HKSI Licensing Examination Paper 8 (Securities) — Study Guide
Free, topic-by-topic study notes for the HKSI Licensing Examination Paper 8 (Securities) exam. Read a chapter, then practice it.
Overview of Securities Investments
Paper 8 is the technical securities-knowledge paper. It opens with the shape of the markets: equity, debt and derivatives, the main Hong Kong and global venues, the benchmark indices, and the macro factors that move prices.
Primary and Secondary Markets
How companies raise capital and how their shares then trade. This covers IPOs and the roles of the sponsor and prospectus, the mechanics of secondary trading and settlement, and corporate actions such as rights and bonus issues.
Participants in the Markets
The cast of the securities market: brokers, traders, research analysts, institutional and retail investors, custodians, share registrars, HKEX and its subsidiaries, and the regulators.
Types of Securities
The most heavily weighted technical topic: the features and risks of equity securities, debt instruments, pooled funds and derivatives, plus margin financing and stock borrowing and lending.
Stock Market Administration
The plumbing of the market: the automatic order-matching system, clearing and settlement, transaction costs, internal controls and the technology behind trading.
Securities Analysis
The two schools of analysis used to value and select securities: fundamental analysis of intrinsic value, and technical analysis of price and volume patterns, plus the role of diversification in managing risk.
Practice by topic
Jump straight into free practice questions for any single HKSI Licensing Examination Paper 8 (Securities) topic.