TradeSmrt

📘 Stock Basics

From what a stock actually is to reading order books, candlestick charts, financial statements, and risk management — the fundamentals every beginner needs before investing a single dollar.

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  1. Lesson 1 Beginner What Is a Stock? 5 min read
  2. Lesson 2 Beginner How the Stock Market Actually Works 4 min read
  3. Lesson 3 Beginner Order Types — Market, Limit, and Stop Orders 4 min read
  4. Lesson 4 Beginner How to Read a Candlestick Chart 5 min read
  5. Lesson 5 Beginner Basic Financial Metrics (PER, PBR, ROE, EPS) 5 min read
  6. Lesson 6 Beginner Risk Management Basics 5 min read
  7. Lesson 7 Beginner A Glossary of Terms You'll See in the Trading Strategies Course 4 min read
  8. Lesson 8 Beginner Why Invest in Stocks? Compound Interest vs. Savings Accounts, By the Numbers 5 min read
  9. Lesson 9 Beginner Building a Long-Term Dividend Portfolio: The Criteria That Actually Matter 4 min read
  10. Lesson 10 Beginner Why Stock Prices Move — Supply, Demand, and Expectations 3 min read
  11. Lesson 11 Beginner What Is an ETF? How It Differs from Individual Stocks and Index Funds 2 min read
  12. Lesson 12 Beginner US vs Canada Tax-Advantaged Accounts — 401(k)/IRA vs RRSP/TFSA 3 min read
  13. Lesson 13 Beginner Wealth Building Principles: 5 Rules That Actually Work 2 min read
  14. Lesson 14 Beginner What Is Market Cap? Calculation, and Large-, Mid-, and Small-Cap Explained 3 min read
  15. Lesson 15 Beginner Stock Splits vs. Buybacks: Why Companies Do Them When Value Doesn't Change 3 min read
  16. Lesson 16 Intermediate How Interest Rates Affect Stock Valuations: The Discount Rate Mechanism 7 min read
  17. Lesson 17 Intermediate What Are Options? Understanding Calls and Puts as Insurance 8 min read
  18. Lesson 18 Intermediate What Is the Yield Curve? Why an Inversion Signals Recession Risk 8 min read
  19. Lesson 19 Intermediate Correlation and Diversification: Why Owning More Stocks Isn't the Same as Being Diversified 8 min read
  20. Lesson 20 Intermediate Nominal vs. Real Returns: How Inflation Quietly Eats Your Gains 9 min read
  21. Lesson 21 Intermediate Sector Rotation Explained: Why Different Industries Lead at Different Points in the Business Cycle 9 min read
  22. Lesson 22 Intermediate What Is Short Selling? How Selling Borrowed Shares Actually Works 9 min read
  23. Lesson 23 Intermediate P/E, P/B, P/S, and EV/EBITDA: Picking the Right Valuation Multiple 9 min read
  24. Lesson 24 Intermediate Rights Offering vs. Bonus Issue: Why Dilution Cuts One Way and Not the Other 7 min read
  25. Lesson 25 Intermediate What Is Margin Trading? How Leverage Amplifies Gains and Losses Together 9 min read
  26. Lesson 26 Advanced What Is Beta? Measuring Risk Relative to the Market 8 min read
  27. Lesson 27 Advanced What Is Discounted Cash Flow (DCF)? Calculating Intrinsic Value From Future Cash 9 min read
  28. Lesson 28 Advanced Efficient Market Hypothesis vs. Behavioral Finance: Is the Price Already Right? 8 min read
  29. Lesson 29 Advanced The Index Rebalancing Effect: Why Stocks Move on Inclusion News 9 min read
  30. Lesson 30 Advanced What Is a Market Maker? Order Books, Spreads, and Dark Pools Explained 9 min read
  31. Lesson 31 Advanced How Exchange Rates Affect Earnings — FX Exposure and Constant Currency Explained 7 min read
  32. Lesson 32 Advanced ROIC vs WACC: How to Tell If a Company Is Actually Creating Value 8 min read
  33. Lesson 33 Advanced What Is a Credit Spread — How Corporate-vs-Treasury Yield Gaps Signal Risk Appetite 8 min read
  34. Lesson 34 Advanced What Is an Economic Moat — The 5 Sources of Durable Competitive Advantage 8 min read
  35. Lesson 35 Advanced What Is a Holding Company Discount — Why Good Subsidiaries Still Trade Cheap 9 min read
  36. Lesson 36 Advanced What Is Factor Investing — Why Value, Momentum, Quality, and Low-Volatility Work 8 min read
  37. Lesson 37 Advanced Dividend Discount Model (DDM): Valuing a Stock From Dividends Alone 7 min read
  38. Lesson 38 Advanced Preferred Stock vs. Common Stock: Why the Same Company Trades at Two Prices 9 min read
  39. Lesson 39 Advanced Spin-Off vs Carve-Out — What Happens to Your Shares When a Company Splits 7 min read
  40. Lesson 40 Advanced Convertible Bonds Explained — Why a 0% Coupon Bond Can Still Attract Buyers 9 min read
  41. Lesson 41 Advanced Circular Shareholding Explained — How a Small Stake Buys Outsized Control 9 min read
  42. Lesson 42 Advanced Stock-Based Compensation Dilution — Why RSUs and Options Are a Real Cost to Shareholders 5 min read
  43. Lesson 43 Advanced Treasury Stock Magic — How Non-Voting Shares Became a Control Tool in Spin-Offs 8 min read
  44. Lesson 44 Advanced What Is a Tender Offer — Why Korea Is Bringing Back Mandatory Tender Offers After 27 Years 10 min read
  45. Lesson 45 Advanced Dual-Class Shares Explained — How Founders Vote More Than They Own 10 min read
  46. Lesson 46 Advanced Anti-Takeover Defenses Explained — Poison Pills, Golden Parachutes, and Why Korea Has Neither 10 min read
  47. Lesson 47 Advanced Goodwill Impairment Explained — When an Overpriced Acquisition Finally Hits Earnings 6 min read
  48. Lesson 48 Advanced Non-Controlling Interest Explained — Why Consolidated Profit Isn't All Yours 8 min read
  49. Lesson 49 Advanced Shareholder Activism Explained — How a Small Stake Forces a Board's Hand 9 min read
  50. Lesson 50 Advanced DuPont Analysis Explained — Breaking ROE Into Three Drivers 9 min read
  51. Lesson 51 Advanced Operating Leverage Explained — Why Fixed Costs Amplify Profit Swings 9 min read
  52. Lesson 52 Advanced Related-Party Tunneling Explained — How Internal Deals Fund Succession 9 min read
  53. Lesson 53 Advanced Merger Swap Ratio Explained — How It's Calculated and Why It Sparks Minority Shareholder Disputes 8 min read
  54. Lesson 54 Advanced Earnings Quality Explained — Why Net Income and Cash Flow Diverge 9 min read
  55. Lesson 55 Advanced Enterprise Value vs. Equity Value — Why Market Cap Isn't What It Costs to Buy a Company 9 min read
  56. Lesson 56 Advanced What Is a Leveraged Buyout (LBO)? — Buying a Company With Its Own Future Cash Flow 8 min read
  57. Lesson 57 Advanced What Is FFO for REITs? — Why P/E Fails and P/FFO/AFFO Works 7 min read
  58. Lesson 58 Advanced What Is Sum-of-the-Parts (SOTP) Valuation? — Grading Each Business Unit on Its Own Curve 8 min read
  59. Lesson 59 Advanced What Is an ELS (Equity-Linked Security)? — Knock-in Barriers, Step-Down Redemption, and Why Losses Happen 9 min read
  60. Lesson 60 Advanced What Is the Altman Z-Score — Calculating Bankruptcy Risk From 5 Financial Ratios 9 min read
  61. Lesson 61 Advanced What Is the VIX? Reading the Market's Fear Gauge 9 min read
  62. Lesson 62 Advanced What Is an ADR? Why It Can Trade at a Different Price Than the Local Stock 9 min read
  63. Lesson 63 Advanced What Is Bond Duration? Why Small Rate Moves Can Swing Bond Prices So Much 8 min read
  64. Lesson 64 Advanced What Is the Sharpe Ratio? Measuring Risk-Adjusted Return, Plus Sortino and Treynor 9 min read
  65. Lesson 65 Advanced What Is Value at Risk (VaR)? How Banks Compress Risk Into One Number 8 min read
  66. Lesson 66 Advanced What Are Option Greeks? Reading Delta, Gamma, Theta, and Vega 9 min read
  67. Lesson 67 Advanced Capital Structure Theory: Does Debt Actually Change What a Company Is Worth? 8 min read
  68. Lesson 68 Advanced What Is CAPM? The Formula Behind Expected Return 7 min read
  69. Lesson 69 Advanced What Is the Black-Scholes Model? How Option Prices Get Calculated 6 min read
  70. Lesson 70 Advanced What Is the Efficient Frontier? Markowitz's Theory of Optimal Asset Allocation 9 min read
  71. Lesson 71 Advanced What Are Stock Index Futures? Basis, Convergence, and Program Trading Explained 10 min read
  72. Lesson 72 Advanced Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC): How Inventory, Receivables, and Payables Reveal a Company's Real Cash Position 8 min read
  73. Lesson 73 Advanced IPO Lock-Up Periods Explained: Why Stocks Wobble on Expiration and What 'Overhang' Means 8 min read
  74. Lesson 74 Advanced What Is a Credit Default Swap (CDS)? Insurance Against Bond Default, Explained 8 min read
  75. Lesson 75 Advanced What Is a Greenshoe Option? How Underwriters Stabilize a Stock Right After Its IPO 8 min read
  76. Lesson 76 Advanced What Is a Capital Reduction? How Distressed Companies Force Shareholders to Give Up Stock 10 min read
  77. Lesson 77 Advanced Korean Dividend Tax and Comprehensive Financial Income Taxation — Why Bigger Dividends Can Mean a Much Bigger Tax Bill 8 min read
  78. Lesson 78 Advanced Total Shareholder Yield Explained — Why Dividends Alone Miss Half the Picture 9 min read
  79. Lesson 79 Advanced Leveraged & Inverse ETF Decay Explained — Why You Can Lose Money Even When the Index Is Flat 9 min read
  80. Lesson 80 Advanced What Is a SPAC? How a Blank-Check Shell Company Takes a Private Firm Public 9 min read
  81. Lesson 81 Advanced The Buffett Indicator Explained — Measuring the Whole Market Against GDP 7 min read
  82. Lesson 82 Advanced ETF Tracking Error vs Premium/Discount to NAV — Two Different Ways an ETF Can Drift From Its Index 9 min read
  83. Lesson 83 Advanced Index Weighting Methods Explained — Why the Dow, S&P 500, and Equal-Weight Indexes Move Differently 8 min read
  84. Lesson 84 Advanced The Shiller PE (CAPE) Ratio Explained — Smoothing Out the Business Cycle With a 10-Year Average 8 min read
  85. Lesson 85 Advanced What Is a Block Deal? Why Large Stakes Trade Off-Market at a Discount 9 min read
  86. Lesson 86 Advanced What Is RCPS (Redeemable Convertible Preferred Stock)? Why It Creates 'Capital Impairment' on Paper 10 min read
  87. Lesson 87 Advanced Korea's Stock Capital Gains Tax — Why Domestic Stocks Are Tax-Free but Overseas Stocks Cost You 22% 7 min read
  88. Lesson 88 Advanced What Is the Piotroski F-Score — A 9-Point Checklist for Picking Quality Value Stocks 9 min read
  89. Lesson 89 Advanced FCFF vs FCFE — Why Valuing the Firm and Valuing Equity Use Different Cash Flows 9 min read
  90. Lesson 90 Advanced CoCo Bonds (AT1) Explained — What the Credit Suisse Wipeout Revealed About Bank Capital 7 min read
  91. Lesson 91 Advanced What Is an Interest Rate Swap (IRS)? Exchanging Fixed and Floating Payments 10 min read
  92. Lesson 92 Advanced What Is an 'Administrative Issue' in Korea? The Warning Before Delisting 6 min read
  93. Lesson 93 Advanced What Is NPS Rebalancing? How Target Weights Move the Korean Market 9 min read
  94. Lesson 94 Advanced What Is a Backdoor Listing (Reverse Merger)? How a Failing Company Becomes a Shortcut to Going Public 9 min read
  95. Lesson 95 Advanced Equal vs. Proportional Allocation in Korean IPO Subscriptions — How Your Deposit Determines Your Shares 9 min read
  96. Lesson 96 Advanced What Is the Interest Coverage Ratio — Why 3 Years Below 1x Defines a Zombie Company 9 min read
  97. Lesson 97 Advanced How IPO Prices Are Actually Set — Bookbuilding and the Mechanics Behind the Final Offering Price 10 min read
  98. Lesson 98 Advanced What Is the Yen Carry Trade? How an Interest-Rate Bet Unwinds All at Once 8 min read
  99. Lesson 99 Advanced Currency-Hedged (H) vs Unhedged (UH) ETFs — Why the Hedging Cost Is Set by the Rate Gap 9 min read
  100. Lesson 100 Advanced How Quantitative Easing (QE) and Tightening (QT) Move Stock Prices — The Portfolio Rebalancing Channel 8 min read
  101. Lesson 101 Advanced What Is the Repo Market? How Overnight Treasury-Backed Loans Set Short-Term Rates and Drive Market Liquidity 8 min read
  102. Lesson 102 Advanced What Is Analyst Consensus and a Price Target? How Wall Street Estimates Get Built — and Move Stocks 9 min read
  103. Lesson 103 Advanced What Is the 'Korea Discount'? How the Value-Up Program Tries to Close It 9 min read
  104. Lesson 104 Advanced Covered Call ETFs Explained — The Premium-Income vs. Capped-Upside Tradeoff 9 min read
  105. Lesson 105 Advanced Circuit Breakers Explained — How They Differ From VI and Sidecar Halts 10 min read
  106. Lesson 106 Advanced What Is T+2 Settlement? How Electronic Securities Move Stock Ownership, and Why T+1 Is Coming 9 min read
  107. Lesson 107 Advanced What Is Insider Trading? How Material Non-Public Information Rules and Fair Disclosure Actually Work 9 min read
  108. Lesson 108 Advanced What Is an ELW (Equity-Linked Warrant)? How It Differs From Listed Options 10 min read
  109. Lesson 109 Advanced What Is an ETN (Exchange-Traded Note)? How It Differs From an ETF 9 min read
  110. Lesson 110 Advanced What Is ESG Investing? How ESG Scores Are Built, and Why Raters Disagree 9 min read
  111. Lesson 111 Advanced What Is a Credit Rating? How Moody's and S&P Actually Score Default Risk 9 min read
  112. Lesson 112 Advanced Commercial Paper and ABCP Explained: What Korea's 2022 Legoland Default Reveals About Short-Term Funding Risk 8 min read
  113. Lesson 113 Advanced Korea's Securities Transaction Tax Explained: Why You Pay Even on a Losing Trade 9 min read
  114. Lesson 114 Advanced What Is Corporate Rehabilitation (Court Receivership) in Korea — Why Shareholders Get Paid Last and Least 9 min read
  115. Lesson 115 Advanced Korea's 5% Rule Explained: Why Crossing a 5% Stake Forces a Public Filing 9 min read
  116. Lesson 116 Advanced Korea's Daily Price Limit Explained: Why Stocks Can't Move More Than 30% a Day 10 min read
  117. Lesson 117 Advanced Korea's Short-Swing Profit Rule: Why Insiders Must Return Gains Even Without Using Inside Information 9 min read
  118. Lesson 118 Advanced The Wash Sale Rule Explained: Why Rebuying Within 30 Days Kills Your Tax Loss 10 min read
  119. Lesson 119 Advanced What Is a Tranche? How One Loan Pool Produces Bonds of Wildly Different Credit Ratings 9 min read
  120. Lesson 120 Advanced What Is Payment for Order Flow (PFOF)? How 'Commission-Free' Trading Actually Makes Money 9 min read
  121. Lesson 121 Advanced What Is a Direct Listing? How Companies Go Public Without an IPO 7 min read
  122. Lesson 122 Advanced What Is the Equity Method? How a Company's Earnings Show Up Without Being a Subsidiary 10 min read
  123. Lesson 123 Advanced What Is Breakeven Inflation (BEI) — How TIPS Let the Bond Market Price In Inflation Expectations 9 min read
  124. Lesson 124 Advanced What Is a CFD? How Contracts for Difference Let You Profit Without Owning the Stock 10 min read
  125. Lesson 125 Advanced Volatility Smile and Skew: Why Options on the Same Stock Get Priced With Different Volatility 7 min read
  126. Lesson 126 Advanced Exchange Rates and Foreign Investor Flows: Why a Weaker Won Triggers Selling 9 min read
  127. Lesson 127 Advanced How Shareholder Voting Works: Quorum Rules, E-Voting, and Cumulative Voting 9 min read
  128. Lesson 128 Advanced Purchasing Power Parity (PPP): The Long-Run Exchange Rate Theory Behind the Big Mac Index 9 min read
  129. Lesson 129 Advanced Sequence of Returns Risk: Why an Early Downturn Can Wreck a Retirement Portfolio (and the 4% Rule) 9 min read
  130. Lesson 130 Advanced What Is a Share-Pledge Loan? Why a Controlling Shareholder's Collateral Call Can Crush a Stock 8 min read
  131. Lesson 131 Advanced What Is Contango? Why Oil ETFs Don't Actually Track the Price of Oil 9 min read
  132. Lesson 132 Advanced What Is After-Hours Trading in Korea? How the New Aftermarket Changed Everything 8 min read
  133. Lesson 133 Advanced Korea's 'Unfaithful Disclosure' Designation: What It Means When a Company Breaks Its Disclosure Promise 9 min read
  134. Lesson 134 Advanced Exchangeable Bonds (EB): Selling Shares Without Selling Them, and the Overhang Risk 9 min read
  135. Lesson 135 Advanced Closed-End Fund (CEF) Discounts: Why a Listed Fund Can Trade Far From Its NAV Even Though It Looks Just Like an ETF 9 min read
  136. Lesson 136 Advanced Risk Parity Explained: Why Ray Dalio's All Weather Portfolio Splits Risk, Not Dollars 9 min read
  137. Lesson 137 Advanced What Is a Central Counterparty (CCP)? How Clearinghouses Erase Counterparty Risk by Standing Between Every Trade 9 min read
  138. Lesson 138 Advanced The Structural Risks of Passive Investing: Price Discovery and Common Ownership 9 min read
  139. Lesson 139 Advanced What Are Hedge Fund Strategies? How Long/Short, Event-Driven, and Global Macro Chase Returns Regardless of Market Direction 10 min read
  140. Lesson 140 Advanced What Are Appraisal Rights? How Dissenting Shareholders Force a Buyback, and Why Exceeding the Cap Can Kill a Merger 9 min read
  141. Lesson 141 Advanced What Is a Sovereign Wealth Fund? How Oil Money and FX Reserves Became Global Markets' Quiet Giants 12 min read
  142. Lesson 142 Advanced What Is K-OTC? How Korea's Official Market for Unlisted Stocks Works 9 min read
  143. Lesson 143 Advanced What Is a Gamma Squeeze? How Market Maker Delta Hedging Pushes Stocks Higher 9 min read
  144. Lesson 144 Advanced What Is Deferred Tax? How Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities Move Net Income 10 min read
  145. Lesson 145 Advanced What Is a Private Equity Fund (PEF)? The LP-GP Structure Behind Corporate Buyouts 9 min read
  146. Lesson 146 Advanced What Is a Fund Redemption Suspension? The Liquidity Mismatch Behind Gated and Frozen Funds 9 min read
  147. Lesson 147 Advanced What Is Fractional Investment? The Investment Contract Behind Musicow's Royalty Claims 9 min read
  148. Lesson 148 Advanced What Is IFRS 16 Lease Accounting? How Right-of-Use Assets and Lease Liabilities Move Debt Ratios and EBITDA 9 min read
  149. Lesson 149 Advanced What Is Post-Earnings Announcement Drift (PEAD)? Why Stocks Keep Moving After a Surprise, Not Just On the Day 8 min read
  150. Lesson 150 Advanced Korea's Employee Stock Ownership Plan: How the 20% IPO Allocation and Lock-Up Create Concentration Risk 10 min read
  151. Lesson 151 Advanced How Korea Taxes Gifted and Inherited Stock: The 4-Month Average Price Rule 10 min read
  152. Lesson 152 Advanced The Controlling Shareholder's Squeeze-Out Right: Forcing Out Minority Holders at 95% Ownership 6 min read
  153. Lesson 153 Advanced What Is Nextrade (NXT)? How Korea's Multi-Market System and Best Execution Work 9 min read
  154. Lesson 154 Advanced What Is Korea's ISA Account? How Loss-Netting and Tax Deferral Work 10 min read
  155. Lesson 155 Advanced Korea's Disclosure System Explained: Periodic, Ad-Hoc, and Material-Fact Filings 10 min read
  156. Lesson 156 Advanced What Do Audit Opinions Mean? Unqualified, Qualified, Adverse, and Disclaimer Explained 9 min read
  157. Lesson 157 Advanced What Is Securities Lending? How Lending Out Idle Shares Pays You a Fee 8 min read
  158. Lesson 158 Advanced MSCI Developed Market Classification: Why Korea Keeps Missing the Cut 9 min read
  159. Lesson 159 Advanced What Is EBITDA? Why Companies Add Depreciation Back, and Why Buffett Hates It 8 min read
  160. Lesson 160 Advanced What Is an Active ETF? How It Differs From a Passive ETF 10 min read
  161. Lesson 161 Advanced Why Bank Stocks Trade on P/B, Not P/E — How ROE and NIM Drive the Discount 9 min read
  162. Lesson 162 Advanced Stock Price Manipulation Explained — How Wash Trading and Matched Orders Fake a Rally 10 min read
  163. Lesson 163 Advanced What Is a Minsky Moment? The Financial Instability Hypothesis Explained 9 min read
  164. Lesson 164 Advanced What Is a Total Return Swap (TRS)? Getting Stock Exposure Without Owning the Stock 6 min read
  165. Lesson 165 Advanced Pre-Money vs. Post-Money Valuation: How Startup Funding Rounds Set Equity Stakes 8 min read
  166. Lesson 166 Advanced What Is a Stewardship Code? How Institutional Investors Vote as 'Stewards' 8 min read
  167. Lesson 167 Advanced Liquidity Premium and the Illiquidity Discount: Why Thinly Traded Stocks Trade Structurally Cheaper 8 min read
  168. Lesson 168 Advanced What Is a Call Auction? How Korea's Opening and Closing Stock Prices Are Actually Set 9 min read
  169. Lesson 169 Advanced Black Swans and Tail Risk: Why Normal Distributions Underestimate Extreme Losses 7 min read
  170. Lesson 170 Advanced What Is a Currency Swap (CRS)? Why Principal Changes Hands, Unlike an Interest Rate Swap 9 min read
  171. Lesson 171 Advanced What Is Private Credit (BDC)? How Non-Bank Loans Turn Into Dividends 9 min read
  172. Lesson 172 Advanced What Is a Reverse Stock Split? Escaping Penny-Stock Delisting in Korea and on Nasdaq 10 min read
  173. Lesson 173 Advanced What Is a Target Date Fund (TDF)? How the Glide Path Auto-Reduces Risk in Your Default Option 9 min read
  174. Lesson 174 Advanced What Is a Kosdaq-to-Kospi Transfer Listing? The Flow Effect Companies Expect vs. What Actually Happens 9 min read
  175. Lesson 175 Advanced What Is Korea's KONEX Market? The Low-Barrier Venture Exchange That's Quietly Emptying Out 5 min read
  176. Lesson 176 Advanced Corporate Life Cycle Valuation: Why Growth Stocks Use PSR and Mature Stocks Use PER 9 min read
  177. Lesson 177 Advanced Portfolio Insurance Explained: How Dynamic Hedging Amplified Black Monday 1987 9 min read
  178. Lesson 178 Advanced What Is Shadow Banking? How Non-Bank Credit Markets Amplify Financial Crises 8 min read
  179. Lesson 179 Advanced What Is Carbon Emissions Trading (ETS)? How CBAM Hits Exporters' Earnings 9 min read
  180. Lesson 180 Advanced What Is a Real Option? The Flexibility Value DCF Leaves Out 9 min read