A new and updated edition of the most readable, comprehensive text available on derivatives markets.

• Utilizes an even more applied approach than previous editions
• Provides an excellent balance between introductory and advanced topics
• Extensively updated to incorporate and explicate development in the field including the areas of electronic trading platforms, globalization of markets, hedge funds, financial scandals involving derivatives, and government regulation
• Revised to include over 50 text boxes with applied vignettes on topical issues, product profiles, and historical anecdotes

Robert W. Kolb holds the Frank W. Considine Chair in Applied Ethics at Loyola University Chicago. He was formerly Assistant Dean for Business and Society (2003–2006) at the University of Colorado, and John S. and James L. Knight Professor of Finance at the University of Miami. He is author and co-author of numerous texts in finance, including Futures, Options, and Swaps, 5e (with James A. Overdahl, Blackwell, 2007) and Understanding Futures Markets, 6e (with James A. Overdahl, Blackwell, 2006).

James A. Overdahl is Chief Economist at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington, D.C., and has held senior positions at the Risk Analysis Division at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and at the Securities and Exchange Commission. He has been an adjunct professor of finance at Georgetown University, the University of Maryland, George Washington University, and Johns Hopkins University.