Ticker&Tape

Free course · 17 modules · 76 lessons

Trading school

From what the stock market is and how to place your first trade, to reading charts, finding buy points and managing a whole portfolio. Short lessons, clear diagrams, live examples from today's market and a quiz at the end of each lesson. Finish them all and get your certificate.

Start with lesson 1 → Already trading? Jump to bases and buy points

PivotPrior uptrend 30%+CupHandleBreakoutDepth 15–33%Volume

Module 1The market from zero 4 lessons

  1. 1What the stock market isEvery day millions of people buy and sell small pieces of companies. This lesson explains what the stock market actually is, why it exists…
  2. 2Why stock prices moveA stock's price changes every second the market is open. The reasons can look mysterious at first, but they come down to one idea: what…
  3. 3Bull and bear marketsThe market does not rise in a straight line. It moves in cycles of advances and declines, and knowing where you are in that cycle is one of…
  4. 4Investing vs tradingTwo people can buy the same stock on the same day for completely different reasons. One plans to hold it for ten years, the other for ten…

Module 2How stocks work 5 lessons

  1. 5Stocks, ETFs and indexes explainedBefore you read a single chart, you need to know what you are looking at. Almost everything on Ticker&Tape is one of three things: a stock…
  2. 6How shareholders make moneyWhen you buy a share, you buy a slice of a real business. There are only a few ways that slice can make you money, and knowing them tells…
  3. 7Market cap, sectors and industriesTwo questions help you place any stock on the map: how big is the company, and what business is it in? Market cap answers the first…
  4. 8IPOs, splits and other corporate actionsCompanies are not static. They go public, split their shares, spin off divisions, merge and sometimes disappear from the exchange. Each of…
  5. 9Buying U.S. stocks from outside the United StatesYou do not need to live in the United States to own U.S. stocks. There are several ways in, and each one changes your costs, your risks and…

Module 3How to trade 7 lessons

  1. 10Choosing a broker: what to compare before you open an accountYou cannot buy a single share without a broker, and the one you choose holds your money. A little homework before you open an account…
  2. 11How the stock market works: hours, liquidity, spreadsThe stock market is a meeting place for buyers and sellers. Knowing when it is open, who is trading and how prices are formed will save you…
  3. 12Order types: market, limit, stop and stop-limitAn order is your instruction to the broker. Choosing the right type decides the price you get, whether you get filled at all, and how well…
  4. 13Your first trade: a step-by-step walkthroughYour first trade should be boring: planned on paper before the market opens, small, and with the exit decided in advance. Here is the whole…
  5. 14Paper trading and practice: learning before real moneyPilots train in simulators before they fly with passengers. Practicing trades without real money lets you learn the process and make…
  6. 15Margin and short selling: why beginners should waitMargin and short selling are tools that let traders borrow money or shares. They can multiply profits, but they multiply losses faster, and…
  7. 16Trading costs and taxes: what really eats your returnsEvery trade has a cost, and most of it is not on the price list. Small costs repeated hundreds of times can turn a good method into a…

Module 4Reading a chart 4 lessons

  1. 17How to read candlesticks and barsEvery chart is built from the same four prices for each period: the open, the high, the low and the close. Candles and bars are just two…
  2. 18Daily and weekly charts: why you need bothThe same stock can look calm on a weekly chart and chaotic on a daily one. Using both lets you see the forest and the trees.
  3. 19Log vs linear scale on stock chartsThe price axis on a chart can be drawn two ways. Picking the right one changes how a stock's history looks, and how you judge its moves.
  4. 20How to read a Ticker&Tape chartA Ticker&Tape chart packs a lot of information into one screen. Here is a quick tour, top to bottom, with links to the lesson that explains…

Module 5Trend 3 lessons

  1. 21What is a trend? Uptrends, downtrends, rangesA trend is simply the direction prices are moving. Learning to recognize it, and to trade with it instead of against it, is the foundation…
  2. 22The four stages of a stockMost stocks move through a repeating cycle of four stages. Knowing which stage a stock is in tells you whether it is worth buying at all.
  3. 23How to draw and use trendlinesA trendline is a straight line that connects a series of lows or highs. It turns a vague feeling about a trend into something you can see…

Module 6Support and resistance 3 lessons

  1. 24Support and resistance: the levels that matterPrices have memory. Certain levels on a chart keep stopping a stock on the way down or holding it back on the way up. Learning to spot them…
  2. 25Role reversal: when resistance becomes supportOnce a level breaks, it often switches jobs. The old ceiling becomes the new floor, and the old floor becomes the new ceiling. This is…
  3. 26Gaps: breakaway, filled and exhaustionA gap is an empty space on the chart where no trading happened. It means the stock opened far above or below the prior day's range, usually…

Module 7Volume 3 lessons

  1. 27How to read volumeVolume is the number of shares traded in a period. Price tells you what happened, volume tells you how much conviction was behind it. Big…
  2. 28Volume on breakouts: the proof of demandA breakout is when a stock clears the top of its base, the pivot. Price alone is not enough. The move should come with a clear surge in…
  3. 29Accumulation and distribution in a stockBig funds cannot build or sell a position in a single day. They work over weeks and months, and their activity leaves footprints in price…

Module 8Moving averages 3 lessons

  1. 30Moving averages: the basicsA moving average smooths out daily noise and shows the direction of the trend. It is one of the simplest and most useful tools on a chart…
  2. 31The 50-day line: support and sell signalThe 50-day moving average is the line growth traders watch most. Leading stocks often find support there during an advance, and a decisive…
  3. 32The 200-day line: the long-term trend filterThe 200-day moving average covers about ten months of trading. It is the simplest way to tell whether a stock, or the whole market, is in a…

Module 9Technical indicators 5 lessons

  1. 33RSI: the Relative Strength Index explainedThe RSI is a momentum gauge that swings between 0 and 100. It tells you how hard a stock has been pushing up or down lately. It is useful…
  2. 34MACD: lines, histogram and crossoversMACD turns two moving averages into a single momentum picture. It helps you see when a trend is speeding up or slowing down, but because it…
  3. 35Bollinger Bands and Keltner ChannelsBollinger Bands and Keltner Channels draw an envelope around price. When the envelope gets narrow, the stock has gone quiet, and quiet…
  4. 36Anchored VWAP: where buyers are in profitAnchored VWAP answers a simple question: since a given day, what price has the average buyer paid? If the stock is above that line, those…
  5. 37ATR and ADR: measuring how much a stock movesEvery stock has its own rhythm. Some move 1% on a normal day, others move 6%. ATR and ADR measure that rhythm, so your stops and position…

Module 10Relative strength 3 lessons

  1. 38The RS line: is the stock beating the market?The RS line is one of the simplest and most useful lines on a growth-stock chart. It shows, at a glance, whether a stock is doing better or…
  2. 39The RS Rating: ranking stocks from 1 to 99The RS Rating turns a stock's price performance into one number from 1 to 99. It lets you sort thousands of stocks in seconds and focus on…
  3. 40Leaders and laggards: buy the best, not the cheapestIn every market rally, a small group of stocks does most of the work. They tend to come from a handful of strong industries. Your job is to…

Module 11Bases and buy points 12 lessons

  1. 41What is a base?Stocks do not go up in a straight line. After a strong run they pause, pull back and move sideways for a while. That resting area is called…
  2. 42The pivot and the buy zoneEvery base has one price that matters most: the pivot. It is the level where the stock breaks out of its base. Buying close to the pivot…
  3. 43The cup with handleThe cup with handle is the classic growth-stock base. On a chart it looks like a teacup seen from the side: a rounded bowl followed by a…
  4. 44The cup without handleSometimes a stock forms a nice rounded cup and then goes straight through the old high without stopping to build a handle. That is a cup…
  5. 45The flat baseA flat base is a quiet, tight sideways range. The stock barely corrects, moving within a band of 15% or less for at least five weeks. It is…
  6. 46The double bottomA double bottom looks like the letter W. The stock falls, bounces, falls again to a slightly lower low and then rallies. That second dip…
  7. 47The ascending baseAn ascending base is a staircase. The stock pulls back three times, but each low and each high is higher than the one before. It usually…
  8. 48The high tight flagThe high tight flag is the rarest and most powerful base. A stock roughly doubles in a few weeks and then barely gives anything back. It is…
  9. 49The base on baseSometimes a stock breaks out, the market turns down, and the stock simply builds a new base right on top of the old one. That base on base…
  10. 50The IPO baseAn IPO, or initial public offering, is when a company first sells its shares on the stock market. Recent IPOs can become huge winners, and…
  11. 51Base count: early vs late stageEvery time a stock builds a new base during a long advance, the base count goes up by one. Early bases offer the best odds. Late ones are…
  12. 52Failed breakoutsNot every breakout works. Sometimes a stock clears its pivot and then falls right back into the base. Knowing what a failed breakout looks…

Module 12Fundamentals 4 lessons

  1. 53Earnings growth: what to look for in EPSBig stock moves are usually powered by big earnings growth. Learning to read a company's earnings per share takes a few minutes and helps…
  2. 54Sales growth, margins and the SMR gradeEarnings can be boosted by cost cuts or accounting, but sales are much harder to fake. Rising sales, widening margins and a high return on…
  3. 55How to read an earnings report as a traderFour times a year every company reports its results, and the stock can move 10% or more in a single day. Knowing when earnings come out and…
  4. 56Institutional ownership: follow the big moneyStocks do not double because individual traders buy a few hundred shares. They double because large institutions buy millions of shares…

Module 13The general market 4 lessons

  1. 57Market direction: check it before every tradeYou can pick a great stock with a perfect chart and still lose money if the general market is falling. Checking market direction first is…
  2. 58Distribution days: spotting institutional sellingMarket tops rarely happen in a single day. They build as large investors quietly sell over a few weeks. Distribution days are a simple way…
  3. 59The follow-through day: confirming a new uptrendAfter a correction, nobody rings a bell at the bottom. The follow-through day is a simple, objective signal that a new uptrend may have…
  4. 60Market breadth: how many stocks join the moveAn index can rise while most stocks fall. Breadth measures how many stocks take part in a move, and it often warns you before the index…

Module 14Macro 3 lessons

  1. 61What moves the stock marketStocks don't move in a vacuum. Interest rates, inflation, jobs and economic growth set the backdrop for every chart you look at. You don't…
  2. 62The Fed and interest ratesThe Federal Reserve is the most watched institution in the stock market. Its decisions on interest rates ripple through every stock, sector…
  3. 63How to use the economic calendarBig economic releases come out on a schedule you can see weeks in advance. Checking the calendar takes two minutes and helps you avoid…

Module 15Risk management 5 lessons

  1. 64Position sizing: how many shares to buyHow many shares you buy matters as much as which stock you buy. Position sizing turns your stop into a fixed, small loss, so no single…
  2. 65Stop-losses: cutting losses shortEvery trader is wrong a lot. The difference between surviving and blowing up is how quickly you admit it. A stop-loss is a price, decided…
  3. 66Taking profits: when to sell a winnerBuying is half the job. Many traders cut losses well but then give back their gains because they never had a plan for selling. These…
  4. 67Market exposure: how much to investExposure is the share of your account invested in stocks at any moment. Getting it right is one of the most powerful risk tools you have…
  5. 68Keeping a trading journalA journal turns your trades into lessons. Without one, you remember the big wins and forget why you lost. With one, you can see exactly…

Module 16Managing your trading portfolio 6 lessons

  1. 69Building a portfolio: how many stocks to holdOnce you can size a single trade, the next question is how all your trades fit together. A portfolio is simply the set of positions you…
  2. 70Portfolio heat: your total open riskRisking 1% per trade is a good start, but you rarely hold just one trade. Portfolio heat adds up the risk of all your open positions so you…
  3. 71Correlation and concentration: hidden risk in your portfolioFive positions can be five separate bets or one big bet in disguise. It depends on how much the stocks move together. Understanding that is…
  4. 72Adding and trimming: managing position size over timeA position doesn't have to stay the size you bought. Good traders add to what is working and shrink what isn't. Done well, this puts most…
  5. 73Drawdowns and trading psychologyEvery trader goes through periods when the account falls. How you handle those periods, with your rules and with your emotions, matters…
  6. 74Measuring your trading performanceFeelings are a poor guide to how well you trade. A few simple numbers tell you whether your method has an edge, where it leaks money, and…

Module 17Your routine 2 lessons

  1. 75A daily routine for tradersConsistent traders follow a routine. It keeps you prepared, stops impulsive trades and makes sure you check the things that matter in the…
  2. 76The weekly review routineThe weekend is when the market is closed and you can think clearly. A weekly review of an hour or two gives you the big picture that is…