Terms of enrollment

1. Who you are dealing with

Courses and credential programs are offered under the name Institute of Algorithmic Trading and Applied Computational Finance (IATACF) and are sold and invoiced by our operating company (“we”). The seller’s full name, address and bank details appear on every invoice.

2. How an enrollment is made

1. You add courses or programs to your enrollment list and give your name, email address and billing country.
2. We email a confirmation link. The order exists only once you open the link, check the details and confirm.
3. On confirmation we issue an invoice. Prices are those shown on the course pages at the time you confirm, in US dollars.

Nothing is charged online. No card details are collected on this website.

3. Payment, cohorts and access

Invoices are paid by bank transfer within the period stated on the invoice. Courses, tracks and credential programs are taught in cohorts. A cohort opens when its seats are filled, and every enrolled student receives the start date by email as soon as the last seat is taken. Free Open courses open at once: when you confirm the enrollment, every lesson and handout of the course is ready in your course room, and you sign in later with a one-time link sent to your email address.

Each paid course is a 12-month license, counted from the day its cohort opens. The two Diplomas and the Fellowship carry a longer license, stated on their pages, so that every course, exam and the capstone fit inside it. Study is self-paced within the license. A course is delivered as workbooks, an audio edition, pre-produced notes, a cheat sheet, named sources, explainer films and a transcript of the films and the audio. A course taken as part of a Certificate, Diploma or Fellowship ends in a proctored multiple-choice exam; a course taken on its own is assessed by its coursework and has no exam.

Scholarships and financial aid are offered on the Professional Diploma in Algorithmic Trading, the Diploma in Professional Trading and the Fellowship in Computational Finance only, to a small number of applicants in documented financial hardship. You apply in writing before you confirm an order, with the evidence listed on the scholarships page. The admissions office decides in writing, with no interview and no call, and sets the amount of each award case by case; an award is never the full fee. An award holder keeps one included retake per course instead of three. An award made on false information is withdrawn and the full fee becomes due.

4. Refunds

You may cancel any enrollment for a full refund at any time before its cohort opens. After the cohort opens you may cancel within 14 days for a full refund if you have not sat the course exam or submitted coursework for assessment. Consumers in the European Union and the United Kingdom keep any further rights their law gives them.

5. Exams and certificates

Every course taken as part of a Certificate, Diploma or Fellowship ends in a proctored online exam. The pass mark is 60%. The course fee includes three retakes, or one for holders of a scholarship or financial aid award; each attempt after the included retakes carries a reduced proctored exam fee, stated before you book it. A course taken on its own has no exam and is passed on its coursework. Coursework and capstones are assessed against written criteria and returned with written feedback. Exam answers and submitted work must be your own; work found to be copied or produced by someone else is failed and the certificate, if issued, is withdrawn.

Certificates and credentials are awards of the Institute and are issued by the Institute. The Institute is independent of Carnegie Mellon University. It was founded by Carnegie Mellon University faculty members, but the university does not issue or award the Institute’s certificates and credentials, and enrolling at the Institute does not enroll a student at the university.

6. Use of materials

Course materials are licensed to you personally for the length of the license. You may keep copies for your own study and use the code in your own work. You may not resell, republish or share access to the materials.

7. No investment advice

The courses teach methods. Nothing in them is investment advice or a recommendation to trade any instrument. Trading involves the risk of loss, and examples, backtests and simulated results do not predict future returns.

8. Liability

We are responsible for providing the courses as described. We are not responsible for trading or investment losses, or for losses that were not foreseeable when you enrolled. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

9. Changes and contact

We may revise these terms for future enrollments; each revision has a new version date. The version you accepted continues to apply to your order. Questions go to the academy office.