Trader Mentoring · Trading
Trading Foundations
Level I · 12 live sessions · 90 minutes each
By the end of Trading Foundations, the objective is not simply for you to know trading terminology or understand individual concepts. You should be able to look at a market, understand what you are trading, identify the prevailing conditions, formulate a conditional thesis, construct a trade, define and manage risk, execute it correctly in simulation, and explain why you acted - or why you chose not to act.
Fee
US$1,200
Payment for every course is 40% at enrolment, 30% after session 4, and 30% after session 8.
US$480 at enrolment · US$360 after session 4 · US$360 after session 8
Cancel before session 4: refund of 50% of the deposit.
Designed for
Beginners and traders without a repeatable operating process.
Prerequisites
None. Basic computer literacy and access to a charting platform or broker demo account.
Curriculum
12 live sessions
Each session includes a learning objective, practical work, and a competency demonstration. Session titles below are the full syllabus.
01Introduction to Financial Markets
What you learn. Understand why financial markets exist, how capital and risk move through the financial system, and the roles of investors, traders, brokers, exchanges, market makers, liquidity providers, clearing houses and custodians. Learn the difference between exchange-traded and over-the-counter markets, and how an order travels from a trading decision to execution, clearing and settlement.
Practical work. Trace a hypothetical trade from the moment an investor makes a decision through order submission, execution, clearing and final settlement. Identify the role of each participant at every stage.
Competency. Given a hypothetical transaction, independently explain who is involved, where the transaction takes place, how it is executed, and what happens after execution until settlement.
02Asset Classes & Trading Instruments
What you learn. Understand the characteristics, purpose and trading mechanics of major financial instruments, including equities, ETFs, indices, futures, options, foreign exchange, commodities, bonds, cryptocurrencies and CFDs. Understand the critical differences between owning an asset, obtaining exposure to an asset and trading a derivative referencing an asset.
Practical work. Compare SPX, SPY, ES and an SPX option, together with a non-equity instrument. Examine what each represents, how it trades, its leverage characteristics, costs, trading hours and principal risks.
Competency. Given an investment objective, identify which instruments could provide the desired exposure and explain the key differences in exposure, leverage, liquidity, cost, risk and execution.
03Exchanges & Trading Mechanics
What you learn. Understand how exchanges and trading venues operate, including trading sessions, regular and extended hours, contract specifications, tick size, tick value, contract multiplier, expiration, settlement and corporate actions where relevant. Learn why these details matter before placing a trade.
Practical work. Complete a contract and venue specification sheet for several instruments, including an equity, ETF, futures contract and option.
Competency. Before trading an unfamiliar instrument, independently identify where and when it trades, what one price movement is worth, how the contract is structured, when it expires or settles, and what specifications could materially affect the trade.
04Understanding Price & Market Conditions
What you learn. Understand how prices are quoted and interpreted. Learn bid, ask, spread, volume, liquidity, volatility, returns, gaps and price movement, and why the same price movement can have very different implications depending on the instrument and market conditions.
Practical work. Compare real historical quotes under different liquidity conditions and annotate a price sequence to identify changes in volatility, gaps, spread and trading activity.
Competency. Given a live or historical quote, explain what you are actually seeing, what it costs to enter and exit, how liquid the instrument is, and what the prevailing market conditions imply for execution and risk.
05The Trading Environment
What you learn. Learn how to operate a broker and charting platform safely in a simulated environment. Understand the order ticket, account equity, buying power, margin, leverage, unrealized and realized P&L, open positions and basic account safeguards. Learn the practical differences between market, limit, stop and stop-limit orders and when each may or may not be appropriate.
Practical work. In simulation, locate an instrument, prepare an order, submit it, modify it, cancel it, monitor the resulting position and close it.
Competency. Independently navigate the trading platform and execute a simulated trade correctly without confusing order quantity, price, direction, position, margin or P&L.
06Reading a Market
What you learn. Learn to read price without immediately trying to predict it. Understand timeframes, candles, swings, trend, range, transition, support, resistance and basic market-regime context. Learn why the same instrument can present completely different trading conditions across different timeframes.
Practical work. Analyze three instruments across two timeframes. Identify structure, trend or range conditions, important price levels and changes in market condition.
Competency. Given an unfamiliar chart, independently describe what the market is doing, what it is not doing, the relevant structure and the conditions that would change your interpretation.
07From Objective to Trading Thesis
What you learn. Learn how to turn a market observation into a conditional trading thesis rather than an unsupported prediction. Define the instrument, timeframe, market condition, evidence, trigger, invalidation and no-trade conditions.
Practical work. Develop a one-page trading thesis for a real historical or current market and present the reasoning behind it.
Competency. Construct and defend a trading thesis that clearly answers: What am I seeing? Why does it matter? What would make me act? What would prove me wrong? When would I do nothing?
08Constructing a Trade
What you learn. Bring the individual components together: instrument, thesis, setup, entry, invalidation, target or exit logic, order type, position size, costs and contingency planning. Understand the difference between having a market opinion and having an executable trade.
Practical work. Build a complete hypothetical trade plan from an actual market setup.
Competency. Present a complete trade plan in which every major decision is connected to the original thesis and the student can explain why the trade exists, what invalidates it and how it will be managed.
09Risk Management & Position Sizing
What you learn. Understand the relationship between risk, position size, stop distance, volatility, leverage, risk/reward, expectancy, drawdown and portfolio exposure. Learn why position size should be determined by risk rather than by how much capital is available.
Practical work. Take the same trading idea and calculate the appropriate position size under different account sizes, stop distances and volatility conditions.
Competency. Independently calculate the maximum monetary risk and position size for a trade and explain how changing stop distance, volatility, leverage or account exposure changes the risk profile.
10Execution & Trade Management
What you learn. Understand the difference between a correct trading idea and correct execution. Learn how fills, slippage, spread, liquidity, missed trades and changing market conditions affect actual results. Learn when to maintain, modify or exit a position and when changing conditions invalidate the original thesis.
Practical work. Execute a simulated trade from entry through management and exit, including at least one change in market conditions.
Competency. Manage a simulated position while explaining each decision in terms of the original thesis, current market evidence and predefined risk parameters, rather than reacting emotionally to P&L.
11Psychology, Journaling & Performance Review
What you learn. Understand the behavioral problems that commonly undermine otherwise sound trading processes, including FOMO, revenge trading, overtrading, hesitation, premature exits, loss chasing and decision-making during drawdowns. Learn to distinguish trade outcome from process quality.
Practical work. Complete a pre-trade checklist, trade journal and post-trade review using a simulated trade. Evaluate both the market result and the quality of the decisions made.
Competency. Review a series of trades and identify whether problems arose from analysis, execution, risk management or behavior, rather than simply labeling trades as winners or losers.
12Live-Market Integration & Final Demonstration
What you learn. Integrate everything learned throughout the programme: market selection, instrument selection, market structure, thesis formation, risk, position sizing, execution, trade management and review. The objective is not to predict the market. It is to demonstrate a repeatable decision-making process under uncertainty.
Practical work. Analyze a live or replayed market environment and construct a complete simulated trade—or demonstrate why no trade should be taken.
Competency. Independently analyze an unfamiliar market, select an appropriate instrument and timeframe, construct a conditional thesis, define risk and execution parameters, manage the simulated position and defend every major decision.
Ready to enrol?
Submit an application for Trading Foundations. Placement and payment instructions follow after review.
Educational content only. Not investment advice. Trading involves substantial risk of loss, including loss exceeding amounts invested. Trade at your own risk. Full educational disclaimer.