Curriculum
Learn the markets, step by step.
Ten subjects from investing basics to options and macro — each in plain English, built up in a sensible order. New here? Find your path → Your progress saves itself, right in your browser.
0of 119 done
0XP earned
1level
0day streak
- What is a stock? A share is a slice of a real company — here's what owning one actually means. +10 XP
- The stock market & how shares trade Where shares are bought and sold, and how a price actually gets set. +10 XP
- What moves a stock's price Earnings, news, and expectations — why prices jump even when nothing 'happened'. +10 XP
- Dividends & total return Two ways a stock pays you — the price going up, and cash in your pocket. +15 XP
- Market cap & company size Why share price alone tells you nothing about how big a company is. +10 XP
- Indices & ETFs Buy a whole market in one click — what indices and ETFs are, and why they're popular. +15 XP
- Valuing a stock Is it cheap or expensive? A gentle intro to earnings, the P/E ratio, and why valuation is hard. +15 XP
- The risks of owning stocks Stocks can fall as well as rise — the real risks, and the simple ways investors manage them. +15 XP
- The income statement How a company turns revenue into profit — revenue, margins, and earnings per share. +15 XP
- The balance sheet What a company owns and owes — assets, liabilities, and shareholders' equity. +15 XP
- The cash flow statement Why profit isn't cash — operating, investing, and financing flows, and free cash flow. +15 XP
- Valuation multiples Quick yardsticks for what a stock costs — P/E, P/S, P/B, and EV/EBITDA. +15 XP
- Growth vs value Two classic investing styles — paying up for growth versus buying cheap for value. +15 XP
- Sectors & the business cycle How groups of stocks move together, and why some thrive in booms and others in slumps. +15 XP
- Discounted cash flow (DCF) Valuing a stock from the cash it will produce — the intuition behind DCF, minus the algebra. +15 XP
- Quality & moats Why some businesses compound for decades — competitive advantages and returns on capital. +15 XP
- Market mechanics How trades actually happen — order types, the bid/ask spread, and liquidity. +15 XP
- Short selling & margin Borrowing to bet a stock falls, or to amplify a position — and why both cut deeper than they look. +15 XP
- Risk & position sizing Surviving to compound — diversification, concentration, and sizing a position sensibly. +15 XP
- Behavioral pitfalls & market efficiency Why smart people lose money — common biases, and what 'priced in' really means. +15 XP
- What is a bond? A bond is a loan you make to a government or company — here's how it pays you back. +10 XP
- Coupons & yield How a bond pays you — the coupon — and what 'yield' really measures. +10 XP
- Price & yield move opposite ways The single most important bond idea: when rates rise, existing bonds fall. +15 XP
- Interest-rate risk & duration Why a 30-year bond is far more sensitive to rate moves than a 1-year one. +15 XP
- Credit risk & ratings Will the issuer pay you back? Ratings, investment grade, and high-yield 'junk'. +10 XP
- Types of bonds Government, corporate, and municipal bonds — who issues them and why it matters. +10 XP
- The yield curve What the yields-across-maturities curve looks like — and why an inverted one is watched. +15 XP
- Why hold bonds? Income, stability, and diversification — the role bonds play alongside stocks. +15 XP
- Duration & interest-rate sensitivity Putting a number on interest-rate risk — how much a bond's price moves per 1% rate change. +15 XP
- Convexity Why the price/yield relationship curves — and why that curve works in a bondholder's favour. +15 XP
- The yield curve in depth What the shape of the yield curve says about rates, growth, and recessions. +15 XP
- Credit spreads The extra yield for taking default risk — and why spreads widen when fear rises. +15 XP
- Callable & inflation-linked bonds Two common bond twists — issuers that can repay early, and bonds that track inflation. +15 XP
- What is an option? The friendly, plain-English version: a contract that gives you a choice, not an obligation. +10 XP
- Calls vs puts Two flavours of option: one is the right to buy, the other the right to sell. +10 XP
- In, at, and out of the money Moneyness — whether an option would be worth exercising right now. +10 XP
- What drives an option's price Premium breaks into two parts — intrinsic and extrinsic value — pushed around by price, time, and volatility. +10 XP
- Buying vs selling options Every option has two sides. Buyers pay for rights; sellers collect premium and take on obligations. +10 XP
- Exercise & assignment What actually happens when an option is used — and who's on the hook when it is. +10 XP
- Time decay & expiration An option is a melting ice cube — its time value erodes every day, fastest near the end. +10 XP
- Meet the Greeks Delta, gamma, theta, vega and rho — the dials that tell you how an option's price will react. +15 XP
- Understanding volatility Implied vs realized volatility, IV rank, the vol crush, and why skew exists. +15 XP
- Vertical spreads Combine two options to define your risk, lower your cost, and cap your reward. +15 XP
- Income: covered calls & cash-secured puts The two friendliest ways to be an options seller and collect premium with defined risk. +15 XP
- Iron condors A neutral, defined-risk strategy that profits when the stock goes nowhere. +15 XP
- Risk management The unglamorous skill that separates traders who last from those who don't. +15 XP
- Synthetic positions Put-call parity lets you rebuild any instrument from the others — the deepest idea in options. +20 XP
- Calendars & diagonals Trade time itself by pairing options with different expirations. +20 XP
- Ratio spreads & backspreads Unbalanced spreads with more contracts on one side — and the asymmetric payoffs they create. +20 XP
- Adjusting positions Trades rarely go exactly to plan. Rolling and defending are how pros manage the ones that don't. +20 XP
- Portfolio Greeks Stop managing trades one at a time. Manage the aggregate risk of your whole book. +20 XP
- Market microstructure How orders actually fill — bid/ask, market makers, liquidity, and the hidden costs of trading. +20 XP
- What is a derivative? A contract whose value comes from something else — the simple idea behind a scary word. +10 XP
- Why derivatives exist Two reasons anyone uses them — protecting against risk, and betting on a view. +10 XP
- The underlying & your exposure Long vs short, and why the 'notional' size is bigger than the cash you put down. +10 XP
- Leverage in derivatives Small money, big exposure — why a tiny deposit controls a large position, and why that cuts both ways. +15 XP
- The risks of derivatives Leverage, counterparty risk, and complexity — why derivatives demand respect. +15 XP
- The derivatives family Options are one corner of the derivatives world. Here's how futures, forwards, and swaps differ — and why it matters. +20 XP
- Futures contracts Standardised, exchange-traded promises to buy or sell later — the workhorse of hedging and speculation. +15 XP
- Swaps Agreements to exchange cash flows over time — the tool institutions use to transform their risk. +15 XP
- Currency swaps & FX Exchanging one currency for another — how FX swaps work and why investors diversify across currencies. +15 XP
- Options vs futures Two ways to bet on a price — one a right, one an obligation. When to reach for each. +15 XP
- Hedging with derivatives Derivatives aren't only for betting — they're how businesses and investors offset risk they already carry. +20 XP
- What is foreign exchange? The world's largest market, where one currency is traded for another. +10 XP
- Currency pairs & quoting How a price like EUR/USD 1.08 is read — base, quote, and the bid/ask. +10 XP
- Pips & spreads The smallest move a currency makes, and the cost baked into every trade. +10 XP
- Major, minor & exotic pairs How currency pairs are grouped — and why some cost far more to trade. +10 XP
- What moves exchange rates Interest rates, inflation, trade, and sentiment — the forces behind a currency's price. +15 XP
- Interest rates & central banks Why central-bank rate decisions are the single biggest driver of currencies. +15 XP
- The carry trade Borrowing a low-yield currency to hold a high-yield one — and the risk that bites. +15 XP
- Hedging currency risk Why a global business or investor locks in exchange rates rather than gamble on them. +15 XP
- Leverage & margin in FX Why retail FX trading is so risky — small moves, huge leverage, fast losses. +15 XP
- Purchasing power parity What a currency is 'worth' in the long run — and why prices should line up across borders. +15 XP
- Spot, forwards & FX swaps The main ways to trade currency — settle now, lock a future rate, or combine both. +15 XP
- Cross rates & triangular relationships Building a pair that isn't quoted directly from two that share a currency. +15 XP
- Currency regimes & intervention Floating, pegged, and managed currencies — and when central banks step in. +15 XP
- Who trades FX, and why Central banks, corporations, and speculators — and where FX fits in a portfolio. +15 XP
- Why invest? Compounding & time The engine behind building wealth — returns earning returns, given enough time. +10 XP
- Risk, return & your time horizon Why higher returns demand more risk, and how your time horizon changes the maths. +10 XP
- Diversification Don't put all your eggs in one basket — the closest thing investing has to a free lunch. +10 XP
- Asset allocation The stocks/bonds/cash mix — the single biggest decision in your portfolio. +15 XP
- Index funds & ETFs The simplest, cheapest way to own the whole market in one go. +15 XP
- Dollar-cost averaging Investing a fixed amount on a schedule — and why it beats trying to time the market. +15 XP
- Fees & costs Why a 'small' 1% fee quietly compounds into a fortune you never see. +15 XP
- Rebalancing Trimming what's grown to keep your portfolio at its target allocation. +15 XP
- Tax-advantaged accounts The retirement-style account wrappers that let your investments compound untaxed. +15 XP
- Active vs passive Why most active funds trail a simple, cheap index over the long run. +15 XP
- Lifecycle investing & glide paths Shifting from stocks toward bonds as you age — and the funds that do it for you. +15 XP
- Withdrawal strategies & the 4% rule Turning a portfolio into income without running out — and what the 4% rule really says. +15 XP
- Tax-efficient investing Keeping more of your return — asset location and tax-loss harvesting, in concept. +15 XP
- Staying the course Why the biggest threat to your portfolio is your own behaviour — and how to beat it. +15 XP
- GDP & economic growth The single number that measures an economy's size — and why its growth matters to everyone. +10 XP
- Inflation Why prices rise, how it's measured, and why a little is healthy but a lot is dangerous. +10 XP
- Interest rates & central banks The economy's master dial — how central banks use rates to steer growth and inflation. +15 XP
- The business cycle Why economies move in waves of boom and bust — expansion, peak, contraction, recovery. +10 XP
- Employment & the labour market Why the jobs numbers move markets — unemployment, wages, and what they signal. +10 XP
- Fiscal vs monetary policy The two great levers for steering an economy — and who pulls each one. +10 XP
- How macro moves markets Tying it together — how growth, inflation, and rates ripple through stocks, bonds, and currencies. +15 XP
- What is cryptocurrency? Digital money with no central authority — the core idea, in plain terms. +10 XP
- How a blockchain works The shared, tamper-resistant ledger behind crypto — without the hype. +10 XP
- Bitcoin — digital gold? The first cryptocurrency, its fixed supply, and the 'digital gold' debate. +10 XP
- Ethereum & smart contracts Beyond money — programmable blockchains, smart contracts, and what they enable. +10 XP
- Wallets, keys & custody Who really controls your crypto — private keys, wallets, and 'not your keys, not your coins'. +15 XP
- Stablecoins Crypto pegged to a stable value like the dollar — useful plumbing, with its own risks. +10 XP
- The risks of crypto Volatility, scams, hacks, and regulation — a clear-eyed look before you go near it. +15 XP
- Real estate as an investment Property as an asset class — how it earns, and how it differs from stocks and bonds. +10 XP
- Buying property directly Owning physical property — the mortgage, the leverage, and the real costs. +10 XP
- REITs — real estate as a stock Own a slice of professional property portfolios, traded like shares. +10 XP
- How REITs pay you Rent becomes dividends — why REITs are an income favourite, and how to read the payout. +10 XP
- Valuing property: the cap rate The one ratio every property investor knows — yield on a building, and what it signals. +15 XP
- Real estate & interest rates Why property is so sensitive to interest rates — through mortgages, cap rates, and leverage. +15 XP
- Real estate in a portfolio What property adds to a mix of stocks and bonds — diversification, income, inflation protection, and its risks. +15 XP
- What are commodities? Raw materials you can trade — gold, oil, wheat — and why they behave unlike stocks or bonds. +10 XP
- Gold & precious metals Why gold is treated as a store of value and an inflation hedge — and where that reputation breaks down. +10 XP
- Oil & energy The world's most important commodity — what moves crude prices, who controls supply, and why it's so volatile. +10 XP
- Agricultural commodities Grains, softs, and livestock — the commodities you eat and wear, and why weather rules their prices. +10 XP
- How to invest in commodities Futures, ETFs, miners, or physical metal — the real ways to get commodity exposure, and the hidden cost of rolling. +10 XP
- What drives commodity prices Supply, demand, the dollar, and the commodity cycle — the forces that set raw-material prices. +10 XP
- Commodities in a portfolio What raw materials add to a mix of stocks and bonds — diversification and an inflation hedge — and the real costs. +10 XP
Not sure where to begin? Find your path →