CAIA Exam Curriculum Overview

In an era where the boundaries between traditional and alternative assets have evaporated, and where cutting-edge strategies and interdisciplinary insights are essential, the CAIA curriculum is an applied curriculum that can meet the evolving demands of institutional investors.

The CAIA Charter curriculum consists of two exam levels and is revised regularly to incorporate relevant, practical industry developments, and the latest academic research.

Both Levels have been updated for the 2024 exam cycle and each exam reflects content from the 2024 digital or digital + print curriculum only. 

For your convenience, the 2024 digital curriculum package is now INCLUDED with new Candidate registration fees. If you prefer a print version, you may purchase one here.  Please note - since the digital curriculum is automatically part of the registration fee, we are not able to issue a credit if you select to purchase the print version separately.

To get started, explore curriculum details here.

 

CAIA Level I 2024 Exam Topics

Professional Standards and Ethics

  • CFA Institute Standards of Practice – Free access available to registered Candidates through login.

Introduction to Alternative Investments

  • What Is an Alternative Investment?
  • The Environment of Alternative Investments
  • Accessing Alternative Investments
  • Quantitative Foundations
  • Statistical Foundations
  • Financial Economics Foundations
  • Derivatives and Risk-Neutral Valuation
  • Measures of Risk and Performance
  • Alpha, Beta, and Hypothesis Testing

Real Assets

  • Natural Resources and Land
  • Commodities
  • Other Real Assets
  • Real Estate Assets
  • Real Estate Methods

Private Equity & Private Debt

  • Private Equity Assets
  • Private Equity Funds
  • Private Credit and Distressed Debt
  • Introduction to Structuring
  • Credit Risk and Credit Derivatives

Hedge Funds

  • Structure of the Hedge Fund Industry
  • Macro and Managed Futures Funds
  • Event-Driven and Relative Value Hedge Funds
  • Equity Hedge Funds

Digital Assets

  • Distributed Ledger Technology

Additional Strategies

  • Funds of Funds
  • Equity-Linked Structured Products
 

CAIA Level II 2024 Exam Topics

Emerging Topics - Free access available to registered Candidates through login.

  • Digital Assets: Bitcoin, Web 3.0, and DeFi
  • Private Equity: Value Creation in Private Equity, and Forecasting Returns
  • Portfolio Management: Rebalancing Illiquid Portfolios, Managing Liquidity for Capital Calls, and Assessing Long Term Performance

Universal Investment Considerations

  • Professionalism and Fiduciary Responsibilities
  • Global Regulation
  • Geopolitics
  • ESG and Alternative Investments
  • ESG Analysis and Application

Models

  • Modeling Overview and Interest Rate Models
  • Credit Risk Models
  • Multi-Factor Equity Pricing Models
  • Asset Allocation Processes and the Mean-Variance Model
  • Other Asset Allocation Approaches

Institutional Asset Owners and Investment Policies

  • Types of Asset Owners and the Investment Policy Statement
  • Foundations, and The Endowment Model
  • Pension Fund Portfolio Management
  • Sovereign Wealth Funds
  • Family Offices and the Family Office Model

Risk and Risk Management

  • Cases in Tail Risk
  • Benchmarking and Performance Attribution
  • Liquidity and Funding Risks
  • Hedging, Rebalancing, and Monitoring
  • Risk Measurement, Risk Management, and Risk Systems

Methods for Alternative Investments

  • Valuations and Hedging Using Binomial Trees 
  • Directional Strategies and Methods 
  • Multivariate Empirical Methods and Performance Persistence 
  • Relative Value Methods 
  • Valuation Methods for Private Assets: The Case of Real Estate 

Accessing Alternative Investments

  • Hedge Fund Replication
  • Diversified Access to Hedge Funds
  • Access to Real Estate and Commodities
  • Access through Private Structures
  • The Risk and Performance of Private and Listed Assets

Due Diligence & Selecting Managers

  • Active Management and New Investments
  • Selection of a Fund Manager
  • Investment Process Due Diligence
  • Operational Due Diligence
  • Due Diligence of Terms and Business Activities

Volatility and Complex Strategies

  • Volatility as a Factor Exposure
  • Volatility, Correlation, and Dispersion Products and Strategies
  • Complexity and Structured Products
  • Insurance-Linked and Hybrid Securities
  • Complexity and the Case of Cross-Border Real Estate Investing