The fine print of trading and investing


Sections

Every column, concept, answer, quiz, course and calculator filed under the subject it belongs to.

Where to start

With a specific question in mind, go to the answers, where the short answer sits in a box at the top of the page. For the case for or against a decision, read the columns, which work a hypothetical account through the numbers. To learn a subject in order, take one of the free courses, and to test yourself on a trading situation, try the quizzes.

Subjects overlap, and the links follow them across sections. A margin loan changes the arithmetic of a swing trade held overnight, a dividend bought with borrowed money has to beat the interest rate on the loan, and a change in short-term interest rates reaches both the cash in your account and the rate your broker charges on its loans. Start in the section that matches the decision in front of you and let the links take you to the next one.