Question 1Fiduciary responsibility, conflicts and disclosure
Which statement BEST describes a fiduciary's duty of loyalty to a client?
The 2027 Level I curriculum
The 2027 curriculum for Level I has six topics. It is the curriculum for both the March and September 2027 exams.
| Topics | Six |
|---|---|
| Applies to | March and September 2027 |
| Study time | At least 200 hours recommended |
| CFA charterholders | Level I waived |
The six topics
| Topic | |
|---|---|
| 1 | CAIA Ethical Principles |
| 2 | Introduction to Alternative Investments |
| 3 | Real Assets |
| 4 | Private Equity and Private Debt |
| 5 | Hedge Funds |
| 6 | Digital Assets |
What the topics cover in this course
- Ethics: conflicts of interest, fair dealing and duties to clients.
- The introduction: return statistics, financial economics, risk and performance measures, and derivatives.
- Real assets: commodities, natural resources, real estate and infrastructure.
- Private markets: buyouts, venture capital, private credit, and fund cash flows and multiples.
- Hedge funds and digital assets: fees, the main strategies, blockchains and how crypto assets are held.
Try 4 questions
Question 2Commodities: futures, term structure, roll and collateral returns
A commodity futures curve is in backwardation, and over the next quarter the spot price and the shape of the curve stay the same. For an investor who holds a long position in the second contract and rolls it forward, the roll return is MOST likely:
Question 3Venture capital and growth equity
A venture investor puts $4 million into a start-up at a pre-money valuation of $12 million, buying newly issued shares. The investor's ownership immediately after the round is closest to:
Question 4Distributed ledger technology, tokens and smart contracts
A mining pool controls 2.5% of the total hashing power on a proof of work blockchain that adds one block every 10 minutes on average. Assuming its chance of winning each block equals its share of hashing power, the expected number of blocks the pool wins per day is closest to:
Next step
Questions people ask
What topics are on CAIA Level I?
Six: CAIA Ethical Principles, Introduction to Alternative Investments, Real Assets, Private Equity and Private Debt, Hedge Funds, and Digital Assets.
Do CFA charterholders take Level I?
No. CAIA Association waives Level I for CFA charterholders, who take Level II only.
How long does the charter take?
CAIA Association says the charter is earned with two exams in 12 to 18 months.