A former colleague recently reminded me that my financial services career was set to embark on its fourth decade. I vividly recall British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s resignation flashing across the Reuters terminal. My first day ever trading futures was Black Wednesday, when the British pound was unceremoniously dumped out of Europe’s exchange rate mechanism. Of course, there was no hashtag in those days for grouping together the latest news about any given topic. Heck, there wasn’t even an internet and traders relied on the rumor mill for information, accurate or not.
I saw open outcry peter out on London’s exchanges and the rise of electronic trading. I watched the demise of Japan’s Nikkei 225 index by around 80%. And then the US technology market freak out by the time I started at US business school.
The passage of time creates rich experiences during one’s career. During the past four years, along with an expert team here at Interactive Brokers, I have been able to cram much of my knowledge and experience into a new online education portal called Traders’ Academy. This week, after many months of hard work, we have relaunched our in-house online financial learning experience to provide investors with a smoother, highly navigable and intuitive interface. And it doesn’t cost anything to learn.
Traders’ Academy has taken my team several years to build out. First, to educate people on Interactive Brokers flagship Trader Workstation trading platform (TWS) and then we added an array of asset classes. Our aim has always been to supplement savvy investors on alternatives to what they already know. That way energy futures traders can branch out to learn about bonds. We aim to help equity traders learn all about options. And option traders all about company fundamentals. And we want investors to know how the currency and bond markets operate and why they are important.
Another neat feature about Traders’ Academy is that it also gives us the opportunity to partner with great educators around the world.
We incorporated the expertise of the CME to showcase futures markets. We let Direxion explain best how leverage and inverse products work in the ETF space.
For an introduction to technical analysis we collaborated with Adam Grimes at MarketLife.
State Street Global Advisors stopped by our Greenwich, Conn. offices to record a course on ETF Trading and Liquidity.
FTSE Russell also provided a course on introduction to indexes.
Our latest course comes from WisdomTree Europe and their introduction to ETPs.
Please take a look at our great new interface at tradersacademy.online and take a lesson or test your knowledge on an entire course. All courses and lessons are free and available to the public. Let us know if your institution is interested in offering a course here.
Disclosure: Interactive Brokers
The analysis in this material is provided for information only and is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security. To the extent that this material discusses general market activity, industry or sector trends or other broad-based economic or political conditions, it should not be construed as research or investment advice. To the extent that it includes references to specific securities, commodities, currencies, or other instruments, those references do not constitute a recommendation by IBKR to buy, sell or hold such investments. This material does not and is not intended to take into account the particular financial conditions, investment objectives or requirements of individual customers. Before acting on this material, you should consider whether it is suitable for your particular circumstances and, as necessary, seek professional advice.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Interactive Brokers, its affiliates, or its employees.
