The best free stock market course for beginners?
The Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) offers one of the free stock market courses you can find on the internet.
And while it's true that this stock market course is just a brief introduction to the market, it's also true that it might be just what you need if you're just starting out.
UPV – TRAINING PLAN:
The course belongs to the offer of free courses that are offered as MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), so you can take it through edX or YouTube.
The only difference between the two platforms is that with edX you will have some extra exercises that you will need to complete.
If you don't feel like signing up for edX, stick with YouTube as the theoretical content is the same; however, if you're looking to interact with the community, you should go to edX (you won't find many people there, but you might get lucky and meet a colleague).
The course is called 'Introduction to Stock Market Investing' and it delivers exactly what it promises. It's not a course that aims to turn you into a trader, but rather to show you the different investment options available in the market. In other words, this is simply an introductory course to the stock market.
Through 17 videos that generally last just under 10 minutes each, this introductory course will show you the ABCs of stock market investing.
Topics covered include: 'equity analysis' as an investment option, the importance of 'diversifying' your investment, an example of a 'long-term investment plan', and the differences between 'technical analysis' and 'fundamental analysis'.
Of course, it wouldn't be a stock market course worthy of being mentioned here if it didn't cover the basic concepts of technical analysis.
This course will include an explanation of what 'support and resistance' levels are , how to use 'moving averages' , an example of 'indicators such as the MACD ', and even an analysis of different 'timeframes and their fractality'
As I said before, this is a course for beginners. If you've seen movies like Wall Street (1987) or The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) , you probably think that a trader's job is limited to buying and selling stocks.
In The Big Short (2015) however, the protagonists trade Credit Default Swaps (CDS). If you like the stock market as much as movies, this is a good summary of trading movies you should watch.
Far from fiction, we have investors like Warren Buffett who prefer stocks, while others opt for Forex, options, or futures.
As you can see, stocks are not the only asset that traders can trade.
Over the years I've learned that every trader is unique. This means that only you can know which product will best suit your trading style.
Click here to find the best brokers for trading
Each trader is unique: Swing trading, Day Trading, or Scalping?
There are traders made for swing trading, others for day trading, and others for scalping.
As you can see, there are many options.
This is not a course that will turn you into a trader, but it will show you that there are different investment options so that you can then choose how or start investing in the stock market (always taking into account your personality, risk aversion, account size, etc.).
Recommending a stock market course requires understanding the trader's personality and lifestyle. Therefore, while I wish I could tell you which stock market course is best for you, the truth is I can't.
What I can do is tell you which trading course I liked best. You can see this in my ranking of the best stock market and trading courses.
I enjoy day trading with Forex, Futures, or even funded accounts. But I also swing trade stocks (in fact, this is my preferred style), and I even invest long-term. You, however, might prefer other alternatives.
With this course you will take the first steps to discover what type of investor you want to become, or in other words, what your trading style.
Price of the introductory stock market investing course
I don't think there's much more I need to say in this section. The course is completely free.
Something I think is important to mention is that most free courses are quite bad, almost always an absolute waste of time.
The free courses offered by Francisca Serrano (Trading and Stock Market for Dummies) or Day Trading Academy. These are just two examples of poor investment courses, and I mention them only because they are two well-known trading schools.
These courses are solely designed to add you to a database and then bombard you with various marketing campaigns. Clearly, this is not the case with the course offered by the UPV.
On the other hand, it is also true that this is not a complete course and there are many things that need to be developed, but you definitely won't waste your time or money doing it.
Conclusions and personal opinion:
The ' Introduction to Stock Market Investing ' course is an excellent resource for those who don't know where to start .
It's not the best stock market course in the world, nor does it pretend to be. It's just a perfectly adequate introductory course.
The chapters that discuss the different financial assets could have been much better; I would have liked an explanation of how each one works, and a discussion of its advantages and disadvantages.
Those who take this course will probably end up not knowing the difference between spot shares and a CFD on shares, but at least they will know that CFDs on shares exist.
It's certainly not the most comprehensive course, and you definitely won't become a trader by the end, but it will help you understand how the market works and therefore choose a good stock market course when looking for different training options.
Free alternatives on YouTube to this stock market course can be: Ferran Font's mini trading course (Who is Ferran Font?), or the free training offered by Método Trading.
These two free courses don't share methodologies, but that's precisely why I recommend them so you can explore different ways of trading.
This way, you'll gain a broader perspective on what trading is, or rather, what investing in the stock market means. It's worth taking a look.
In short, don't expect to take this course and then start trading. The course isn't designed for that, but it will be very useful in giving you a basic overview of the different styles, strategies, and assets available in stock market investing.
If you've never taken a trading course , you can start here; you won't regret it.
My name is Norberto. I've been investing and trading for over a decade. I'm also the author of the trading course Experiencia Topstep. If you want to learn how to invest and have any questions, feel free to contact me.
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Hi, I wanted to know if I can support the guys with free content about the stock market?
Hi Ori,
I didn't understand. I'll send you an email.
Greetings
I'm glad you're sharing your experience, what the course consists of, and how to find it. Many people looking to get started always go to YouTube, but not everything good is FREE, and when you pay for something, you don't know if it will really be WORTH IT unless you get a recommendation or hear about other people's experiences
GIOVANNY MEJÍA
Hi, I'm Giovanny Mejía from Bogotá, Colombia. I've already read about the trading method, but I got to a certain point because it didn't allow me to progress any further. However, I'm currently trading in a demo account with the Xstation platform, and in my opinion, it's been the best way to learn. Would you recommend that I take the course at UPV, or is it definitely better to go to a higher-level school?
Hello Giovanny,
The UPV course is free and available on YouTube, so you've got nothing to lose by checking it out. However, if you already have some experience, the course probably won't offer you much new information, as it's quite basic and serves only as an introduction. But as I said, it's worth a look.
Greetings
Hello, my name is Dania Gómez and I'm from Mexico, and I have a question: how can I register for the course?
Hi Dania,
This course is free and you can access it via YouTube or edX. If you access it through YouTube, you don't need to register. If you prefer edX, you must register on the platform and then subscribe -> https://www.edx.org/es/course/introduccion-a-la-inversion-bursatil
Greetings