A credit default swap sounds complicated, but at its heart it’s just insurance against a company not paying its debts. In this chapter we’ll walk through what a CDS is, how its price is set using probability and time, and why the numbers on a trading screen often tell a richer story than just default risk. By the end you’ll be able to read a CDS spread, understand where it comes from, and spot the hidden forces that push it away from pure credit risk.