Credential program on the trader path
Advanced Certificate in Trading
The third stage of the trader path, for a certified trader at advanced level: order flow, futures, momentum and breakouts, global macro, fundamental analysis, how desk traders think, prop trading firms and overtrading, with a desk-style simulated book as the capstone. No programming.
The Advanced Certificate trains the habits of a professional trader, and it is the step at which a student becomes a certified trader at advanced level. Advanced trading is less about new setups than about the market below the chart, the forces above it, and the discipline that keeps a trader in business. The Advanced Certificate in Trading covers order flow and futures, momentum and global macro, the accounts behind the share price, and the way bank and prop desks limit, report and review their traders.
What does the Advanced Certificate cover?
Order flow, tape reading and volume profile. Futures contracts, margin and rolls. Momentum and breakout trading with its evidence and its crashes. Global macro: central banks, rates, currencies and the business cycle. Fundamental analysis of company accounts. How bank and proprietary traders think about risk and information. Prop trading firms and their evaluations. And overtrading, ending in a full performance review of your record from the whole path.
How is it assessed?
Each course has its own exercises, problem sets and a proctored exam with a 60% pass mark. The certificate is awarded when all five courses and the capstone are passed. The capstone is a twelve-week simulated book run under desk-style limits and reporting, assessed in writing by the faculty.
Who should take it?
Experienced discretionary traders, funded and prop traders, and holders of the Intermediate Certificate in Trading completing the trader path. No programming is needed at any point.
The courses in this program
- How to Trade Futures and Read Order Flow How to trade futures without learning the hard way: what a contract is, how tick values and margin turn a small move into a large profit or loss, how expiry and rolling work, which contracts suit a small account, and how to size positions so leverage never decides for you. It also teaches order flow trading.
- Swing Trading and Momentum Trading Swing trading holds positions for days to weeks, which suits people who cannot watch a screen all day. This course covers scanning for candidates, the main setups, the overnight and gap risk that comes with holding, earnings and event dates, and a weekly routine you can keep. It also teaches momentum trading.
- Fundamental Analysis, News Trading and Global Macro Fundamental analysis reads a company's accounts to judge what it is worth and how its results may move the share price. This course teaches the three financial statements, the main valuation ratios, earnings quality and guidance, and how traders use fundamentals to choose which stocks to trade and which events to respect. It also teaches news trading around scheduled releases and global macro trading.
- Prop Trading Firms and How Bank Traders Think Prop trading firms offer traders a funded account after a paid evaluation. This course explains how the evaluations and their rules work, why trailing drawdown rules fail so many traders, what the fees and payouts mean for your expected return, and how to use your own record to decide whether, and how, to attempt one. It also teaches how bank and proprietary traders think about risk.
- Trading Psychology, the Trading Journal and Overtrading Trading psychology taught from the research on decisions under risk: why traders hold losers and cut winners, how overconfidence grows after a good run, what tilt and revenge trading look like, and the routines that protect you from yourself. It also teaches the trading journal and overtrading and how to stop it.
What every course contains
Every paid course comes with the first seven and the certificate, whichever level it sits at. The proctored exam and the credential come when the course is taken as part of a Certificate, Diploma or Fellowship. Everything is self-paced: the material is yours to study in any order, at any hour, for the whole of the license.
- Workbooks. Written to train the thinking patterns and the important concepts of the course, with worked problems and the reasoning behind each answer, so that you learn to think the way the subject is thought.
- Audio edition. Focused, well-presented recordings with explainers and examples of the material, made to be interesting, relevant and entertaining, so that the general subject can be learned away from the desk.
- Notes. Pre-produced notes with every fact the course relies on, written out in full, so that nothing has to be transcribed from the films or the audio.
- Cheat sheet. One sheet with every important learning concept of the course on it, to keep beside you during the work and to revise from before the exam.
- Named sources. Every fact in the notes names its source, the paper, the book or the dataset, for anyone who wants to dig in further.
- Explainer films. Focused films, in the style of the sample films on the catalog page, that walk through the most difficult concepts of the course with visual explanations of a high standard.
- Transcript. A full transcript of every film and every audio recording, searchable and quotable.
- Proctored exam. Taken as part of a Certificate, Diploma or Fellowship, the course ends in a proctored multiple-choice questionnaire, with a pass mark of 60% and three retakes included. A course taken on its own is assessed by its coursework and has no exam.
- Verifiable certificate. A certificate of completion that a third party can verify: an employer sends the code on it to the credentials office and receives written confirmation of the course, the date and the result.
- Credential of the program. The Certificate, Diploma or Fellowship of the program, track or path the course belongs to, awarded when every course in it is passed. Which one depends on the program you choose.
What should you know before you start?
The courses in this program build on the courses below. They are not part of the program and not included in its price. If you have not studied this material, take them first. Admissions can tell you whether your background already covers them: the academy office.
- Stop Losses, Position Sizing and Your Trading Edge Where to put a stop loss and how large a position to take, as one decision: fixed-fraction sizing, volatility-based stops, the risk reward ratio, daily and monthly loss limits, and what happens when the market gaps through your stop. It also teaches how to measure your trading edge as expectancy.
- How to Trade Stocks: Orders, Costs and the Spread How to trade stocks with a clear picture of what happens behind the button: exchanges and brokers, every common order type, margin and short selling, corporate actions, settlement and the records you keep for tax. It also teaches the bid-ask spread and every other cost of a trade.
- Technical Analysis: Reading Charts and Price Action Technical analysis as a set of claims you can check: moving averages, momentum oscillators, volume indicators and chart patterns, what each measures, what the published evidence says, and how to test one on your own market with a spreadsheet. It also teaches how to read stock charts from scratch and price action trading.
- Day Trading for Beginners: Intraday Trading Done Properly Day trading for beginners without the sales pitch: how the trading day is structured, which instruments suit it, the rules and costs that apply, the main setups, and the evidence on how many day traders make money. It also teaches intraday trading routines and limits.
- The Trading Plan and Evidence-Based Trading A trading plan turns a set of habits into a written business. This course covers where trading ideas come from, which information sources are worth your time and money, how to choose markets and setups, the risk limits that protect the account, and the review cycle that keeps the plan honest. It also teaches evidence-based technical analysis.
What is the advanced trading capstone?
You run a simulated trading book for twelve weeks as a desk trader would: written risk limits, two methods from the certificate, a daily risk report and a weekly position review. The submission is the book, the reports and a performance review of about 3,000 words with a revised plan. The faculty assess it against published criteria and return written feedback: whether the limits held, whether the reports explain the results, and whether the review is honest about luck and skill.
What does the credential record?
It records that you passed the proctored exam of every course listed on this page and the capstone, assessed by the Institute's faculty. The credential is issued by the Institute. Each one carries a verification code that an employer can check with the credentials office.
Questions applicants ask
What does it mean to be a certified trader?
There is no single license for independent traders. A certified trader here means a holder of the Institute’s certificate, which shows by its verification code that the holder passed five advanced courses, their proctored exams and an assessed capstone. Regulated roles, such as advising clients, need the licenses of the country concerned.
Does this certificate prepare me for a prop firm evaluation?
It includes a course on funded-trader firms and their rules, and the capstone runs a book under desk-style limits. Whether to attempt an evaluation is your decision; the course teaches you to make it from your own record.
How long does the certificate take?
42 hours of material across the five courses, each hour with its audio edition and workbook, and a capstone of 20 hours of your own work. The license runs 12 months, so you set the pace around a job.