Blog: stock research and investing, explained
Plain-English guides with worked examples: how to read financial statements, value a business, use technical indicators and manage risk. See the complete Financial knowledge series →
All 154Market basics 15Trading and market structure 16Reading financial statements 15Ratios and business quality 15Valuation 15Advanced valuation and methods 15Technical analysis 15Portfolio, risk and behaviour 15Economy, sectors and the calendar 22Commodities 2Forex 5Hedge funds 3Rates and macro 1
Technical analysis5 min read
Breakouts and false breakouts
Learn what a breakout is, the filters chart readers use to judge it, why many breakouts fail, and how to define in advance what a failure lo...
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Portfolio, risk and behaviour4 min read
Asset allocation: the decision that drives most of your result
Learn how splitting money among stocks, bonds and cash sets a portfolio's overall risk, how to think about choosing a mix, and the mistakes...
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Technical analysis5 min read
RSI divergence: bullish and bearish
Learn what bullish and bearish RSI divergence look like, why they can warn that momentum is fading, and why they need confirmation before th...
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Portfolio, risk and behaviour4 min read
Diversification explained: what it does and does not protect against
See how spreading money across different holdings reduces company-specific risk, why it cannot remove market risk, and where hidden concentr...
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Technical analysis5 min read
The stochastic oscillator explained
Learn how the stochastic oscillator shows where a close sits within its recent range, how %K and %D work, and how it differs from RSI and MA...
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Technical analysis5 min read
Average True Range (ATR): measuring volatility for stops and sizing
Learn how ATR measures a stock's typical daily range, including gaps, and how traders use it to set stop distances and size positions to a f...
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Technical analysis5 min read
Volume and on-balance volume (OBV)
Learn what trading volume measures, how to spot unusual volume, and how on-balance volume turns it into a running total, plus what each can...
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Technical analysis5 min read
Candlestick basics and the patterns worth knowing
Learn how to read a candlestick, what a doji, hammer, engulfing pattern and star formation show, and why context matters more than the patte...
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Technical analysis5 min read
Trend lines and channels
Learn how to draw trend lines and channels, what a third touch and a break mean, and why log scale, steepness and subjectivity matter when r...
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Technical analysis5 min read
Support and resistance levels
Learn what support and resistance are, how to find them on a chart, why broken levels often switch roles, and why they work better as zones...
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Technical analysis5 min read
Bollinger Bands and the squeeze
Learn how Bollinger Bands are built from a moving average and standard deviation, how to read bandwidth and %B, and what a squeeze does and...
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Technical analysis4 min read
MACD explained: signal line, histogram and crossovers
See how MACD is built from two exponential averages, what the signal line and histogram show, and why crossovers lag and sometimes whipsaw.
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Technical analysis4 min read
RSI explained: momentum, overbought and oversold
Learn how the Relative Strength Index is calculated, what the 70 and 30 levels mean, and why overbought does not mean sell and oversold does...
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Technical analysis9 min read
Golden cross and death cross
Understand how the golden cross and death cross are defined, why they lag, when they produce false signals, and how to put them in context.
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Technical analysis4 min read
Moving averages: SMA vs EMA
Learn how the simple and exponential moving averages are calculated, how they differ, and how chart readers use them to judge trend directio...
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Technical analysis5 min read
Technical analysis basics: what charts can and cannot tell you
Learn what technical analysis is, the ideas behind it, the main families of indicators, and why chart signals are clues about price behavior...
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Advanced valuation and methods5 min read
10-Q, 8-K and proxy statements: the other SEC filings
Beyond the annual 10-K, the 10-Q, 8-K and proxy statement keep investors current on results, events and governance. Learn what each contains...
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Advanced valuation and methods5 min read
How to read a 10-K annual report
The 10-K is the most complete public document a US-listed company files each year. Learn its structure, which sections to read first and wha...
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Advanced valuation and methods5 min read
The Rule of 40 and software metrics: ARR, churn, net retention
Software companies are judged on recurring revenue, retention and the Rule of 40. Learn how ARR, churn and net revenue retention work and wh...
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Advanced valuation and methods5 min read
Dividend growth investing: strategy, strengths and traps
Dividend growth investing targets companies that raise payouts year after year. Learn how the strategy works, the math of growing income and...
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Advanced valuation and methods5 min read
Quality investing: buying high-return businesses
Quality investing favors companies with high returns on capital, stable profits and strong balance sheets. Learn what quality means, how to...
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Advanced valuation and methods5 min read
Growth vs value investing
Growth investors pay up for fast expansion, value investors look for low prices relative to fundamentals. Compare the two styles and see why...
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Advanced valuation and methods5 min read
Cyclical stocks and normalized earnings
Cyclical companies look cheapest at peak profits and priciest at the bottom. Learn why the P/E misleads and how normalizing earnings gives a...
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Advanced valuation and methods4 min read
Beneish M-Score and spotting earnings manipulation
The Beneish M-Score combines eight accounting ratios to estimate how likely a company is to have manipulated its earnings. Learn the formula...
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Educational only, not financial advice.