CAIA Study Guide 2026

Everything you need to pass the CAIA exam in one place: the exam format, every topic to study, real practice questions with explanations, flashcards, and full-length practice tests. Free, no sign-up needed.

📋 CAIA Exam Format at a Glance

200
Questions
240 min
Time Limit
70.00%
Passing Score

📚 CAIA Topics to Study (21)

✍️ Sample CAIA Questions & Answers

1. Which resource allocation strategy in Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association portfolio management focuses on maximizing output with limited resources?
Optimization of available resources through prioritization

Resource optimization involves strategically prioritizing and allocating limited resources to maximize output and achieve objectives efficiently, balancing competing demands.

2. In Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association, why is credit derivatives knowledge important for professional certification?
It demonstrates competence and ensures practitioners meet established standards

Professional certification in specific knowledge areas demonstrates that practitioners have met established competency standards, ensuring quality of service and public protection.

3. Correlation risk in a multi-strategy portfolio refers to:
The risk that asset correlations increase during market stress, reducing diversification benefits precisely when they are most needed

During crises, correlations between previously uncorrelated strategies tend to spike toward 1.0, eliminating diversification benefits at the worst possible time.

4. What is a best practice in Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association credit derivatives?
A method or technique recognized as superior based on evidence and expert consensus

Best practices are methods, techniques, or approaches that are recognized through evidence, research, and expert consensus as producing superior results and are recommended for adoption.

5. Which of the following best describes a Interval Fund structure?
A fund that offers periodic but limited liquidity windows rather than daily redemptions

Interval funds provide liquidity only at set intervals (e.g., quarterly), making them suitable for holding less liquid alternative assets.

6. The maximum drawdown metric measures:
The peak-to-trough decline in portfolio value over a specified period

Maximum drawdown captures the largest cumulative loss from a peak to a subsequent trough, indicating the worst historical experience for an investor.

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Your CAIA Study Path
1. Learn with Flashcards → 2. Drill Practice Tests → 3. Take the Full Exam Simulation