Markets: A Rigorous Course
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Course map

Markets: A Rigorous Course

Equities, trading, derivatives, commodities, macro and geopolitics, from first principles

Track

8 wk × 25 h Foundation and core sections of every module (advanced sections skipped), all ★ and ★★ problems, one exercise per module, the playbooks; C1 and C4 are started.

How to read the marks

Foundation
Needed by everyone. Practical, light on maths.
Core
The main material: models and derivations a serious trader or investor should know.
Advanced
Research-level proofs and extensions. Skippable on the practitioner track; revisit later.
★ to ★★★
Problem difficulty, from routine to hard. Check marks a problem with numeric answers the site checks.

0 On-ramp

  1. M00 wk 1

    Market on-ramp: accounts, screens, instruments, money and tax

    Everything you need before your first trade, with light maths: how the account stack works (bank, trading account, demat, depository, broker) and KYC; reading a quote, market depth and the order window; order and product types; candlestick charts for beginners; the map of instruments (shares, ETFs, index funds, mutual funds and SIPs, bonds, F&O, commodities); IPOs; personal finance before trading; and how trading income is taxed and filed.

    Sections
    12
    Problems
    15
    Exercises
    3
    Time
    10 h

I Foundations

  1. M01 wk 1

    Market structure, microstructure and costs

    How Indian markets are built: exchanges, clearing, depositories and SEBI; the trading day and the call auctions; the limit order book; circuit breakers; T+1 settlement; the full algebra of costs and taxes; index construction and corporate-action adjustments.

    Sections
    15
    Problems
    18
    Exercises
    4
    Time
    12 h
  2. M02 wk 1

    Statistics of returns

    Returns as the object of study: aggregation rules, volatility drag, horizon scaling and variance ratios, what sampling error lets you estimate, the stylized facts, heavy tails and the Hill estimator, volatility clustering, VaR, and dependence between assets.

    Builds on M01 finish these first

    Sections
    15
    Problems
    16
    Exercises
    3
    Time
    16 h
  3. M03 wk 2

    The mathematics of betting: expectancy, Kelly, ruin

    Expectancy and R-multiples, the Kelly criterion from log utility, overbetting, fractional Kelly, estimation risk, gambler's ruin, drawdown distributions and position sizing in practice.

    Builds on M01M02 finish these first

    Sections
    14
    Problems
    16
    Exercises
    3
    Time
    14 h

II Trading equities

  1. M04 wk 2

    Systematic trading research and swing trading

    Technical analysis restated as testable hypotheses; swing frameworks (Weinstein, Minervini, O'Neil, Darvas) as rule sets; momentum and reversal evidence; backtesting without bias; the statistics of the Sharpe ratio; multiple testing and the deflated Sharpe ratio.

    Builds on M01M02M03 finish these first

    Sections
    11
    Problems
    18
    Exercises
    3
    Time
    14 h
  2. M04A wk 2

    Reading markets: charts, volume, breadth and trade management

    The practitioner's eye, made rigorous: candlesticks and timeframes, support and resistance, volume, gaps, market breadth and participant data; stops, trailing stops, scaling and time stops derived from first principles; the daily routine and the event calendar.

    Builds on M01M02M03M04 finish these first

    Sections
    16
    Problems
    16
    Exercises
    3
    Time
    14 h
  3. M05 wk 3

    Intraday trading and execution

    Microstructure models (Roll, Glosten–Milgrom, Kyle), price impact, execution benchmarks and Almgren–Chriss optimal execution; the evidence on intraday strategies, the mathematics of cost drag and why most retail day traders lose.

    Builds on M01M02M03M04 finish these first

    Sections
    15
    Problems
    18
    Exercises
    3
    Time
    16 h

III Investing

  1. M06 wk 3

    Fundamental analysis and valuation

    Reading Indian listed companies; the three statements as one system; DCF and the value-driver formula; cost of capital for India; multiples and reverse DCF; margin of safety as a distribution; forensic accounting; quality frameworks; sector cycles; the Jhunjhunwala, Satyam and Yes Bank cases.

    Builds on M02 finish these first

    Sections
    16
    Problems
    17
    Exercises
    3
    Time
    20 h
  2. M06A wk 4

    Corporate events, earnings, sectors and factors

    Results season and post-earnings drift; buybacks, demergers, open offers, IPOs and their evidence; promoter and insider disclosures as signals; valuing banks and cyclicals; factor investing in India.

    Builds on M02M03M04M06 finish these first

    Sections
    19
    Problems
    21
    Exercises
    4
    Time
    14 h
  3. M06B wk 4

    Funds: mutual funds, ETFs and the asset-management business

    How an Indian mutual fund is built (the trust, the AMC, the custodian), how a unit is priced (NAV, cut-offs, stale-price transfers, swing pricing), what it costs under the 2026 regulations and how fee drag compounds, how fund houses make money, SIP arithmetic, measuring skill against luck (Berk–Green), index-fund tracking, ETF creation units and premiums, debt funds and runs, fund taxation, and how to build a fund portfolio.

    Builds on M00M01M02M06 finish these first

    Sections
    17
    Problems
    18
    Exercises
    6
    Time
    16 h

IV Derivatives

  1. M07 wk 4

    Forwards and futures

    The no-arbitrage forward price, futures versus forwards, basis and convergence, Indian index futures and margins, open interest, minimum-variance hedging, and a preview of commodity carry.

    Builds on M01M02 finish these first

    Sections
    13
    Problems
    17
    Exercises
    3
    Time
    16 h
  2. M08 wk 5

    Option pricing: from replication to Black–Scholes

    No-arbitrage bounds and parity, binomial replication and the risk-neutral measure, Brownian motion and Itô's lemma, the Black–Scholes PDE and formula, Black-76, the Greeks and implied volatility, with Indian contract specifics.

    Builds on M02M07 finish these first

    Sections
    16
    Problems
    17
    Exercises
    4
    Time
    32 h
  3. M09 wk 5

    Volatility and option trading

    Realised-volatility estimators, the P&L of a delta-hedged option, the variance risk premium, the smile, variance swaps and VIX, option strategies with exact profit conditions, expiry-day gamma and why short volatility has negative skew.

    Builds on M02M03M07M08 finish these first

    Sections
    16
    Problems
    17
    Exercises
    4
    Time
    18 h
  4. M09A wk 5

    The Indian options desk

    The daily instruments of an Indian options trader, with their statistics: the option chain, OI build-up, PCR and max pain, IV rank, event implied moves, participant-wise OI, margins for hedged positions, adjustments and the stock-option settlement trap.

    Builds on M07M08M09 finish these first

    Sections
    20
    Problems
    17
    Exercises
    3
    Time
    14 h

V Commodities, macro and geopolitics

  1. M10 wk 6

    Commodities: gold, silver, crude

    Storage theory and convenience yield, roll yield, Hotelling and gold as a durable asset, Indian gold import parity, what drives gold and silver, crude market structure and India's exposure, and MCX contracts.

    Builds on M02M07M08 finish these first

    Sections
    19
    Problems
    27
    Exercises
    4
    Time
    16 h
  2. M11 wk 7

    Macro: rates, FX and flows

    Bond maths, duration and convexity, real rates and the yield curve, the Taylor rule, RBI and Fed transmission, interest parity and the carry trade, the dollar and the rupee, foreign flows, and regimes.

    Builds on M02M06M07M10 finish these first

    Sections
    21
    Problems
    23
    Exercises
    3
    Time
    22 h
  3. M12 wk 7

    Geopolitics and event studies

    Event-study econometrics, the geopolitical risk index, scenario trees with Bayesian updating, options as geopolitical hedges, transmission channels into Indian prices, and seven case studies from 1990 to 2026.

    Builds on M02M04M08M09M10M11 finish these first

    Sections
    12
    Problems
    16
    Exercises
    2
    Time
    18 h

VI Prediction and synthesis

  1. M13 wk 7

    Forecasting and market prediction

    What prediction can mean in near-efficient markets, ARMA, out-of-sample R², GARCH by maximum likelihood, regime switching, machine-learning pitfalls, proper scoring rules and the forecast journal.

    Builds on M02M04 finish these first

    Sections
    13
    Problems
    17
    Exercises
    4
    Time
    16 h
  2. M13A wk 8

    Cointegration, pairs and statistical arbitrage

    Unit roots and spurious regression, Engle–Granger and Johansen, Ornstein–Uhlenbeck estimation and optimal bands, Kalman-filter hedge ratios, structural breaks, and Indian pairs and parity trades.

    Builds on M04M07M10M13 finish these first

    Sections
    17
    Problems
    18
    Exercises
    4
    Time
    14 h
  3. M14 wk 8

    Portfolio construction, risk, psychology and going live

    Mean–variance and its failure, shrinkage, risk parity, volatility targeting, combining strategies, expected shortfall and stress tests, prospect theory and trading psychology, the written trading plan, and the Jhunjhunwala playbook.

    Builds on M02M03M04M06M09M13 finish these first

    Sections
    23
    Problems
    29
    Exercises
    3
    Time
    20 h

VII Practice

  1. M15 wk 3

    Trade playbooks: real Indian trades from start to finish

    Eleven complete walkthroughs on real data (equities, index and stock options, gold, an MCX crude-mini future, a pair): the thesis, the setup rules, entry, stop and target, position size from the course's sizing maths, costs and tax, day-by-day management, the exit, the result in R and rupees, a post-mortem, and what the base rates say about the setup. Each playbook replays the trade on a real chart and ends with the same exercise in the paper-trading simulator. Read each one after the modules it lists.

    Builds on M00M01M03 finish these first

    Sections
    14
    Problems
    22
    Exercises
    0
    Time
    16 h

Capstones

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