Trading Foundations
Learn how markets, orders and charts work, how to size every trade with a fixed risk, and how to follow one simple written strategy, plan and journal. The focus is on process and risk control, not on promises of profit.
Self-study course Self-study course: written lessons, videos and downloadable materials for independent learning. There is no supervision, assessment, individual feedback or tutoring. Self-check quizzes are evaluated automatically in your browser — we do not see your results.
All 14 lessons free
Before you start
- Basic arithmetic (percentages and division)
- No prior trading knowledge needed
- A computer or phone with access to a free demo account
What you will be able to do
- Explain the difference between trading and investing and why trading is a probability business
- Read candlestick charts and identify trend, support and resistance on the daily chart
- Calculate position size from account size, risk percentage and stop distance
- Apply the rules of the trend pullback strategy, including entry, stop, target and break-even management
- Write a one-page trading plan and record every trade in a journal measured in R
- Recognise common beginner mistakes and the red flags of trading scams
Lessons in this course
What trading really is (and isn't)
Markets, participants, how prices move, and why trading is a business of probabilities.
Stocks, forex, crypto: which market is for you?
The main markets compared: hours, volatility, costs and what suits a beginner.
Brokers, order types and costs
How to choose a broker, the order types you must know, and the hidden costs that eat profits.
Reading candlestick charts
Open, high, low, close — and the handful of candle patterns worth knowing.
Support, resistance and trend
The backbone of chart reading: where price turned before, and which direction it's going now.
Risk management: the lesson that keeps you alive
Position sizing, the 1% rule, reward-to-risk, and why this matters more than any strategy.
Indicators: the few that help
Moving averages, RSI, volume and ATR — how to use them without cluttering your chart.
Your first complete strategy: the trend pullback
Entry, stop, target and sizing rules for a simple, robust setup you can trade on any market.
Breakouts and range trading
How to trade sideways markets and catch breakouts without getting trapped.
Trading psychology: your real opponent
FOMO, revenge trading, overconfidence — and the routines that neutralise them.
Keeping a trading journal
What to record, how to review it, and how it turns losses into lessons.
Writing your trading plan
A one-page document that defines your markets, setups, risk and routines.
From demo to real money
How to know you're ready, how to start small, and how to scale up safely.
Common mistakes and how to spot a scam
The traps that catch beginners — including the “gurus”, signal groups and fake brokers.
Business Foundations
When you have finished this course, we recommend the Business Foundations course as your next step.
View course outline