NXW Showroom
Our books and products, presented: highlights, strengths, contents and video.
Index Investing
From Theory to Practice
The complete guide to indexes: what an index is, why indexing works, how to design, build and test an index, the products that track it, how to invest for life and the latest trends – ESG, climate-risk, carbon, commodity, housing, derivatives-based, currency and crypto-asset indexes, factor-weighted smart indexes, and the new generation of indexes in Vietnam – with the NXW toolkit to go from an idea to an investor file in minutes.
Presentation
Investors hear index numbers every day – the VN-Index, the S&P 500, the Nikkei 225 – yet few can say what is inside them, who decides, or why two “market” indexes can move in opposite directions on the same day. This book opens the box.
It moves step by step, from theory to practice: the foundations and the mathematics of an index, the theory that explains why indexing works, the craft of index design, building and testing an index in Excel and R, the funds and derivatives built on indexes, how to invest with them – in Vietnam, in Asia and worldwide. A new part on the latest trends covers ESG and climate indexes, climate-risk, weather and catastrophe indexes, carbon markets and carbon indexes, the new generation of commodity indexes, housing and real estate indexes, derivatives-based indexes (the VIX, buy-write and covered-call indexes), currency indexes (the US Dollar Index, effective exchange rates), crypto-asset indexes, factor weighting and smart indexes (fundamental, risk-based and multi-factor), and the new generation of indexes in Vietnam after the market upgrade.
Every chapter opens with a question a real investor asks, and closes with key takeaways and a practice lab. Online, the book comes with a glossary, a 220-question quiz and exercises. The last part shows the tools used every day at NXW: the Indexes Observatory and the testing of a new index idea on the CCPI platform.
New – Part VII: Latest index trends and innovations
Ten new chapters take the reader to the frontier of indexing: climate and carbon, commodities and housing, derivatives-based, currency and crypto-asset indexes, factor-weighted smart indexes – and the new generation of indexes in Vietnam.
From exclusions to Paris-aligned benchmarks, transition and impact
Measuring physical climate risk: temperature, weather derivatives, cat bonds and climate-risk scores
Pricing emissions: compliance and voluntary markets, carbon credits and the indexes that track them
From the GSCI and BCOM to enhanced roll, risk-premia and energy-transition indexes
House prices, repeat sales, hedonic models, REIT indexes and tokenised property
Volatility indexes, option-strategy indexes and futures-based indexes
The US Dollar Index, trade-weighted exchange rates and FX strategy indexes
Bitcoin benchmarks, market-cap and capped indexes, reference rates and crypto ETFs
Beyond market cap: fundamental, risk-based, factor-tilted and multi-factor indexes – the new generation
Market upgrade, ESG and carbon – the next indexes for Vietnamese investors
Highlights
Universe, selection, weighting, calculation, rebalancing and maintenance: learn them once, read any index in the world.
Before costs the average active investor earns the market; after costs, the average must earn less.
100 invested for 30 years at 7% grows to 740 with a 0.1% fee – but only 498 with a 1.5% fee.
Eight sheets, five stocks, a dividend, a quarterly rebalance and a 2-for-1 split, step by step.
Weights, shares, divisor, price and total-return levels, performance statistics, unit tests and a Shiny dashboard.
Among 1,000 strategies with no edge, the 10 best back-tests show a Sharpe of 1.22 in sample – only 0.43 out of sample (simulated).
HOSE, HNX and UPCoM, the VN30, foreign-ownership limits, the market upgrade and passive inclusion flows.
Paris-aligned and transition indexes, gender-equality indexes (WOMEN CEO, women on boards), weather and cat bond indexes, carbon markets and carbon indexes, enhanced-roll commodity indexes, house price indexes and REITs, the VIX and buy-write indexes, the US Dollar Index and effective exchange rates, crypto-asset indexes and ETFs, fundamental, risk-based and multi-factor smart indexes, and the next indexes for Vietnam: FTSE upgrade, green taxonomy and the pilot carbon market.
The NXW Indexes Observatory and the path from an index idea to an investor file in minutes with CCPI.
Strengths
Each idea is explained, then applied: formulas, worked examples, labs and checklists.
Local markets, rules, taxes and examples, alongside the global evidence.
Build indexes yourself in Excel and R, then test ideas on the CCPI cloud platform.
The eight NXW indexes as a full case study: design brief, methodology, calculation and governance.
Simulated data are labelled; biases, overfitting and product traps are shown, not hidden.
All 37 chapters are lessons in Education, with a glossary, a quiz and exercises.
Contents
- ESG and Climate Indexes: The Latest Trends
- Climate Risk, Weather and Catastrophe Indexes
- Carbon Markets and Carbon Indexes
- Commodity Indexes: The New Generation
- Housing and Real Estate Indexes
- Derivatives-Based Indexes
- Currency Indexes
- Crypto-Asset Indexes
- Factor Weighting and Smart Indexes
- Indexes in Vietnam: The New Generation
Video presentation
Who is it for?
Forthcoming books – NXW Investment Library
Energy, metals and agriculture, futures curves and the roll, where returns come from, hedging and commodity indexes – with a focus on Asia and Vietnam. 22 chapters, six parts.
Exchange rates, FX instruments, blockchains and stablecoins, carry and hedging, crypto strategies and indexes, risks and scams. 22 chapters, six parts.
ESG data and ratings, climate risk, taxonomies, strategies, green bonds, ESG indexes and funds, greenwashing – and how ready Vietnam is – plus the Vietnam ESG Portal. 23 chapters, seven parts.