The fine print of trading and investing

Free trading courses

Short courses taught lesson by lesson, with worked examples in dollars and a quiz at the end of every lesson that marks itself. No sign-up and nothing to pay.

  1. Margin & Leverage · Beginner · about 50 min

    Borrowed Money Has Teeth: Margin Accounts, Interest and Margin Calls

    Investors about to switch on margin, or already borrowing, who want to know what the loan costs and where the margin call sits.

    1. IHow a Margin Account Works: Collateral, the Loan and Your Equity
    2. IIWhat Margin Interest Costs Over a Day, a Month and a Year
    3. IIIMargin Calls, From the First Notice to a Forced Sale
    4. IVSizing a Margin Position So It Survives a Bad Month

  2. Risk Management · Beginner · about 48 min

    Nobody Rebuilds From Zero: Risk Rules That Protect Trading Capital

    Traders who pick entries carefully but size positions by feel, and want written rules for how much to risk and when to cut back.

    1. IRisk Per Trade: Turning a Percentage Into Dollars and Shares
    2. IIPlacing a Stop Where the Trade Idea Is Wrong
    3. IIIDrawdown Limits and the Arithmetic of Getting Back to Even
    4. IVWriting a One-Page Risk Plan You Can Follow on a Bad Day

  3. Earnings · Beginner · about 52 min

    Ten-Q Very Much: Reading Earnings Reports and Financial Statements

    Traders and investors who read the earnings headline and want to read the financial statements underneath it.

    1. IThe Income Statement, From Revenue Down to Earnings Per Share
    2. IIThe Balance Sheet: What a Company Owns, Owes and Keeps
    3. IIIThe Cash Flow Statement: Where the Cash Actually Went
    4. IVReading an Earnings Release and Its Guidance Line by Line

  4. Stock Trading · Intermediate · about 47 min

    Hands Off the Buy Button: Filtering Weak Setups and When to Sit Out

    Active traders who take too many trades and want a written filter that says no before the order goes in.

    1. IWhat Makes a Setup Weak: Trend, Location and Room to Run
    2. IIA Pre-Trade Filter That Turns Down Most Setups on Purpose
    3. IIIMarket Conditions That Call for Smaller Size or No Trades
    4. IVGrading Your Passes: Reviewing Skipped Setups Like Real Trades

How the courses work

Each course opens with an overview: who it suits, what to have in front of you, and what it leaves out. Most ask for a document you already own, such as a brokerage statement, a margin agreement or a company's latest earnings release. The lessons run in order, each one building on the last, and each ends with multiple-choice questions. Pick an answer and it is marked at once, with the reasoning shown. Nothing is recorded.

Brokers set their own margin rates and house requirements, and prop firms write their own rule books, so the arithmetic runs on round hypothetical figures and the live number is always one you check with your broker, your firm or the regulator that sets the rule. New to borrowing? Start with Borrowed Money Has Teeth. Want to read a company's results with more care? Start with Ten-Q Very Much. For practice between lessons, the quizzes put the same ideas into trading situations.