One of the Institute's three study paths
The trader path
How to become a trader when you start from nothing: three semesters, from how markets and orders work to the habits of a desk trader. For discretionary, manual and prop traders and for complete beginners. No programming at any point.
The path, stage by stage
Start with a free course
How to Start Trading, Is Day Trading Gambling? and What Is Drawdown in Trading? are free and short. Take them before you pay for anything.
Semester one: the Foundation Certificate
Markets and orders, the full cost of a trade, charts, day trading, stops and position sizing, edge and luck, psychology and the trading journal.
Semester two: the Intermediate Certificate
Technical analysis with its evidence, price action, swing, intraday, news and options trading, evidence-based thinking and the written trading plan.
Semester three: the Advanced Certificate
Order flow, futures, momentum, global macro, fundamental analysis, how bank and prop traders think, prop firm evaluations and overtrading.
The Diploma in Professional Trading
The three certificates together, ending in a six-month simulated trading business assessed in writing by two faculty members. Each certificate you pass counts toward it.
The trader path answers a plain question: how to become a trader without a finance degree and without learning to program. Most routes into trading offer either a regulatory exam for people who deal for clients or a video course that sells setups. This path teaches what professional traders actually do, in the order they learn it: what a trade costs, how to size it, how to keep an honest record, how to test an idea by hand, and how a trading desk limits and reviews its traders.
Each semester ends in a certificate with a proctored exam for every course and an assessed capstone on a simulated account. No money is risked during study. Whether you trade real money afterwards is your decision, and every capstone is designed to give you the record to make it.
Credentials on this path
- Foundation Certificate in TradingThe first semester of the trader path: a trading course for beginners in eight parts, from how markets and orders work to costs, charts, risk, edge, psychology and the trading journal, with a simulated-account capstone. No previous knowledge and no programming.
- Intermediate Certificate in TradingThe second semester 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.
- Advanced Certificate in TradingThe 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.
- Diploma in Professional TradingThe top credential on the trader path and the Institute's trading certification for people who do not write code. Three semesters, 24 courses and a 160-hour capstone, from a first lesson on how markets work to a six-month simulated trading business reviewed like a desk.
Questions applicants ask
Do I need any knowledge or a degree to start?
No. The path assumes school arithmetic and the use of a spreadsheet. No degree is needed, and no course on the path asks you to write code.
How long does the trader path take?
Each semester is 640 hours of courses, four months at 160 hours a month, followed by exams and a capstone. The full Diploma is three semesters and a 160-hour capstone. Courses you have already passed shorten the route.
Can I move to the practitioner path later?
Yes. Traders who later want to automate their methods can continue on the practitioner path, which teaches Python from the start in its Foundation Certificate.