Understand before you invest
A free course on stocks and crypto markets that starts with taking stock of your finances and never talks down to you. Every lesson comes twice: in plain language, and with numbers, formulas, and sources.
- 101 lessons
- 13 calculators
- free
- no jargon
- no ad links
Your progress
Where are you right now?
Three questions, then you'll know where to start. Nothing is saved or transmitted.
Two depths, one page
You decide, lesson by lesson, how deep you go. Try the switch.
A plain-language explanation, no jargon
Compound interest means the returns on your money start earning returns of their own. That's why an amount grows slowly at first and faster later. Time matters more here than the exact moment you start.
Background, numbers, formulas, and sources
The future value of a regular contribution follows E = R · ((1+i)^n − 1) / i, where R is the payment, i the periodic rate, and n the number of periods. The result is linear in R and exponential in i. Since i can't be controlled, only estimated, the only reliable levers are R and n.
The path
Six stages, each building on the last. You don't have to start from the top, but you should know what you're skipping.
An example that sticks
Loss and gain aren't symmetric. Drag the slider and see what it would take to break even.
What would you do?
Three situations, the kind that actually happen. Pick your answer and see what follows.
Just five minutes today
No course, no commitment. One lesson that stands on its own.
Run the numbers yourself
All calculators run in your browser. Nothing is transmitted, nothing is saved.
Taking Stock
Check whether investing is even your next step. This is where things get sorted honestly, and some people leave for now.
Fundamentals
Understand what this is actually about. No money in play yet.
Show lessons (24)
- 1What money actually is
- 2Why saving in a bank account means losing money
- 3What return actually means
- 4Compound interest
- 5Risk and return are linked
- 6What a stock exchange is
- 7What a stock is
- 8What a bond is
- 9What an ETF is
- 10Why active funds usually underperform
- 11What a cryptocurrency is
- 12Blockchain without the jargon
- 13Investing and trading are two different things
- 14Why most people should invest, not trade
- 15Why prices move
- 16Who really moves the markets
- 17Bull market, bear market, crash, bubble
- 18The classic beginner mistakes
- 19Savings accounts and fixed-term deposits
- 20Gold and precious metals
- 21Commodities
- 22Real estate and REITs
- 23Collectibles and tangible assets
- 24All asset classes compared
Practice
Open an account and understand your first order. Still no real money.
Show lessons (17)
- 1Finding a reputable broker
- 2Comparing brokers
- 3If your broker goes bankrupt
- 4Opening a brokerage account
- 5Crypto exchange vs. broker
- 6Wallet, private key, and seed phrase
- 7Not your keys, not your coins
- 8Understanding the trading interface
- 9Order types
- 10Setting a stop-loss correctly
- 11Spread, slippage, and liquidity
- 12Every fee that eats into your return
- 13Currency risk
- 14Trading hours
- 15The savings plan
- 16Paper trading
- 17Your first order
Risk and Psychology
The most important stage. This is where it's decided who's still around in the long run.
Show lessons (17)
- 1Capital preservation before profit
- 2The one-percent rule
- 3Calculating position size
- 4Risk-reward ratio
- 5Win rate and expected value
- 6Drawdown
- 7Diversification
- 8Leverage
- 9Liquidation
- 10CFDs, and why regulators warn about them
- 11Fear and greed
- 12FOMO
- 13Loss aversion
- 14Confirmation bias
- 15Overtrading and revenge trading
- 16The trading journal
- 17When to stop
Analysis
Learn to judge for yourself instead of repeating what others say.
Show lessons (19)
- 1Fundamental vs. technical analysis
- 2Reading a chart
- 3Spotting trends
- 4Support and resistance
- 5Trendlines and channels
- 6Chart patterns
- 7Moving averages
- 8RSI, MACD, and Bollinger Bands
- 9Why indicators lag
- 10Reading a balance sheet
- 11The key financial ratios
- 12Skimming an annual report
- 13What a company is worth
- 14On-chain analysis
- 15Tokenomics
- 16Checking a whitepaper
- 17Interest rates, central banks, and economic data
- 18Why news is already in the price
- 19Evaluating sources
Advanced
For those who want to go further. Optional, and nobody has to come here.
Show lessons (16)
- 1Portfolio theory
- 2Correlation
- 3Rebalancing
- 4Volatility
- 5Options: calls and puts
- 6Hedging with options
- 7Futures and derivatives markets
- 8Short selling
- 9Order books, market makers, high-frequency trading
- 10Writing down a strategy
- 11Backtesting
- 12Overfitting
- 13Automated trading
- 14DeFi: staking, lending, liquidity pools
- 15Impermanent loss and smart-contract risk
- 16Your written trading plan
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