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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Global Financial Markets and Instruments by Rice University

4.5
stars
2,132 ratings

About the Course

Get a running start in the high-stakes world of financial investment! This first course is designed to help you become an informed investor by providing you with the essential concepts for long-term success in managing money. You’ll start by learning the role of financial markets and financial assets in a well-functioning economy. From there, you’ll learn about the wide range of financial instruments available in major asset classes, their features and valuations. You’ll explore how financial markets actually operate in the real world, focusing on how and where securities are traded and how various market types differ from one another in practice. You will also learn the basics of algorithmic trading, dark pools, buying on margin and short selling. By the end of the course, learners will be able to: • List and distinguish the different financial instruments available to an investor • Compare global financial markets • Explain the features of equity, debt, and derivative instruments • Define traditional and alternative asset classes • Discuss different trading venues and mechanics of securities trading • Discuss the current trends affecting today’s financial markets This course is designed to be accessible for students of all knowledge levels and gives you the actionable foundation needed to manage money in a post-crisis world. ________________________________________ WEEK 1 Module 1: Introduction & Review of Elementary Finance Tools This module introduces the Investment and Portfolio Management Specialization, which is made up of four courses. This module discusses how the first course, Global Financial Markets and Assets, is organized. It outlines the different stages of the investment management process, which guides the focus of the Specialization. It also reviews basic finance concepts and tools such as time value of money, computing returns, discounting and compounding. Topics covered include: • Familiarize with the organization of the class • Meet the professor and your peers • Explain the investment management process • Review elementary concepts in finance • Compute present value or future value of a single cash flow • Compute present value of future value of a stream of cash flows • Define an annuity or perpetuity • Apply time value of money tools to solve basic mortgage, loan or retirement problems ________________________________________ WEEK 2 Module 2: Financial system & financial assets: fixed income securities In this and the next two modules, we cover the key institutional features of financial markets and instruments. We ask the following questions: Why do financial markets exist? What role do they play? What are financial assets and how are they different than real assets? How does it all come together? Basically, this is where I hope you will get to see the big picture of the entire financial system and how it comes together. Module 2 focuses on fixed income securities. We'll get started with a review of basics of bond valuation. You will learn about short-term money market instruments, U.S. Treasury securities as well as corporate bonds. After module 2, you will be able to describe fixed income securities, be familiar with their institutional features, and identify their cash flows. Finally, you will learn how to value fixed income securities such as Treasury bills, zero-coupon or coupon-bonds and compute yields. Topics covered include: • Explain the roles of financial markets • Distinguish between real and financial assets • Define and explain money market instruments, zero-coupon and coupon- bonds and features • Identify the cash flows associated with fixed-income securities • Define and explain bond market features • List the different types of Treasury securities and explain pricing and quoting conventions • List and define other long-term debt instruments such as corporate bonds, mortgage-backed securities, sovereign debt • Find the value of a zero-coupon or coupon-bonds ________________________________________ WEEK 3 Module 3: Financial system & financial assets: equity securities and derivatives In Module 3, we continue our overview of financial markets and instruments. We next focus on two other major asset classes: equity securities and derivative instruments. You will learn about how equity differs from fixed income securities, the cash flows associated with stock and preferred stock and how to find the value of a share. You will also learn about option strategies. After completing module 3, you will be able to describe all major asset classes, including derivative instruments such as options, forwards and futures. You will be able to explain how these differ from each other and their payoffs. Topics covered include: • Distinguish between equities and fixed income securities • Define and explain the features of equity securities • Identify the cash flows associated with equity securities • Explain dividend discount model • Find the value of a share of common stock or preferred stock • Define and list different types of derivative securities • Explain option payoffs • Distinguish between a forward and futures contract • Explain forward and futures payoffs • Identify traditional and alternative asset classes ________________________________________ WEEK 4 Module 4: Organization of financial markets and securities trading In this module, we discuss how financial markets actually work. We will talk about different trading venues and the mechanics of securities trading. I will emphasize a lot of terminology and the latest trends in securities trading to familiarize you with the institutional workings of financial markets. After this module, you will be able to compare different trading venues, trading mechanisms, and be able to explain different types of orders, including transactions like margin buying and short- selling; you will be familiar with the language and terminology you need in order to become an informed practitioner of investments. Topics covered include • Explain the roles of corporations, households, government, and financial intermediaries in the financial system • Explain price discovery process • Define different type of orders • Distinguish between dealer vs. auction markets; different trading platforms • Explain margin buying and short-selling transactions • Understand the current trading environment such as algorithmic or high frequency trading, dark pools etc....

Top reviews

OY

Apr 17, 2022

The subject was simplified for beginners in the field of financial market instruments. Instructor explained all the details very clearly. Overall I had a very positive experience with the class

AI

Jun 17, 2020

Global Financial Markets and Instruments is a MUST. Excellent instruction! I truly appreciate the opportunity to receive this course from such a prestigious University - Rice University.

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301 - 325 of 421 Reviews for Global Financial Markets and Instruments

By Anant C

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May 26, 2020

Great course with a lot of problem-solving to help learn the concepts better. Very well taught! I would recommend the course to anyone trying to learn the basics of financial markets.

By Eduardo M C

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Feb 16, 2020

Great course covering aspects of global financial markets: from the market players to the instruments and the formulas used to make investment decisions and explain market behaviour.

By Austin R

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Sep 24, 2018

Probably a little elementary for most people signing up for this series of classes, but it was a good review and would be a great intro for those with zero experience with investing.

By Brandon G

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Jan 20, 2023

Great course, leant a lot. Certain concepts I think could have been explained a little better, but at the same token this is an online course and it delivered above my expectations.

By Abhishek S

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Apr 22, 2018

Course was very advanced. It was mainly focused more on sums and real life problem solving pedagogy rather than teaching basic financial terminology and and its understanding.

By Bruno S

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Oct 28, 2024

Some questions are written in a confusing way and assume things that are not written down. Using different words for the same concept make it confusing if it's not clarified.

By Desire D M

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Nov 26, 2021

Generally a great course. Although early on some mathematical steps were brushed through. Besides that it was a very informative course quantitatively and qualitatively.

By chaoyu x

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Jul 26, 2020

1. some in video questions pop up before the concept is being introduced or covered; 2. this course gives a pretty good high-level illustration on some basic concepts

By rajiv A

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Nov 14, 2016

A great course for dummies like me to learn the basics of investment industry.

I would appreciate if they incorporate more examples to explain and make things easier.

By Oleksandr S

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Jul 20, 2017

In general a course is very informative and useful. The issues were only some misconceptions, especially in formulas, between video examples and quiz questions.

By Sharif H

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Jan 17, 2019

Pretty Formula heavy but covers a decent relevant range of topics. A lot of personal research is needed to understand the content more thoroughly.

By Kristina E

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Jan 6, 2017

Overall, the course is fine, however there were several annoying typos / rounding issues, which would prevent you from getting the correct answer.

By Viviana G T L

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Oct 11, 2020

In this course you learn from scratch how financial markets work and develop your analysis skills, in general the explanations are good

By Rahul G

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Nov 7, 2016

The course was very informative. Could have been better if more reading materials along with more real life scenarios were included

By Patricia E

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Aug 4, 2021

Sometimes it was confusing to follow where some numbers were coming from in the bonds part. But overall very instructive thanks!

By Pariket T

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Apr 2, 2020

Decent course, some mistakes however in some of the answers. Some topics could've been explained more in depth.

By Michael l

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May 24, 2022

i think the stats is very heavy for the start, should be more theory first and then finish off with the stats

By Nazmi S

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May 11, 2021

The content is great. But the style of presentation needs to improve to make it more fun and interesting.

By Najmi J

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Jan 26, 2018

Excellent overview. Would have appreciated more depth in topics like bonds, options, and margin trading.

By Ilyas A

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Jun 13, 2017

quite an interesting course for beginners and for those who missed some aspects on the academic process.

By Jeffrey C

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Jul 14, 2020

The course combines with the practice problem really help me to understand the contents of the subject.

By Somanshu M

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Mar 25, 2019

I learned a lot about financial markets and basics of derivatives....

great course as an introduction !

By Claude Z

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Sep 24, 2017

useful, succinct, and fundamental.

Enough for an international high-school student like me!

By Santiago R R

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Sep 28, 2020

Good course! The practice quizzes I find a bit unnecessary, but they are fully optional

By Jing D

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Jul 13, 2018

Very detailed and easy understanding. but still some error in both lectures and quiz.