Spring 2027

Derivative Securities - Theory and Practice

Derivative Securities: Theory and Practice covers pricing and uses of options, forwards, futures, and ETFs, emphasizing portfolio trading via an online platform with mathematical and statistical analysis.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Adam Smedema4.1/5

Summary

1 / 3

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.57 GPA, 86.7% A/AB (n=15 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.67 GPA, 88.9% A/AB (n=9 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.74 GPA, 92.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades).

What you’ll be able to do

  • Compare and contrast the risk and theoretical valuation of derivative securities in competitive markets.

  • Execute “real” trades through Interactive Brokers to connect the theories of hedging and trading derivatives to real-life applications.

  • Summarize research that identifies derivative trading strategies.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Graduate/professional standing

  • Graduate/professional standing
FINANCE 730

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Graduate/professional standing

Professors

Spring 2027

Adam Smedema

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.82/5 from 11 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.57 GPA, 86.7% A/AB (n=15 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.67 GPA, 88.9% A/AB (n=9 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.74 GPA, 92.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

ADAM SMEDEMA is recorded teaching in Fall 2024, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 060Classroom Instruction0 / 270

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.57 GPA, 86.7% A/AB (n=15 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.67 GPA, 88.9% A/AB (n=9 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.74 GPA, 92.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Pricing and uses of options, forward contracts, futures contracts, and ETFs
  • Practical trading and management of derivative portfolios using an online platform
  • Mathematical and statistical analysis applied to derivatives

Skills

  • Pricing and using derivative contracts such as options, forwards, futures, and ETFs
  • Trading and managing portfolios of derivative contracts using an online platform
  • Comparing risk and theoretical valuation of derivative securities

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
FINANCE 730 · Spring 2027

Derivative Securities - Theory and Practice

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:233:025832",
    "course_id": "FINANCE 730",
    "course_uid": "course_600c5024f062bc2ae3e6a38e",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "025832",
    "source_subject_id": "233",
    "title": "Derivative Securities - Theory and Practice",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Not Applicable"
  }
]
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "0d68a750e332c3e0d986716245e5dcacda1cdbe7bf20b4bc76aab9d18da0d0cc",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}