Guides
Reference pages for the questions that come up before and after a trade: lists of funds, how-to guides with the numbers worked, and straight answers to the questions people type into a search box.
Lists
Funds and resources set out side by side, with what separates them.
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ETFs
Gold ETFs Compared: Bullion Trusts, Miner Funds and Leveraged GoldGold ETFs split by design. Physically backed funds such as GLD, IAU, GLDM, SGOL, BAR and AAAU hold bullion in vaults; miners funds such as GDX, GDXJ and RING hold…
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ETFs
Inverse ETFs by Index: The -1x, -2x and -3x Funds Side by SideInverse ETFs exist for the major indexes at -1x, -2x and -3x: SH, SDS, SPXU and SPXS on the S&P 500; PSQ, QID and SQQQ on the Nasdaq-100; DOG, DXD and SDOW on the…
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ETFs
ETFs for Short Swings: Ways to Trade a Few Days of DownsideThe liquid index ETFs traders use for short swings are SPY, QQQ, IWM and DIA, with sector funds such as XLF, XLE, XLK, SMH, KRE and XBI. You can sell one short in a…
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Swing Trading
Swing Trading Vocabulary: Words From Entry Trigger to ExitSwing trading terms sort by the stage of a trade: price structure (swing highs and lows, trend, pullback), levels (support, resistance, breakout, retracement),…
Questions answered
The question as people type it, with the short answer first.
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Dividends
Dividend ETFs vs Dividend Stocks: Which Suits an Income Portfolio?A dividend ETF suits you if you want broad, low-effort income where one company's cut barely registers. Individual dividend stocks suit you if you want to choose…
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Retirement
How Is Social Security Taxed? The Provisional Income Test ExplainedUp to 50% or up to 85% of your Social Security benefits can be subject to federal income tax, depending on your provisional income, which is half your benefits added…
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Investing
How Many Stocks Should You Own? Concentration Against DiversificationNo single number fits everyone. Own enough stocks, spread across enough industries, that the failure of any one company would cost you an amount you can live with.…
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Retirement
How Much Do You Need to Retire? A Worked Estimate You Can RedoEstimate your yearly spending in retirement, subtract guaranteed income such as Social Security and pensions, and divide the gap by a withdrawal rate. With $60,000…
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Options
How Much Money Do You Need to Trade Options? Worked CasesIt depends on the strategy. Buying a call or put needs only the premium, such as $250 for one contract at $2.50. A cash-secured put needs the full strike value in…
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Options
Implied vs Historical Volatility: What Each Measures in OptionsHistorical volatility measures how much a stock has actually moved, calculated from past prices. Implied volatility is the future volatility that current option…
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Prop Trading
Prop Firm or Your Own Account: Which Costs Less to Learn In?It depends on whether you already have a tested process. If you do, a prop evaluation can give you a larger account for a small fee. If you are still learning, your…
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Retirement
Roth or Traditional IRA: Which One Fits Your Tax Bracket?Pick a traditional IRA if you expect a lower tax rate in retirement than you pay now, and a Roth if you expect a higher one. At the same rate the two leave you with…
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Technical Analysis
Technical Analysis Explained: What Charts Can and Cannot Tell YouTechnical analysis is the study of price and volume history to make trading decisions, using trend, support and resistance, chart patterns and indicators. It can…
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Earnings
What Moves a Stock After Earnings: Guidance, Margins or Headlines?A stock moves after earnings on the difference between expectations and results: earnings per share, revenue, margins and, above all, guidance for the coming…
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Dividends
When Is a Dividend Yield Too High to Trust? The Warning SignsA dividend yield is too high to trust when it rose because the share price fell, not because the dividend grew, and the payout is no longer covered. Watch for a…
How-to guides
A task taken step by step, with the numbers worked.
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Earnings
Earnings Calendar Workflow: Planning a Trading Week Around ReportsEach weekend, list the reports due next week for every stock you hold or watch, mark each date confirmed or estimated and before the open or after the close, and…
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Technical Analysis
How to Backtest a Moving Average Strategy by Hand, Trade by TradeWrite the entry, stop and exit rules exactly, choose the chart and test period in advance, then scroll forward one bar at a time and record each trade in R, with…
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Technical Analysis
How to Draw Fibonacci Retracements Correctly, Step by StepPick the most recent clear swing on the timeframe you trade, then draw from the swing low to the swing high in an uptrend or from the high to the low in a downtrend.…
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Swing Trading
How to Start Swing Trading With a Small Account, Step by StepOpen a cash or margin account, fix a risk per trade such as 1% of the account, write rules for the entry, the stop and the exit, trade liquid stocks or ETFs, and…
Resources
Where to find the data and the rules for yourself.
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Investing
Free Data for Traders: Filings, Releases and Calendars at the SourceThe core free sources are SEC EDGAR for filings, FINRA for broker checks and short interest, the Federal Reserve and FRED for rates and economic series, the BLS and…
When the answer depends on your account
Several answers change with the account you hold: a cash or margin account, a taxable account or an IRA, a prop firm's own rule book, a fund's prospectus. The guides say where that happens and which document to open, whether that is a fund's holdings page, your broker's margin rules or your Social Security statement.
For the vocabulary behind the answers, see the definitions. For the same subjects argued as trading rules, see the strategies.