Lesson 1 - Foundational Concepts
In this initial class, students will receive an overview of some of the important concepts that will help them better understand the material in the course. Some of this information will be expanded upon in later lessons as well. The five primary topics in this first lesson are as follows.
Tips on Successful Trading
First, students will learn that cryptocurrency is traded 24 hours a day due to the international nature of the market. The trading day starts in Australia, followed by Japan and other Asian markets, then Europe, and finally the United States and the rest of North America. Students will learn about the importance of timing, and about the excitement of trading during the overlap of Asian markets opening while European markets are closing. This section also discusses the importance of developing a good strategy using both technical and fundamental analysis. Finally, there is a discussion about diversifying your risk.
Technical and Fundamental Analysis
Laying the groundwork for future lessons, here the instructor introduces the basics of technical and fundamental analysis. Students will learn the importance of considering both a coin’s historic performance, and whether it is currently under or overvalued.
Strategies and Timing
Students will learn the difference between short-term and long-term trading strategies and the benefits of each. This section briefly covers the idea of scalping by performing many fast trades, making pennies on each; medium-term day trading where assets are held for hours; and long-term trading, also known as swing trading, where trades are conducted over the course of a week or longer.
Types of Markets
Here, the instructor introduces students to some of the major markets such as forex, indices, cash, commodities, and bonds. Comparison is made between different markets, demonstrating what niche they fulfill in the investing and trading world.
The Importance of Blockchain
While it is not necessary to understand exactly how the blockchain works in order to be a crypto trader, it is helpful to have a basic understanding of this technology, and its importance. Here, the instructor introduces students to the blockchain, providing them with knowledge that will help them analyze any blockchain-based projects they may want to trade or invest in. There is also discussion of regulatory challenges, which can impact trading activity. This foundational knowledge will be expanded upon in later lessons.
Lesson 2 - Technical Analysis
The second lesson of this course is a deep-dive into technical analysis. Students were introduced to the foundations of this concept in Lesson 1, and now they are ready to learn some specifics.
A key part of technical analysis is having the ability to read charts. Here, the instructor introduces candle charts, one of the most common and popular charts used in trading. Students will learn what each element of the chart means, and will be introduced to the concept of patterns, of which there are hundreds that an experienced trader can learn to identify.
This lesson also covers how to analyze trend lines. Students will learn what constitutes a breakout, what psychological support/resistance is, and how to identify such indicators as the death cross and the golden cross.
Additional concepts covered in this lesson include momentum, Bollinger bonds, trading volume, and the Fibonacci pattern. After completing this lesson, students will not only have a better understanding of how to analyze an asset’s performance, they will also understand the terminology commonly used in trading circles.
Lesson 3 - Fundamental Analysis
The basics of this concept were introduced in Lesson 1. Now, students will get a more thorough education in the concept of fundamental analysis. When paired with Lesson 2, students will have the tools they need to start to develop their own trading strategy.
Fundamental analysis requires an understanding of how markets affect each other, and the influences of monetary policy. In this lesson, students will learn how economies are highly subject to chain reactions: the value of the US dollar, for instance, can in turn impact the value of commodities.
This lesson covers a variety of important economic concepts, such as the role of central banks and federal reserves, how the value of a fiat currency impacts that country’s economy, and how countries try to maintain optimum employment rates and inflation. Students will learn what hyperinflation is and why governments can’t simply print more money without damaging their economy.
The instructor also covers bonds and IPOs. In short, it provides students with an overview of many financial and economic concepts that can be taken into consideration when applying fundamental analysis to their trading strategy.
Lesson 4 - Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Concepts
Building on the foundations established in Lesson 1, this lesson introduces students to more in-depth blockchain and cryptocurrency concepts. This information is important for students to be able to analyze cryptocurrency assets and projects to decide if they are worth being included in their portfolio.
Students will learn about the invention of blockchain technology before moving on to key concepts. Topics covered include digital scarcity, how bitcoin and other digital currency transactions are tracked (and the difference between anonymous and pseudonymous), what an open source ledger is, public and private keys, and the difference between a hard and soft fork.
This lesson also discusses blockchain functionality. The instructor covers mining, and the rewards that miners receive for solving the hash for each block.
After taking this lesson, students should feel like they understand the purpose of the blockchain and the basics of how cryptocurrency works. They should have a grasp on the common terminology used when referring to crypto coins and blockchain projects.
Lesson 5 - How to Evaluate Crypto Coins?
In this lesson, students will learn how to evaluate specific coins and tokens. Primarily, this lesson is concerned with the different kinds of coins. It is important to understand these classifications before investing in or trading crypto assets.
Here, the instructor covers the major classes of digital assets: utility tokens, tokenized securities, stable coins, privacy coins, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). These different classes of assets may be subject to different regulations depending on the jurisdiction.
In evaluating tokens, students will learn to consider several factors, such as the liquidity and market capitalization, while also understanding that not all of a cryptocurrency may be in circulation, as much is being held as a long-term investment. Other factors covered in this lesson include inflation, deflation, and mining costs. All of this information can be important in establishing a strategy based on fundamental analysis.
This lesson also touches on the functionality of smart contracts, which control the transfer of digital assets between parties under certain conditions.
Lesson 6 - How Are Coins Born?
The final lesson of this six-part series covers the creation and distribution of cryptocurrency assets. In Lesson 4, students learned how mining generates new tokens for the miners. But how is a cryptocurrency created and released into the world?
Students will learn about how ICOs and other forms of token sale allow people to purchase cryptocurrency with fiat money or other cryptocurrency. These sales serve to raise funds for a company’s blockchain based project, while also distributing the tokens to users who will be engaging with the project’s ecosystem.
This lesson also covers airdrops, which are a way for companies to get their currency into the hands of interested users who may not have the funds or other qualifications to become accredited investors in a token sale.
After previously learning about hard forks and soft forks, students will now learn more about how forks split networks, creating new coins. There is a discussion of the impact of a contentious fork as well.
Finally, students will learn about the dangers of cryptocurrency scams. They will learn valuable methods of researching projects, and some ways to potentially spot a potential scam.