YAL Academy
What you are actually trading
The pre-account module. What a market is, what a CFD is and is not, what long and short actually mean, the five asset classes YAL offers, what a broker does, and where the demo fits. No charts, no indicators, no strategy.
Trading involves risk. You could lose more than your deposit.
The arc
FoundationModule 1 of 10
12 lessons, about 85 min
- AssumesNothing. The curriculum starts here.
- UnlocksThe trade ticket
The lessons
What this module covers
Starts with the market itself, then narrows to the contract the reader will actually hold, then to direction, then walks the five asset classes one at a time so every later lesson can name an instrument without stopping to explain it. Closes by naming the counterparty and the demo, so the reader knows who they face and where to practise before a single order type appears in module 2.
Lesson 01
What a financial market is
Buyers, sellers, prices, and why a price changes at all. A market is a continuous negotiation rather than a list of numbers, and the price is the running record of what that negotiation has most recently agreed.
- Level
- Foundation
- Read time
- 6 min
Lesson 02
What a CFD is
A contract that settles the difference between the opening and closing price of an underlying market, calculated on the full contract value rather than on the money posted against it.
- Level
- Foundation
- Read time
- 9 min
Lesson 03
What you do not own with a CFD
No share certificate, no vote, no barrel of oil. What a CFD holder does not receive, how a dividend adjustment stands in for a dividend on both sides of a position, and why a commodity contract never ends in delivery.
- Level
- Foundation
- Read time
- 7 min
Lesson 04
What long and short mean
Two directions, one mechanism, and why a short position is not a bet placed backwards.
- Level
- Foundation
- Read time
- 6 min
Lesson 05
What a currency pair is
Base, quote, and what a position in one currency against another is actually long and short of.
- Level
- Foundation
- Read time
- 7 min
Lesson 06
What an index CFD is
How a stock index is constructed and what a CFD written on one actually tracks.
- Level
- Foundation
- Read time
- 6 min
Lesson 07
What commodities and metals are
Energy, agriculture and precious metals, and what makes a commodity price move.
- Level
- Foundation
- Read time
- 7 min
Lesson 08
What a shares CFD is
A contract on a single listed company's price, with none of the ownership that comes with the share itself.
- Level
- Foundation
- Read time
- 7 min
Lesson 09
What an ETF CFD is
A fund that holds a basket, a CFD that references the fund, and the two layers of cost that creates.
- Level
- Foundation
- Read time
- 7 min
Lesson 10
What a broker does and does not do
The role of the firm on the other side of the contract, stated plainly and without flattery.
- Level
- Foundation
- Read time
- 8 min
Lesson 11
What a demo account is
A simulated account with virtual funds: what it reproduces faithfully, and what it cannot reproduce at all.
- Level
- Foundation
- Read time
- 6 min
Lesson 12
How a trade works from start to finish
One position followed from the quotation on the screen to the closed line on a statement, naming the cost, margin and risk decisions that occur at each stage and showing where each of the remaining modules sits on that sequence.
- Level
- Foundation
- Read time
- 9 min
Get started
Open your account in four steps.
A clear path from sign-up to your first trade, in four steps.
No depositNo documents
01/ 04step 1 of 4
Register
A few details to get started.
No deposit to open
02/ 04step 2 of 4
Verify
Confirm your identity, securely.
ID and proof of address
03/ 04step 3 of 4
Fund
Add money by bank transfer or card.
From $0
04/ 04step 4 of 4
Trade
Go live on the platform you already know.
MetaTrader 5
