:52
7. Using Excel’s RATE() function Video, 5:00
8. Reinvestment assumption of YTM Video, 3:26
9. YTM vs. current vs. nominal yield Video, 2:16
10. Annuities Video, 4:28
11. Bond price as present value of a bond’s cash flows Video, 1:32
12. Simple bond price exercise Video, 2:47
13. More bond terms Video, 4:58
14. Bond issuance costs Video, 2:53
15. The price/yield relationship Video, 3:52
16. Primary vs. secondary bond market Video, 4:28
17. The bid/ask spread Video, 2:44
18. Bond basics review Quiz
19. Coupon frequency and bond equivalent yield (BEY) Video, 3:14
20. BEY vs Effective annual yield (EAY) Video, 6:45
21. Converting from BEY to EAY Video, 4:14
22. Compounding conventions of 0-coupon bonds Video, 7:41
23. Yield calculations and conventions review Quiz
24. Money market yield Video, 8:04
25. Money market math exercises Video, 5:08
26. Compounding Video, 9:53
27. Discount basis Video, 12:46
28. Converting interest rates Video, 5:49
29. Money market instruments Video, 3:26
30. The money market math review Quiz
31. Settlement date Video, 0:37
32. Bond pricing between coupons Video, 1:29
33. Fractional periods Video, 7:01
34. Day count convention Video, 1:51
35. Dirty price Video, 2:19
36. Dirty price exercise Video, 6:15
37. Clean vs dirty price Video, 4:08
38. Useful Excel functions Video, 2:55
39. Bond pricing exercise, part 1 Video, 6:34
40. Bond pricing exercise, part 2 Video, 8:25
41. Bond pricing exercise, part 3 Video, 4:51
42. Interpreting the Bloomberg bond screen Video, 6:43
43. Bond pricing nuances review Quiz
44. Realized compound yield and holding period yield Video, 2:55
45. RCY / HPY exercise, part 1 Video, 6:07
46. RCY / HPY exercise, part 2 Video, 2:34
47. RCY / HPY exercise, part 3 Video, 19:48
48. Realized compound yield and holding period yield review Quiz
49. Intro to interest rate risk Video, 4:27
50. DV01 Video, 5:36
51. Hedging interest rate risk Video, 6:15
52. Estimating the price impact of rate changes Video, 2:50
53. Modified duration & dollar duration Video, 4:39
54. Modified duration exercise Video, 5:59
55. Useful Excel functions for interest rate risk Video, 1:48
56. Modified duration exercise, part 2 Video, 6:31
57. Modified duration exercise, part 3 Video, 3:54
58. Convexity Video, 6:16
59. Convexity exercise Video, 13:35
60. How convexity is applied in practice Video, 2:29
61. Duration/convexity between coupons Video, 3:01
62. Duration/convexity between coupons exercise Video, 8:33
63. Interpreting the Bloomberg YAS screen Video, 10:16
64. Interest rate risk review Quiz
65. Make whole call Video, 10:04
66. Make whole call, Apple example Video, 3:17
67. Callable bonds Video, 10:01
68. Sinking fund redemption Video, 2:59
69. Yield to call and yield to worst Video, 5:54
70. Callable bonds review Quiz
71. Yield curve intro Video, 4:57
72. Term structure theory Video, 11:31
73. Monetary policy intro Video, 6:03
74. Federal funds and the discount rate Video, 3:13
75. Open market operations Video, 3:03
76. Other central bank tools Video, 6:07
77. Summary of forces affecting the yield curve Video, 8:09
78. Yield curve shape at various points in the business cycle Video, 10:02
79. Yield Curve review Quiz
80. Spot rates intro Video, 6:48
81. Spot rates role in bond valuation Video, 9:56
82. Full vs YTM bond valuation approaches Video, 6:56
83. Bootstrapping the spot curve, part 1 Video, 11:18
84. Bootstrapping the spot curve, part 2 Video, 13:47
85. Spot rates review Quiz
86. Yield spreads and the z-spread Video, 16:30
87. Option adjusted spread Video, 4:10
88. Z-spread and OAS review Quiz
89. Forward rates Video, 8:41
90. Forward rate exercise, part 1 Video, 7:10
91. Forward rate exercise, part 2 Video, 9:18
92. Trading strategy using forward rates Video, 10:57
93. Forward rates review Quiz
94. Credit risk Video, 8:01
95. Credit analysis Video, 17:03
96. Navigating Clear Channel’s bond agreement Video, 8:54
97. Credit analysis review Quiz

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