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

4.5
stars
2,126 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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401 - 419 of 419 Reviews for Global Financial Markets and Instruments

By Jean

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Jan 15, 2017

Some calc and formulas are not clear otherwise the course allowed to have a general overview on financial instruments and trades

By John B

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May 21, 2022

Course does cover the basics, but has some dead links throughout the quizzes and 'handouts'. Needs to be cleaned up.

By Lou V

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May 23, 2020

Repeated math errors, some corrected, some not. Terrible instruction.

By Himanshu P

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Dec 12, 2016

way too many peer reviewed assignments.

By Sahan G

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Jan 16, 2021

Insufficient examples or analogies

By Ethan D

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Jul 10, 2017

I didn't enjoy the lectures

By Benjamin

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Mar 26, 2021

I find the introduction of this course not well managed or moderated. while credits to Professor Ozoguz for her knowledge, the methods and video explaination have not been helpful for me. the available resources do not have a step by step process and enough examples that i can ingrain it into my head and give the fact it should be an introductory course, do feel that the questions being asked are more advanced and i struggle to grasp the terminology and formulas given. when going through the answers one of the solution i remember is to get the answer by trial and error via excel. if that was the case there should be an introductory course on how to do that as well. I urge this module to be moderated again with more attention to detail.

By Kelsea V

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Jul 5, 2020

The professor makes constant errors during her presentations. One or two is okay, but I completed the first module and she made an error in almost every video. It’s not very conducive to learning. Also, she often said “you can figure out the calculation...” and wouldn’t provide the answer for us to check if we were right.

By Luis D C

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Jun 17, 2024

The professor does not explain the concepts clearly, a lot of mistakes, I tried to calculate a mortgage for 2 hours with her formula and there was no clear explanation of how to do it plus a mathematical mistake. I am very disappointed.

By Karim I

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Jan 6, 2021

Sadly the instructor is very hard to understand. Her speech is not clear and she jumps around too fast without explaining how she reached solutions ,conclusions etc.

Very possible that this too advanced for my level of knowledge.

By Martin D M

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Oct 23, 2023

A week in and there have already been several mistakes in the lectures. This is very discouraging, don't understand why the professor didn't they the time to redo the videos with mistakes, they are very short anyway...

By Roman S

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Sep 1, 2020

Lectures do not cover the formulas that are needed for calculations or are doing a very poor job with it. No references to where to find the stuff which is unclear. The course is quite frustrating at times!

By Georgia H

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Jan 31, 2022

The teacher fails to present necessary equations especially after the first week. The "notes" are just the slide decks. And the solutions to the quizzes fail to adequately explain the answers.

By Moisej B

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Sep 4, 2020

The topics and concepts are touched just on the surface, assignments often have confusing questions and/or incorrect answers

By Gourav B

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Jan 8, 2022

Too many bugs. Also very mathematics driven.

By Ekin S

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Sep 11, 2023

bad course, nothing valuable in it.

By Jenil B

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Nov 8, 2020

the teacher is not teaching well

By Abelardo G

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Aug 10, 2020

Not really what I was expecting

By Charles S

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Mar 31, 2021

Terrible course