Themen der Lehrveranstaltung
Market Microstructure: Students will analyze the architecture of trading venues, including order types, execution mechanisms, bid-ask spreads, and the role of liquidity. Supply, Demand, and Price Formation: The course investigates the fundamental economic forces that drive asset prices. Students will learn how information, investor behavior, and macroeconomic factors interact to shape supply and demand in financial markets. Money Markets vs. Capital Markets: A comparative study of short-term versus long-term financing instruments. The course explores the purposes, instruments, and participants in each market, highlighting their roles in the broader financial system. Security Brokers and Dealers: Students will examine the functions of intermediaries who facilitate trading, provide liquidity, and manage risk in financial markets. Mutual Funds: Structure, management, and performance evaluation of pooled investment funds accessible to retail investors. Hedge Funds: Strategies, risk profiles, and regulatory considerations of alternative investment funds targeting absolute returns. Short Squeezes: Case studies and theoretical frameworks explaining how coordinated buying pressure can force short sellers to cover positions, leading to rapid price increases.

Unterrichtsform
Frontal lectures in classroom

Art der Prüfung
The assessment is the same for both attending and non-attending students. Grades are entirely based on a final closed book written exam. Students have the possibility to sit a voluntary mid-term exam that can account for 30% of the final exam. The final exam consists of three parts: A) Shorter and longer calculation/open-ended questions on Lectures 1-10; B) Shorter and longer calculation/open-ended questions on Lectures 12-18: C) Multiple choice questions on Lectures 1-18. The mid-term exam is a voluntary substitute for part A. This means that the student can: (i) Take the midterm, keep the result from the mid-term, and then only answer parts B and C on the final exam; (ii) Take the midterm, discard the result from the mid-term, and then answer parts A, B, and C on the final exam. (iii) Skip the midterm and answer parts A, B, and C on the final exam.

Bewertungskriterien
The exam includes both open-ended questions and multiple-choice questions. Multiple-choice answers neither require motivations nor calculations. Open answers require short explanations and/or calculations, and the marks will be awarded based on the correctness of calculations and/or how well the argumentation links to the course concepts.