Book Image

Python for Finance - Second Edition

By : Yuxing Yan
5 (1)
Book Image

Python for Finance - Second Edition

5 (1)
By: Yuxing Yan

Overview of this book

This book uses Python as its computational tool. Since Python is free, any school or organization can download and use it. This book is organized according to various finance subjects. In other words, the first edition focuses more on Python, while the second edition is truly trying to apply Python to finance. The book starts by explaining topics exclusively related to Python. Then we deal with critical parts of Python, explaining concepts such as time value of money stock and bond evaluations, capital asset pricing model, multi-factor models, time series analysis, portfolio theory, options and futures. This book will help us to learn or review the basics of quantitative finance and apply Python to solve various problems, such as estimating IBM’s market risk, running a Fama-French 3-factor, 5-factor, or Fama-French-Carhart 4 factor model, estimating the VaR of a 5-stock portfolio, estimating the optimal portfolio, and constructing the efficient frontier for a 20-stock portfolio with real-world stock, and with Monte Carlo Simulation. Later, we will also learn how to replicate the famous Black-Scholes-Merton option model and how to price exotic options such as the average price call option.
Table of Contents (23 chapters)
Python for Finance Second Edition
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Preface
Index

Chapter 1. Python Basics

In this chapter, we will discuss basic concepts and several widely used functions related to Python. This chapter plus the next one (Chapter 2, Introduction to Python Modules) are only the chapters exclusively based on Python techniques. Those two chapters serve as a review for readers who have some basic Python knowledge. There is no way that a beginner, with no prior Python knowledge, could master Python by reading just those two chapters. For a new learner who wants to learn Python in more detail, he/she could find many good books. From Chapter 3, Time Value of Money onward, we will use Python, which will help in explaining or demonstrating various finance concepts, running regression, and processing data related to economics, finance, and accounting. Because of this, we will offer more Python-related techniques and usages in each of the upcoming chapters.

In particular, in this chapter, we will discuss the following topics:

  • Python installation

  • Variable assignment, empty space, and writing our own programs

  • Writing a Python function

  • Data input

  • Data manipulation

  • Data output