Credential program on the trader path
Intermediate Certificate in Trading
The second stage of the trader path: a day trading course and swing trading course in one, covering technical analysis, price action, intraday execution, news, options, evidence-based testing and the written trading plan, with a tested-plan capstone. No programming.
The Intermediate Certificate is where a trader chooses a method and learns to test it. Most day trading courses sell setups. This one teaches the setups and the tests together: what each indicator measures and what the evidence says about it, how to define a price action setup precisely enough to record it, what execution costs inside the trading day, and how to tell an edge from a lucky run before money depends on it.
What does the Intermediate Certificate cover?
Technical analysis with its evidence. Price action and market structure. Swing trading through overnight and gap risk. Intraday execution and the cost of spreads through the session. News and event trading. Options for beginners, kept to defined risk. Evidence-based trading in the scientific tradition of David Aronson. And the trading plan: idea generation, information sources and the rules that hold it all together.
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 six courses and the capstone are passed. The capstone is a written trading plan, tested by hand and then traded on a simulated account, assessed in writing by the faculty.
Who should take it?
Traders who have the foundations and want a tested method, and holders of the Foundation Certificate in Trading continuing on the trader path. No programming is needed at any point.
The courses in this program
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Options Trading for Beginners: Calls, Puts and Risk Options trading for beginners, taught with payoff diagrams and a spreadsheet instead of formulas: what calls and puts are, how premium, time decay and implied volatility set the price, the common strategies such as covered calls and spreads, and the ways options lose money for the people who buy them.
- 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 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.
- 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.
- 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.
What is the intermediate trading capstone?
You write a full trading plan covering two setups from the certificate, test each setup by hand on past data with costs and an untouched test period, then trade the plan on a simulated account for eight weeks. The submission is the plan, the tests, the journal and a report of about 3,000 words. The faculty assess it against published criteria and return written feedback: whether each setup was stated precisely, whether the tests were fair, and whether the trading followed the plan.
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
Do I need the Foundation Certificate first?
You need the foundation courses this certificate builds on, which are listed under Before you start. Most students take them as the Foundation Certificate, but if you already have that knowledge you can take only the courses you lack.
Is this only about day trading?
No. Intraday trading and news trading are day trading subjects, while swing trading, options and the trading plan cover longer horizons. The certificate is built so that you can choose your style from your own results.
How long does the certificate take?
54 hours of material across the six 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.