The complete catalogue of free self-study reading courses, from market foundations to portfolio risk and historical backtesting. Every listed lesson is available to read.
Reading-time estimates exclude exercises and further study. These are written courses, not video classes or accredited qualifications.
Learn what market instruments represent, how quotations and orders work, and why execution and settlement costs matter. The lessons connect ownership, order-book mechanics and post-trade obligations.
Free self-study · reading course
Course overviewStudy per-share accounting measures, valuation context and distributions using fictional company figures. Learn why a ratio needs a denominator, a time period and a comparable business context.
Free self-study · reading course
Course overviewCompare fund structure, net asset value, ongoing costs and benchmark behavior. The emphasis is understanding an instrument rather than selecting a particular fund.
Free self-study · reading course
Course overviewRead a bond through its promised cash flows, market yield and main sources of risk. Worked examples distinguish coupon income, rate sensitivity and issuer credit risk.
Free self-study · reading course
Course overviewUnderstand contractual rights, expiration payoffs and the local sensitivity measures used to describe an option. Premiums, contract multipliers and model limitations stay explicit throughout.
Free self-study · reading course
Course overviewStudy notional exposure, collateral, mark-to-market losses and the effects of replacing an expiring futures contract. Examples separate a small deposit from the much larger exposure it supports.
Free self-study · reading course
Course overviewLearn how currency pairs are quoted, how pips, spreads and overnight interest shape the cost of holding a position, and how exchange-rate scenarios change the value of foreign-currency exposure. All examples use illustrative numbers.
Free self-study · reading course
Course overviewUnderstand how a blockchain ledger records transactions, who controls the keys behind digital assets, and where stablecoin and trading-venue risks come from. Examples use illustrative numbers and describe mechanisms, not price outlooks.
Free self-study · reading course
Course overviewLearn what drives physical commodity prices, how futures curves and rolling affect returns, and how futures, funds and producer shares give different exposures to the same underlying commodity. Examples use fictional contracts and illustrative numbers.
Free self-study · reading course
Course overviewStudy how price bars and trends are read, how common indicators such as moving averages, MACD, RSI and Bollinger Bands are calculated, and how to test whether an indicator rule has real evidence behind it. Indicators describe past prices and do not forecast outcomes.
Free self-study · reading course
Measure return and volatility correctly, see how correlation drives diversification, size positions from a loss budget, understand how leverage magnifies losses, and examine drawdowns, value at risk and stress scenarios. Examples use fictional assets and illustrative numbers.
Free self-study · reading course
Build backtests that avoid common data errors: use point-in-time data and an honest universe, model realistic costs, separate in-sample from out-of-sample evidence, and read performance reports critically for robustness. A backtest tests a rule on history; it does not forecast future results.
Free self-study · reading course