ACADEMY · Foundations
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Foundations
Start here. What day trading really is, how the markets and instruments work, and the vocabulary the rest of the Academy assumes.
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CHAPTER 1
Foundations of Day Trading
12 lessons- 01What Day Trading Actually Is (and What It Isn't)Intraday trading defined against swing and position trading: holding periods, profit sources, and why the skill set is different. Sets honest expectations about the learning curve.Read →02The Day Trader's Job DescriptionTrading treated as a profession: what a working day looks like, the tasks that matter, and the difference between activity and productivity on the charts.Read →03Why Most New Day Traders Lose (and the Habits of Those Who Don't)The documented failure modes: oversizing, overtrading, no plan, no review. Each one paired with the habit that neutralizes it.Read →04Markets You Can Day Trade: Forex, Indices, Commodities, CryptoA tour of the intraday-friendly markets, their trading hours, typical spreads, and what kind of trader each suits.Read →05How Prices Move: Order Flow for BeginnersBids, asks, market orders and limit orders, and how their interaction creates every tick you see on a chart.Read →06Reading a Quote: Spread, Pips, Points and TicksThe units of price. How to convert pips to money across pairs and indices, and why spread is your first cost of business.Read →07Leverage: The Tool That Cuts Both WaysWhat 1:30 or 1:100 leverage really does to your risk, worked through with concrete dollar examples on a $10K account.Read →08Margin, Free Margin and Margin Calls ExplainedHow margin is reserved, what free margin means for adding positions, and exactly what happens when it runs out.Read →09Long, Short, and Why Direction Is Only Half the TradeEntering short as easily as long, and why timing, size and exit matter as much as being right about direction.Read →10Demo vs Live: Using Simulation the Right WayWhat demo accounts teach well, what they can't teach, and a structured plan for graduating from practice to funded trading.Read →11The Broker's Side of Your TradeHow brokers and liquidity providers make money, what execution models exist, and which behaviors on your side get better fills.Read →12Your First Trading Plan: A One-Page TemplateThe minimum viable plan: market, session, setup, risk per trade, daily stop, review ritual. Includes a fill-in template.Read →
CHAPTER 2
Forex Market Essentials
14 lessons- 01How the Forex Market Is StructuredFrom interbank flows to your platform: who the participants are and why the market trades 24 hours, five days a week.Read →02Currency Pairs: Majors, Minors and CrossesWhat actually distinguishes EURUSD from EURNOK: liquidity, spread, movement character, and which pairs suit intraday work.Read →03What Makes a Currency MoveRates, growth, risk appetite and flows: the four forces behind currency trends, translated into intraday relevance.Read →04The Three Trading Sessions and Their PersonalitiesAsia, London, New York: typical range, volatility windows, and how the same pair behaves differently in each.Read →05The London Open: The Intraday Trader's Prime TimeWhy the first two hours of London concentrate opportunity, the classic open patterns, and how to prepare before the bell.Read →06The New York Overlap: Volatility's Second WindHow the London-New York overlap drives the day's biggest moves, and the traps around the London close.Read →07Pip Values and Position Sizes Across PairsThe arithmetic every forex trader must do without thinking: pip value by pair and lot size, with a cheat table.Read →08Understanding Currency CorrelationWhy EURUSD and USDCHF mirror each other, how correlated positions multiply risk, and how to check correlation before stacking trades.Read →09The Dollar Index: One Chart That Explains Half Your TradesUsing DXY as the tide behind every USD pair, and how to let it filter your intraday bias.Read →10Interest Rates and Central Banks for Day TradersWhat rate decisions, statements and pressers do to price in the minutes and hours around release, and how to survive them.Read →11Rollover, Swap and Holding CostsWhat happens to positions held past 5 PM New York, how swap is calculated, and why it matters even to intraday traders.Read →12Why Spreads Widen (and When to Stand Aside)News, rollover, thin liquidity: the moments spreads blow out, and the discipline of not trading through them.Read →13Gold and Silver: Trading Metals Like a ProfessionalXAUUSD's character: its sessions, its relationship to yields and the dollar, and why its volatility demands respect.Read →14Reading an Economic Calendar Like a TraderWhich releases matter for which pairs, how to grade event risk, and building a pre-session news routine.Read →
CHAPTER 3
Markets & Instruments
12 lessons- 01Trading Indices Intraday: S&P 500, Nasdaq and DAXThe personality of the big three index markets: session opens, gap behavior, and the hours where each one actually moves.Read →02The US Equity Open: 90 Minutes of Opportunity and DangerHow indices behave around the 9:30 New York open: opening drives, reversals, and rules for surviving the first candles.Read →03Trading Oil: WTI and Brent for Intraday TradersInventory reports, OPEC headlines and session rhythms: what makes oil one of the most rewarding and punishing intraday markets.Read →04Crypto for Day Traders: Bitcoin and EthereumTrading crypto price action intraday: the 24/7 clock, weekend behavior, and how crypto volatility changes position sizing.Read →05Contract Sizes, Lots and the Money Behind Each PointHow to translate any instrument's contract spec into dollars per point, so position sizing is arithmetic instead of guesswork.Read →06Overnight Costs: Why Intraday Traders Sleep WellHow overnight financing and swap work across markets, when holding turns a marginal strategy unprofitable, and the intraday trader's clean-slate advantage.Read →07Gaps: Why Markets Open Somewhere ElseWhere gaps come from, gap-fill statistics and myths, and how to handle positions and stops across market closes.Read →08Futures vs Spot: What Your Chart Is Really TrackingThe relationship between the price you trade and the underlying market, and why session times and prices differ slightly between feeds.Read →09Choosing Your Instrument: Match the Market to Your StyleA decision framework: volatility appetite, session availability and cost per trade, mapped to the best-fit instruments.Read →10Slippage: When Fills Miss Your PriceWhy fast markets fill you late, how much slippage is normal by instrument, and execution habits that minimize it.Read →11Session Hours by Market: When Each Instrument Is LiveTrading hours and liquidity windows for forex, indices, metals, oil and crypto, and scheduling your day around the overlap that fits you.Read →12One Market, Deeply: The Case for SpecializingWhy professionals trade one or two instruments, how specialization compounds pattern recognition, and how to pick yours.Read →
Next path: Reading the Chart
The core visual skill: price action, candlesticks, chart patterns, and the levels that actually matter.