01 · Getting Started
This chapter is the first stop of the entire knowledge base: first learn what markets look like, then the vocabulary, then how to read charts. Once you finish it, you should be able to open any market terminal and understand 80% of what is on screen — and know how to place orders, manage positions, and complete your first trade.
What's in This Chapter
01 · Financial Market Overview
A bird's-eye view of the four major markets — stocks, spot commodities, futures, and crypto: each market's role, who trades there, how the mechanics differ (one comparison table covering T+0/T+1, leverage, price limits, and other hard rules), and how markets influence one another. The goal is to build a "market map" and understand how money flows between markets.
02 · Trading Core Concepts
Every high-frequency term you will meet on a market terminal or trading interface, explained in one pass: long/short, leverage, margin, liquidation, liquidity, spread, slippage, market/limit orders, stop-loss and take-profit — plus how to compute P&L and liquidation prices precisely with real numbers. This is the vocabulary foundation for every later chapter (especially Futures and Perpetuals); we recommend working through each term against a live terminal.
03 · Candlestick & Chart Basics
Learn to read the most fundamental language — charts: what each part of a single candlestick means, how to pick timeframes, how to combine multiple timeframes, how MA/EMA moving averages are calculated, how to read the volume sub-panel, and finally a comparison of common chart types (candlestick/line/Renko and more). Finish this and you can start reading markets hands-on in Kline Buty.
04 · Trading Hours Overview
One table that explains the whole market's schedule: pre-market and after-hours sessions plus DST for A-shares/HK/US equities, the three-session day and night-session tiers of Chinese futures, global trading hours for gold/silver/crude (LBMA, COMEX, NYMEX, Brent, SGE T+D), and round-the-clock forex and crypto. Includes a key data-release calendar (NFP/CPI/EIA/FOMC) and a "volatility window map" — when to watch the market and when not to touch your positions, at a glance.
05 · Order Types & Execution
Market orders, limit orders, stop orders, stop-limit orders, trailing stops, OCO — the trigger logic, use cases, and risks of every order type. Plus order-book matching mechanics, partial fills and slippage calculation, and Maker/Taker fee differences. Finish this and you will know which order to use and when.
06 · Position & Money Management
The math that keeps you alive: per-trade risk sizing, the Kelly formula and half-Kelly, fixed-fractional sizing, volatility-adjusted sizing, pyramiding vs. inverted pyramids, and maximum drawdown control rules. Includes the asymmetric drawdown/recovery table, losing-streak simulations, and a practical checklist. Direction calls can be wrong many times; a few position-sizing mistakes and you are out.
07 · Your First Trade
The complete zero-to-one walkthrough: choosing a platform, KYC registration, deposit method comparison, the four zones of a trading interface, the full flow of your first limit order, take-profit and stop-loss setup, and a checklist of the seven most common beginner mistakes. After the first six articles, this one ties them into a single thread.
Reading Order
① Financial Market Overview (know which markets exist and how the rules are set)
↓
② Trading Core Concepts (learn the vocabulary; compute P&L and liquidation prices)
↓
③ Candlestick & Chart Basics (learn to read charts and operate a market terminal)
↓
④ Trading Hours Overview (know what to watch in each session; avoid overnight/gap traps)
↓
⑤ Order Types & Execution (know when to use market, limit, stop, and OCO orders)
↓
⑥ Position & Money Management (learn sizing, control drawdown, stay alive)
↓
⑦ Your First Trade (the complete hands-on path from account setup to order placement)- ①②③ must be read in order: without the leverage and margin concepts from ②, the liquidation levels drawn in ③ are just "a line".
- ④⑤⑥ can be read alongside ①: ① covers the rules, ④ the schedule, ⑤ execution, ⑥ risk control.
- ⑦ is the terminal station: it ties the previous six articles into one thread and takes you through your first real trade.
- After finishing this chapter, continue along the knowledge-base roadmap: Spot (the easiest entry) → Stocks → Futures.
Conventions
- Formulas and figures follow general teaching conventions; actual rules are governed by each exchange.
- Every chapter covering leverage and derivatives contains a "Risk Warning" box.
- Prices in the examples only illustrate the calculation and are not trading advice.