Credential program on the trader path
Advanced Certificate in Trading
The third semester 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 third semester 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 eight 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
- Order Flow Trading: Tape Reading and Volume Profile Order flow trading reads the orders behind the price: the limit order book, the time and sales record, volume at each price and the balance of buying and selling. This course teaches each tool, what the research on order flow shows, and how to test an order flow setup on your own record.
- How to Trade Futures: Contracts, Margin and Rolls 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.
- Momentum and Breakout Trading Momentum trading buys what has been rising and sells what has been falling, one of the best-documented effects in finance. This course covers the research on time-series and cross-sectional momentum, breakout entries, exits that let trends run, the sharp reversals called momentum crashes, and how to run a manual momentum book.
- Global Macro Trading: Rates, Currencies and the Cycle Global macro trading takes positions on the big forces: interest rates, inflation, growth, currencies and commodities. This course teaches how central banks set policy, how rates drive currencies and asset prices, how the business cycle shows in markets, and how to turn a macro view into a sized trade with a clear exit.
- Fundamental Analysis for Traders: Reading the Numbers 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.
- How Bank and Prop Traders Think Proprietary trading desks and bank trading floors run on rules that most retail traders never see: hard risk limits, a daily profit and loss reviewed by someone else, position reviews, and a strict separation of conviction from size. This course teaches how professional traders think about risk, information and their own performance, and how to run your trading the same way.
- Prop Trading Firms: Evaluations, Rules and Payouts 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.
- Overtrading and the Performance Review Overtrading is the most common and the most expensive habit in retail trading. This course measures it in your own record, shows what it costs in spreads, commissions and poor decisions, builds the rules that limit it, and ends with a full performance review of your trading across the whole programme.
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: [email protected].
- Stop Losses and Position Sizing for Traders 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.
- Trading Edge: Expectancy, Probability and Luck A trading edge is a positive expected result after costs that you can show on a record. This course teaches the probability a trader needs to judge one: expectancy, win rate and payoff, variance, sample size and the many ways luck looks like skill.
- The Trading Journal: Self-Analysis for Traders A trading journal is the trader's laboratory notebook. This course teaches what to record for each trade, how to tag decisions and mistakes, how to run a weekly review, and how to read your own statistics in a spreadsheet so you learn from the record, not from memory.
- Trading Costs: Bid-Ask Spreads, Commissions and Slippage The bid ask spread is the first cost of every trade and the one most traders never count. This course measures it with commissions, slippage, financing and fees, and shows which trading styles survive their costs.
- How to Read Stock Charts: Candles, Volume and Levels How to read stock charts the way a careful trader does: what each candle records, how timeframes change the picture, what volume adds, where support and resistance come from, and which chart claims fail when tested.
- Day Trading for Beginners: What It Really Takes 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.
- Evidence-Based Trading: Scientific Thinking for Traders Evidence-based technical analysis treats every trading idea as a claim to be tested. Following the scientific approach set out by David Aronson and the wider research literature, this course teaches the scientific method, the cognitive errors that make weak ideas look strong, data-mining bias, and a hand-run test that can reject your favourite setup.
- The Trading Plan: Ideas, Information and Rules 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.
- Price Action Trading and Market Structure Price action trading reads the chart itself rather than indicators: market structure, swing points, trends and ranges, breakouts and failed breakouts, pullbacks and the zones where orders gather. Every setup is defined by a rule and checked on your own record.
- Intraday Trading: Manual Execution and Spread Costs Intraday trading lives or dies on execution. This course covers the shape of the trading day, how spreads and depth change from the open to the close, how to place orders by hand without paying away your edge, and how to measure slippage and cost per trade in your own record.
- News Trading: Earnings, Data Releases and Events News trading reacts to scheduled and unscheduled information: central bank decisions, economic data, earnings and company announcements. This course teaches how markets price an expected number, why the surprise matters more than the headline, what happens to spreads around a release, and when the right trade is no trade.
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 semester, 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 [email protected].
Questions applicants ask
What does it mean to be a certified trader?
There is no single licence 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 eight advanced courses, their proctored exams and an assessed capstone. Regulated roles, such as advising clients, need the licences 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?
680 hours of study: one semester of 640 hours of courses and a 40-hour capstone. At 160 hours a month, four months of courses and then the exams and capstone.