Learn to invest
Short, plain-English lessons. Nothing here is investment advice.
1 · Investing basics
Stocks are part-ownership of a company. You make or lose money as the share price moves, and some companies pay dividends. Bonds are loans to a government or company that pay interest; their prices fall when interest rates rise. Funds and ETFs hold baskets of stocks or bonds, so a single purchase spreads your money across many holdings.
Over long periods, compounding does most of the work: returns earn returns. Costs compound too — a 1% annual fee takes a large share of growth over decades, which is why low-cost index funds are popular.
2 · Order types
| Order | What it does | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Market | Fills immediately at the best available price. | Speed matters more than the exact price. |
| Limit | Buys at or below / sells at or above your price. May never fill. | You want price control. |
| Stop | Becomes a market order once the price touches your stop. | Limiting losses or entering on a breakout. |
Time in force: Day orders expire after 24 hours; GTC (good till cancelled) orders stay working until filled or cancelled.
3 · Options 101
An option is a contract giving the right, not the obligation, to buy (call) or sell (put) 100 shares at a fixed strike price until expiry. The buyer pays a premium; the most a buyer can lose is that premium.
- Call buyer profits if the stock finishes above strike + premium.
- Put buyer profits if the stock finishes below strike − premium.
- Delta — how much the option moves for a $1 move in the stock. Theta — value lost per day from time decay. Vega — sensitivity to volatility. Gamma — how fast delta changes.
On this platform, option prices shown are indicative and contracts are cash-settled at intrinsic value on expiry. Read the official Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options and the Options Industry Council courses before trading options.
4 · Risk & diversification
Diversification means not relying on a single company, sector or asset class. A common rule of thumb is to keep any single stock below 5–10% of a portfolio. Position size so that a normal bad day is uncomfortable, not catastrophic.
- Asset allocation — the split between stocks, bonds and cash — explains most of a portfolio's long-run behaviour.
- Rebalancing periodically brings weights back to target.
- Leverage and options magnify both gains and losses.
Your portfolio page shows allocation by holding and by sector.
5 · Glossary
Lowest price a seller accepts / highest price a buyer pays. The gap is the spread.
Exchange-traded fund: a basket of assets that trades like a single stock.
Share price × shares outstanding.
How much a price typically moves; annualised standard deviation of returns.
Income as a percentage of price (dividend yield, bond yield).
Fall from a peak to a trough.
Volatility implied by an option's price.
One hundredth of a percent (0.01%).
6 · Investor protection
Before opening a real account anywhere, check the firm is authorised with its regulator and read its disclosures. Useful tools:
Warning signs of investment fraud: guaranteed returns, pressure to act fast, unregistered sellers, claimed partnerships you cannot verify, and requests to pay in crypto or gift cards.