Start here · New to the market?
Every good trader started at step one.
You do not need money talk, a finance degree or a hot tip. You need a plan, a little patience and about 30 minutes a day. Here is the plan for your first three weeks.
- ⏱ 30 minutes a day
- 📱 All from your phone
- 🧪 Practice money first
Skill compounds the way money does: a little every day, and one day it shows.
Who this is for
Made for the beginning of the climb.
You have heard of stocks but never placed a trade, or you placed a few and felt lost.
You want to understand why a price moved, not just that it moved.
You are willing to practice with pretend money before you use real money.
Looking for someone to hand you a winning trade? This is not that. Nobody can promise results, and we never do. What you get here is a skill you keep.
Before you start
Set a loss budget.
Pick a number you could lose this year without it touching rent, bills or your emergency savings. Write it down. Every practice trade you plan later gets sized from this number, not from how excited you feel. How much to put in a trade shows the math in five minutes.
Week 1 · Learn the ground
Learn the basics and paper trade only.
Read one lesson a day, in this order. Each takes about five minutes.
- Trading vs investing: pick your clock
- How the stock market works
- Order types that protect you
- Reading a stock chart
- ETFs and index funds, without the jargon
- Long term: the part that compounds
- How much to put in a trade
This week's goal: open a paper trading account (see the paper trading options on Tools). Every trade is pretend. Make each decision before you see the result, and write it down.
Week 2 · Plant the seed
Build a long-term core and learn why stocks move.
Most beginners do best starting with the slow clock. Use ETFs and index funds to compare two broad funds: what they hold, what they cost, how much they overlap. Decide on paper how much would go into each and when you would review it.
Then spend a few minutes each day on Market News and Series. A Series puts connected stories in time order, so you can see what happened first and how the price reacted. Ask one question: did the news explain the move, or did the price move first?
Week 3 · Climb a step
Read pick cards without acting on them.
Open Today's picks and choose the Long term or Swing list. Read one card a day like a homework problem:
- The label. Good timing means the price sits in a sensible spot for that style today; it is not a signal to act. Buy setup is stricter: good timing plus every check on the card's checklist, and few stocks get it. Almost ready, Wait and Stretched mean something is missing or the price ran too far.
- Entry zone. The price range the rules looked for. If the price is already above it, waiting is a full decision.
- Get out if wrong. The price where the idea fails. Use it to size a paper trade from your loss budget.
Write one note in My notes: why it fits, what is missing, or why you would pass. Come back in a few days and compare. How we pick explains every rule.
Save yourself the hard lessons
Five things not to do in your first month.
It needs fast decisions, live data and a daily loss limit. Start with swing or long term.
An option buyer can lose the whole amount paid. Learn the contract on paper first.
One trade should never be able to break your loss budget.
A stock up 20% today on Trending is a lesson to study, not a reason to jump in.
If the get-out price hits, the idea was wrong. Write down why and move on.
Your daily habit
The 10-minute routine.
Open Today's picks. Check the market mood at the top.
Read Market News or one Series timeline.
Read one pick card: label, entry zone, get-out price. No action.
Write one note in My notes.
Add one lesson a day until you finish the list. With the lesson, that is your 30 minutes.
Three weeks from now
Look back at how far you climbed.
You will read a chart, size a trade, explain why a stock moved and know when to wait. That is more than most people ever learn. Keep the habit and keep climbing.
The trial unlocks the full pick lists, every lesson and the private journal. Email only, no card.
Marked Chart is education only. Nothing here is advice to buy or sell anything. Always check the live price with your broker before you trade.